Boris Johnson hopes to lure low-carbon businesses to a “green enterprise district” planned for east London.
The Mayor of London unveiled the plan to incentivise green businesses in sectors such as waste and recycling, renewable energy, alternative fuels for vehicles and innovative building products to set up in some of London’s most deprived boroughs, namely Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Barking and Dagenham, and Havering.
A £30m exhibition and conference centre financed by technology giant Siemens and based in Newham will be the centrepiece of the district. The Siemens Pavilion, which will showcase sustainable technologies to as many as 10,000 visitors a year, will be built at the western end of the Royal Docks and will open in early 2012.
Johnson says the project will create up to 6,000 jobs and enable London to exploit the opportunities emerging in low-carbon sectors.
"A century ago, we were cashing in on carbon, yet now there are clear economic opportunities coming from getting rid of it," he says. "I want London to be ahead of the queue, grasping a significant share of the jobs and economic booty arising from this new generation of low carbon goods and services."
"The Siemens Pavilion is set to sit at the heart of a brand new green enterprise district which will sweep across the east of the city.
"We envisage that the district will be a vibrant, international hub incubating dozens of low carbon businesses to transform what has historically been some of the poorest parts of the capital."
