The former press and broadcast centre for the 2012 Olympic Games has been transformed into a dedicated campus, for innovators, disruptors, visionaries and locals to push their boundaries.

Here East is a catalyst for growth and London’s fastest growing innovation campus. Located at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, it is a launchpad for innovation. Once the Press and Broadcast Centre for the Olympic Games, the 1.2 million sq ft campus is now home to over 4,500 academics and innovators, and is designed to foster collaboration, allowing tenants to collaborate, scale and grow at pace.

Today, 4,500-plus people call Here East home - from software developers to contemporary dancers, baristas to electronics engineers, architecture students to data scientists – all exploring new ways of thinking, better ways of doing, and exciting, collaborative opportunities to change lives.

The Here East masterplan was influenced by the tight-knit, light industrial factories and yards of neighbouring Hackney Wick, where the highest concentration of artists and makers in Europe reside. It provided the inspiration for the way in which the site’s original huge buildings are broken down into human-sized pieces, to create specialist spaces for big businesses and universities and beautifully small spaces for individuals and start-ups.

Plexal is the innovation hub in the old press centre, with a mix of over 200 start-ups, scale-ups companies and dedicated innovation programmes. Outside, the landscaped Canalside features a life support system of locally-owned cafes and bars. Street food markets and public events take place in the Yard, which also houses The Theatre, a 950-seat auditorium for the use of tenants and the local community alike.

The vast steel structure behind the broadcast centre has been joyfully repurposed as The Trampery on the Gantry, a quirky ensemble of 21 affordable, Wiki-House studios, enabling local creatives to thrive.

The cavernous and windowless broadcast centre now has an outer layer of naturally lit, flexible work, studio and retail spaces. At the heart of the deep plan are state of the art broadcast studios for BT Sport and the data centre. Alongside UCL, the building is also the London home of Staffordshire University and Loughborough University.

Here East is living proof that the Olympic legacy can be a positive force for change. The transformation of the Press and Broadcast Centres into a thriving innovation and technology campus is something we are extremely proud of.

Here East was designed to encourage collaboration, innovation and design. These themes are engrained within the original vision, from conception into development, through to the community that now calls Here East home. From big to small, software to hardware, the use of collaboration and the sharing of ideas has been a work process embraced by everyone.

Here East worked closely with the architect, digital team and PR agency to ensure that the redevelopment, the design, the fabrication techniques and the supply chain remained authentic to the mission. Evidence of these core principles can be seen across the campus, from the ceramic printing on the glass, to the software derived digital patterns that protect against solar gain.
Innovative open source software has been utilised to create studios, furniture and meeting pods across the site.

The bold and inspiring architectural design encourages people to work, socialise, innovate and interact in different spaces and environments. The buildings have been repurposed to accommodate a wide range of businesses, from the innovation centre and large hanger-sized studios, to the small creative work spaces designed and constructed in plywood at the Trampery on the Gantry. Every last detail from retail outlets through to the architecture, public spaces and theatre venues have been designed to bring tenants together.

The diverse range of small and large businesses, academic institutions and technology companies on the campus are clear indications of the successfulness of the community that is developing at Here East. Our innovation centre, Plexal, brings together flexible workspace, new technologies, test-bed capabilities and specialises in convening communities. The careful curation and fostering of growth within new and innovative businesses, alongside larger companies such as BT Sport, Ford and Scope, paired with institutions like UCL and Loughborough University London, has been essential in ensuring the true benefits of clustering are achieved across sectors and industries.

The vision set out at the start of the development through sector analysis, brand development, innovative design and collaboration are ever present and enable Here East to continue its journey at the forefront of technology innovation and positive change.

Gavin Poole, CEO at Here East