Barking and Dagenham is becoming a hotspot for new business, as can be witnessed by the plans for new industrial parks.
The borough, along with neighbouring Newham and Havering, is attracting investment and employment opportunities thanks to the sites, which will spring up at various locations over the next few years.
SEGRO, a property development company that owns several industrial parks, recently hosted an event to explain that ‘co-location’ – a mixture of residential and industrial properties – was the future for not only Barking and Dagenham, but the rest of London too.
One of the speakers at the event was Will Stewart, the head of development at City Hall, who explained: “We’ve got huge pressures to deliver housing, and our unused brownfield sites have to take it. But we also have to provide jobs and transport and services to facilitate these homes.”
This was backed up by the chief executive of Havering Council, Andrew Blake-Herbert, who said: “Seeing investment is important to residents and we want to get this investment close to where people live.
“We’re working closely with schools to make sure the children that are leaving school have got the right skills for the jobs nearby.”
Rainham already has one such industrial park up and running and it is not only bringing 1,000 new jobs to the region, but also contracts from big names such as DPD, DHL and Travelodge.
The business unit director of SEGRO, Alan Holland, had the final word on the matter: “I want to take more risk and see things differently. Projects like the Docklands, the Olympic Park – they couldn’t have happened if you kept within confines like borough boundaries, public versus private sector, homes versus jobs. These [brownfield] sites have lain empty for years and that feels wrong. The time has come to stand up and make a real difference.”
