Barking and Dagenham Council is urging Mayor Boris Johnson to back its bid to create a science hub in the London Borough. The council is hoping for £12 million from the regeneration pot towards the project which is expected to create up to 1,000 jobs.
London Mayor Boris Johnson
The opportunity has arisen following the announcement from pharmaceutical manufacturer Sanofi that it will be closing its Dagenham facility next year following a fall in demand. Although there are potential buyers for most of the 108 acre site, there has been no interest expressed in the firm’s research and development building. If this remains the case it will be demolished when Sanofi moves out.
The council is appealing for an award from the Greater London Authority’s (GLA) London Growth Fund. Under the proposal, Sanofi would then sell the land to the GLA which would lease it to science and technology firms.
Boris Johnson is the co-chairman of the London Enterprise Panel which is responsible for approving growth fund bids, and supporters of the scheme are hoping the Mayor will get behind their plans. They already have the support of former Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell and former Conservative Party mayoral candidate Steven Norris.
Mr Norris has described the proposal as a “great investment opportunity” and Barking and Dagenham Council is appealing to businesses to lobby the GLA which is expected to come to a decision before Christmas.
Land already earmarked for development will eventually lead to a Sainsbury’s store, a data centre, a hotel and a restaurant being built on the site. East London already has a thriving tech sector and the addition of a science hub would be more good news for an area that is rapidly establishing itself as a centre of new technologies.
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