Plans to turn transform the 132-year-old Olympia London into an arts, entertainment, events and creative business quarter have been given the green light by Hammersmith & Fulham Council.
The £1bn project by YOO Capital and Deutsche Finance International, which own the historic exhibition centre, submitted the plans for the 14 acre site last year and include leading hotels and restaurants, plus performance venues and state-of-the-art office space.
John Hitchcox, Chairman of YOO Capital said: “Not only is this great news for London – it’s also an example of a British project with European investment creating jobs and opportunities in spite of the current economic and political climate.
“We are proud to announce this plan and press ‘Go’ on a £1bn project that will transform Olympia London into a global force in arts, entertainment, exhibitions and events.
“We will achieve all of this with minimal disruption to the hundreds of inspirational events that will continue to take place at Olympia London during the transformation.”
Key features of the project include a 1,500-seat theatre, 1,000-seat performing arts venue, two hotels, a four-screen cinema, 670,000 sq ft of creative office space, including new co-working space, upgrades to the existing spaces to turn Olympia London into one of the world’s top exhibition and event centres and a 200,000 sq ft logistics centre.
Gavin Neilan, Co-Founding Partner of DFI, commented: “We are delighted to announce that planning consent has been granted for our £1bn transformation of Olympia London and look forward to working with our partners to support the exhibition business and unlock the tremendous potential within the iconic estate.”
The project will create more than 3,000 new construction jobs over the next five years in addition to approximately 5,400 new jobs for the borough when it is completed. It is also anticipated to bring in an extra £9m per year in consumer spending to Hammersmith & Fulham.
The transformation will begin from next year as 2.5 acres of new public space is created, with the first tenants moving in by 2023.
