THE AREA'S ECONOMIC GROWTH

The development will become an ecosystem of local growth generated and led by local people meeting the inclusive growth model. This will help to ensure that the development is inclusive and provides local opportunities for all which will help to reduce deprivation which is an existing challenge for the area.

This scheme will seek to maximise the benefits of the circular, green, and cultural economy delivering economic growth for the area through the variety of different businesses that will be based in the development. Income generated from the Horticultural Education Centre and The Dock Managers Office Studio Museum, Gallery and cafe, will be re-invested to offer further events and opportunities for local people. The development will help to give local businesses the opportunity to sell their products on site through the cabins at the temporary event space.

Green and Circular Economy- Renewable Energy

The development will capitalise on the green and circular economy through adoption of solar panels throughout the entire site helping to generate renewable energy which will bring economic and environmental benefits. This will provide affordable power for the site's users with economic benefits through lower running costs and maintenance costs helping them to expand faster. Furthermore, the excess electricity can be sold back to the national grid helping to generate further income. The Storage Centre under the Solar Installation is a profitable sector which will help to generate a healthy income for the development.

Green Economy- The Horticultural Economy

The Green Economy

The Horticultural Education Centre will provide revenue through income earned from horticulture course fees such as; BTEC and T Levels, and RHS Levels 1,2, and 3 qualifications in Horticulture. Additionally, income will be generated from gardening workshops. There is a great opportunity for horticulture courses due to the non-existent provision for this in the local area within secondary and further education settings.

As a sector Horticulture is worth £9 billion annually on a national level and 70% of businesses are unable to find workers with the required skills and blamed the poor image of horticulture in schools and colleges. Thus, this offers the development the opportunity to address this issue.

Also, following the public's post pandemic interest in gardening, this sector is highly profitable and in demand. As a result, the workshops will be popular and should generate a steady income for the development.

The area will become a popular place to visit due to the Destination Garden and will attract locals and tourists. Income will be generated through the general admission ticket sales.

Green and Circular Economy- Urban Agriculture

The circular economy will be further pursued through the hydroponic start up zone with the objective to generate fresh produce for the London Restaurant scene. This is a profitable sector of London's Hospitality Economy. The business will provide local opportunities for employment and the products will also be sold in the on-site shop. There is a large potential for this business to grow due to the greater focus nationally on produce that is grown locally and in a sustainable way.

Cultural Economy and Tourism

The development will seek to tap into the cultural economy through the re-use of the Dock Managers Office. This will be renamed The Dock Mangers Office Studio and Gallery which will become a museum and will run artistic workshops. Income will be generated from these workshops as well as general admission tickets.

There will be variety of 'meanwhile uses' in the form of cabins, temporary stage and spaces that could be used in order to provide an immediate impact straight away for the development such as a Christmas Market, Ice Rink, and live music or theatre productions. This would also help to generate some income for the area and put it on the map as a destination for locals and tourists.

Opportunities Risks and Finance

Local employment demographics

The majority of the Newham workforce is employed in the lower skilled jobs. There are fewer people in the managerial and professional categories with more working in the trades, customer service, admin support, retail and industrial unskilled jobs. Consequently, there is an opportunity to create horticulture and tourism sectors that will fit with the profile of the local population with the aim to become a recognised horticultural destination and for locals to work in the Dock Managers Office Studio and Gallery and its cafe.There are opportunities for local artists to deliver the worshops in the museum an

Percentage employed in occupations in The Borough of Newham 2010 - 2015

Educate

Youth employment

Renewable energy generation

The Horticultural Education Centre will increase horticultural educational provision locally inspiring people and the younger population to pursue horticulture as a career, as there are no other providers in the area. Also the centre may attract people from the wider area to attend courses.

In the Borough youth unemployment is an issue. The development's opportunities should help introduce new routes to employment for the younger populations, particularly in horticulture and tourism.

There is a great opportunity to generate renewable electricity on the buildings' roofs across the whole site and available space.

Collaboration

Foster a sense of community

The urban farm will bring the local community together through an outdoor space being created to grow plants and vegetables. This will be a space that the community will value and have a sense of ownership.

There may be the opportunity to work with the Landscape Architecture Undergraduates from The University of East London to run the some of the horticulture workshops. This will help make these affordable to the local community.

Unique development

Accessible

There area has good public transport connections as a result of the DLR and new Elizabeth Line station at Custom House. This means that the area will be accessible to people from further afield and help make the development a destination to Londoners and tourists.

There are very few developments that offer a circular, cultural, horticultural and green tech offer. This should help to create a destination within the local context and wider area attracting visitors and tourists.

Opportunities

Risks of the project

Recession:

If there is a recession there will be less visitors to the museum and destination garden. This may result in less income generated from ticket sales.

Covid 19

in the case of future Covid restrictions timed entrance tickets would be needed to be bookable online for the museum and destination garden and sanitising stations and social distancing measures would need to be implemented in order to keep the venues open. Horticulture Education courses would still run due to the requirement to continue educational provision despite a pandemic. Some provision may be be done virtually or when in person activities could be run in small groups.

Competition:

There is a small risk that another development could be built that offers a similar cultural, leisure and educational offer. To mitigate this risk arising a strong branding presence and promotional campaign would be needed.

Delays to businesses setting up

The hydroponic start up zone may take longer than planned for the business to be operational. This may cause delay to the speed at which the company employs local people. As a result, there will be less of an impact in terms of immediate employment opportunities due to the company growing at a slower rate. However a recruitment strategy should be in place once the business is ready to expand operations and fill vacancies quickly.

Overspend on renovating the heritage buildings

The Horticultural Educational Centre and the Dock Managers Studio and Gallery's renovation may be more costly than expected. As a result, the next stages of the project may be delayed. Specialist material costs may go up or become difficult to be sourced. To mitigate this risk there should be a realistic calculation of material cost to include inflation and multiple contractors should be collaborated with ensuring greater efficiency.

Financing of the Development

National Lottery Heritage Fund

The National Lottery Heritage Fund provides three different types of funding with a maximum of £5 million that can be accessed.

Historic England

Historic England gives grants to organisations that want to encourage management and conservation of the historic environment. The types of these funding packages include: Repair Grants, Heritage Protection Commissions, National Capacity Building. These will aid the renovation of the listed buildings on site in their conversion to the Horticulture Education Centre, and The Dock Managers Office Studio Museum and Gallery.

The National Heritage Memorial Fund

The National Heritage Memorial Fund provides up to £5 million that can be accessed.

Arts Council Funding

The Arts Council provides a minimum of £30 000 and over for projects. It considers funding applications for the refurbishment, modernisation or extension of existing buildings for creative or cultural purposes.

The proposals would meet this requirement because the museum would be a cultural venue.

Sustainability Funding

There is a national £200 million in funding for sustainability projects. The development will be eligible for the funding due to the hydroponic start-up zone and solar installation.

£128 million Culture Fund

There is a national fund for museums and galleries and these parties are encouraged to bid for funding.

Land Use Proposals 1:500

Land Use Proposals 1: 2500

Inspiration of drought tolerant planting from the Royal Horticultural Society Flower Show at Hampton Court, London.

Drought tolerant plants above : Crocosmia, Echinacea

The Destination Garden

Post - Pandemic resilience-

meeting current needs for urban spaces- green networks

The destination garden will be beneficial to the area as it will enhance the area's biodiversity and help to provide habitats for insects and pollinators. The destination will improve the green networks of the site through creating a planted area that is biodiverse and help the wellbeing of visitors.

Green spaces have many benefits for maintaining good mental health and it has become a greatly recognised post pandemic basic need especially for those without access to their own private outdoor space.

The garden will provide a green space that is of high quality and that is visually attractive. It will complement the townscape of the Royal Docks and integrate the other proposals with the whole site.

Tertiary Sector - Horticulture Education

The Horticulture Education Centre

There is space on the development allocated to horticultural education. The Horticultural Education Centre will provide jobs in teaching of the BTEC and T Levels, and the RHS Levels 1,2, and 3 qualifications in Horticulture. As a result the centre will improve access to horticulture education in the area giving greater employment opportunities to young people.

The centres paved outdoor space will also create opportunities for instructors to run outdoor fitness classes such as yoga which is another opportunity in the leisure sector.

Tertiary Sector -Tourism, hospitality, leisure and The Cultural economy

Leisure, Hospitality and Culture

The Dock Managers Office Studio Museum and Gallery will create jobs in admin support, marketing and promotion, security, food preparation, teaching and maintenance within the tourism, hospitality, leisure and cultural sectors. It will run artistic masterclasses on different artistic mediums that will range from: drawing, sketching, watercolours, acrylic painting, textiles and pottery. This will help to create a vibrant community that interacts together and expresses itself through art and creates a strong identity. The museum's cafe has additional outdoor seating for visitors and there are picnic benches on the other side of the paved area. The cafe will provide further jobs in hospitality within the service sector.

Private Sector-
Urban Agriculture

There will also be a commercial part of the site with a hydroponic technology agriculture start-up. This will enable a food production company to be set which will grow a variety of legumes, providing locally sourced food. Some of this food will be sold locally and some will be sold for London Restaurants. This project would also be used to create jobs for local people and provide long term livelihoods. This will also help to create a new emerging local industry with the aim of producing a sense of pride for the area.

Solar Installation and Storage Centre

Additionally there will be further commercial activity through the solar installation and storage centre which will generate income through the power generation and storage fees for the hire lockers.

-see information on Jobs in urban agriculture and Solar Installation and Storage Centre

Tertiary Sector

Post Pandemic City and tactical urbanism

Meanwhile Uses:

Temporary event Space - Retail Sector and tactical urbanism opportunities

There will be a temporary event space with cabins alongside the dock edge with themed events across the different holiday seasons. During the rest of the year there will be a variety of different events dunning throughout the month ranging from Food and Drink Festivals, Flee Markets, Second-hand book markets, cooking demonstrations, live music and theatre events.

This will enable local makers and producers to generate an income by selling products in the cabins. Also, the numerous events will help the cabins to generate an income throughout the year as a result of hire fees for the cabins.

Between the dock edge and the cabins, further tactical urbanism strategies will be deployed. The benches will encourage visitors to spend longer time in the space and enhance its vitality. This will also improve open space that is of high quality further enhancing the sense of place. Another benefit of the strategy is the improvement of the public realm and townscape for the area.

Halloween Events

During the Halloween period there will be pumpkin carving sessions. This will provide activities for younger audiences.

Christmas Market

There will be a Christmas Market that runs during the Christmas season with stalls lining the dock walkway. This will help to draw Londoners and tourists to the area and create a festive destination.

Easter Crafts Events

There will be an easter egg hunt during the Easter Holidays and Easter craft stalls.

Tactical urbanism

Furthermore, the build cost is relatively low compared with brick or concrete structures and with the short construction time for the structures an impact can be created in a short space of time. Moreover due to the plan to have the cabins hired throughout the year, a return on the initial investment will be achieved in a short space of time.

This would be a good tactical urbanism strategy because these interventions would be on a human scale initially creating short term change. However, this will create lasting impacts for the area due to better activation of this space as a result of the variety of events held. The stage will also enhance the area of the space and improve its activation helping to create a destination for culture and the arts.

Ice rink

There will be a temporary ice rink during the Christmas season. This will help to draw people from the wider area to the Royal Docks and will also help to increase footfall for the Christmas market. Furthermore it is an effective tactical urbanism tool and enables an unused space to be transformed into a leisure space. This will benefit many people locally through better access to recreational activities, but the aim is to also attract Londoners and tourists into the area as well through creating a variety of leisure and cultural offerings.

Types of jobs that will be created:

Jobs in the Arts and Culture

The Dock Managers Studio Museum and Gallery will generate jobs in admin and reception duties, marketing and promotion, curator for the collection, security, and teaching roles to run the workshops.

Engineering

There will be jobs to run and maintain the solar installation and monitor the solar array across the site's buildings.

Horticulture teaching

There will be job opportunities in teaching horticulture at the horticulture education centre as well as running the horticulture workshops.

Gardening

Following the selection process there will be jobs for a team to manage the destination garden.

Apprenticeships

There will be apprenticeship opportunities in science and biology at the hydroponic start up zone. There will also be employment opportunities in marketing and sales once the hydroponic business is operational.

Seasonal employment

The temporary event space will provide jobs during the different seasonal events.

Re branding

The Vision will create a destination that capitalises on the cultural, circular and green economy.

This will make the area a forward-thinking local growth ecosystem in green technology through the adoption of solar energy across the whole site.

Furthermore, the provision of horticulture education and development of the destination garden will educate visitors on climate responsive planting that is drought tolerant, improve formal local horticulture education provision and access to horticulture for the wider area.

Further investment in the Hydroponic

Start-up Zone will provide Royal Docks a leader in the circular and green economy.

As a result, there will be many visitors coming to visit the development to learn more about planting that is climate responsive.

Also people will want to visit a development that has a cultural and historical offering as a result of the museum and visit the horticultural education centre for the horticulture workshops and qualifications.

Therefore, the area will be rebranded as " a forward-thinking sustainable development that educates on many different subjects and provides variety of different services"

TARGETTED SECTORS OF THE ECONOMY

Tertiary Sector - Horticulture and Tourism

Destination Garden

The destination garden will target the tourism and horticultural sectors.

The destination garden will:

Generate income through ticket sales, annual season tickets and additional optional guided tours of the urban farm.

The Destination Garden will run educational workshops in horticulture for a range of different ages with activities for local schools. There will also be workshops for adults that will range from creating window containers, seed sowing, taking cutting cuttings and propagation, houseplant care and spring bulb container workshops.

The showcase garden will draw people to the area. It will be developed by a team of horticulturalists who will develop a local horticulture training programme with the aim of creating a team that will design, build, run and maintain the garden. This will help to increase opportunities in the area and provide access to additional education for local residents.

Heritage

Character

Townscape and

Public Realm

The Central Buffet and The Dock Managers Office, two of the Grade 2 Listed Buildings on site will be fully renovated to maintain the exterior and interior features.

The new proposed buildings will be built in a modern style. The Hydroponic Start up Zone building is a modern structure but represents the structure of a ship with a stepped roof in the shape of a hull.

The new development will enhance the townscape and public realm through new high quality buildings and high quality temporary structures. The outdoor space of the Dock Managers Office Studio and Gallery has been designed to provide space for picnics on one side and a space to serve the museum's cafe. The cabins from the temporary event space and the proposed stage will increase the vitality and activation of the site. The benches that line the dock edge in front of the cabins will create a space for users to stop and benefit from the diverse events and stalls that will run from this space. The stage will also enhance the public realm and townscape through the numerous live events that will take place. The tree corridor that will connect the stage with the Horticultural Education Centre and the Dock Managers Office Studio Museum and Gallery will positively improve the public realm by creating a high quality green stretch.

Integration with nearby area

The Development will enhance the surrounding area. The site spans from the dock edge to as far as the A1020 in depth. The A1020 is a physical barrier on the edge of the site. The destination garden and urban farm will soften this and will blend the existing harsh structures with the new development. The new development will seek to maintain the building heights of the nearby area. This will integrate with the nearby area because the new buildings will not exceed the height of local buildings.

Green Infrastructure

The green networks across the site will be enhanced through the Destination Garden, The Urban Farm and the Tree Corridor. These will improve the biodiversity of the area through greater tree cover, a large area of flower planting in the destination garden and many different fruits and vegetables in the Urban Farm. The Destination Garden will be pollinator friendly and benefit the local insect populations. The tree corridor will help to act as a carbon store and improve air quality.