“I WANT TO SEE A HUGE HOUSING BOOM IN LONDON IN THE NEXT FIVE YEARS”
IN A GAG-FILLED SPEECH,BORIS JOHNSONTELLS MIPIM’S LONDON PAVILION HOW SEVERAL BOROUGHS HAVE BECOME INVESTMENT MAGNETS
What is your five-year vision for London? London is facing unprecedented demand for housing. Compared with other parts of the UK, those living in the capital are spending more and more on housing and a huge number are being priced out of the market. We estimate we will need to build a million homes over the next 25 years to meet demand and I am starting to plan for this now. I want to see a huge housing boom in London in the next five years. I want to see more public land being brought forward for development, more pension funds piling in with money and London receiving its fair share of stamp duty receipts to give us the steady funding stream we need to deliver these homes. The next five years will also see major improvements to transport infrastructure and the regeneration of vast swathes of the capital, including the emergence of entirely new districts at Vauxhall Nine Elms, Greenwich Peninsula, Royal Docks and the transformation of the Olympic Park.
What impact will office-to-residential conversion have on central London? While delivering more homes for Londoners is a key priority, so too is protecting and supporting the businesses
that drive the London economy. We need a rich mix of properties in central London and the danger with office-to-residential conversion is that the high residential rates could lead to a loss of essential business space. We need to protect London’s nationally significant business districts.
What message will you be delivering at MIPIM? That London is the best place in the world to invest. Property in the capital has proved hugely resilient to the economic downturn and we have some of the most incredible development opportunities anywhere in the world. Couple this with direct access to huge markets, fantastic connectivity, a business-savvy culture, highly skilled people, an attractive time zone and a huge array of well-established supporting sectors, and London is simply the best big city in the world to do business.
What is your favourite view of London? The view from my office: the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the City, Canary Wharf and the giant treble clef that is the Orbit visitor attraction in the Olympic Park.There’s no better view in the world.