Forget gold – Here East scores platinum for bringing world class connectivity to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Here East, London’s home for making, located on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, has been awarded the highest digital connectivity rating for Development and Redevelopment from WiredScore, as part of their international digital connectivity rating scheme. 

The rating builds on the legacy of achievement and excellence of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The great connectivity investment that Here East has made has revitalised the Olympic Park and enables it to go beyond gold in attracting the capital’s leading digital and creative companies to East London.

Here East joins a select group of elite buildings who have achieved the Wired Certified Platinum rating, including the Empire State Building. Here East received stand-out praise from WiredScore for the flexibility and diversity of its internet provision.

Wired Certification is a trusted benchmark for commercial property connectivity that independently certifies buildings’ digital infrastructure. This provides greater transparency for occupiers to help them make an informed decision before signing a lease, and provides landlords with the necessary insights to improve their buildings’ connectivity standards.

Originally launched in partnership with the Bloomberg administration in New York City in 2013, WiredScore UK launched in October 2015 with endorsement from the Mayor of London to boost the capital’s digital connectivity.

Here East has converted the former Olympic Press and Broadcast Centres, which hosted TV crews and journalists from around the world in 2012, into a stunning digital campus. As a result, it combines unparalleled infrastructure with a unique environment – and connectivity is at the core of both buildings’ design. Here East provides 1.2 million sq ft of dedicated and versatile space for creative and digital companies and its world class connectivity provides tenants with unrivalled access to data and power.

The creative campus’s key tenants include BT Sport, Loughborough University London, UCL, Studio Wayne MacGregor, and Infinity SDC. Infinity SDC will deliver one of the largest and most efficient data centres in Europe. It will feature 240,000 sq ft gross internal area, fed by multiple power grids and providing 42MVA of power with exceptional resilience. 

Plans for creating ‘London’s home for making’ began straight after the London Olympic Games, and construction has been ongoing since 2014. In recent months, Here East’s development has been rapid. Earlier this summer Here East appointed ENTIQ as its partner to create and run Europe’s largest innovation centre. The 70,000 sq ft centre, named Plexal, launched two weeks ago. It will offer a full range of services including bespoke accelerator and corporate innovation programmes, entrepreneurship courses, prototyping facilities, and a full range of spaces for start-ups to thrive. It is due to open in mid-2017. Only last week data design agency Signal Noise announced it will relocate to Here East from Shoreditch.

Here East received the received Wired Certification Platinum from WiredScore for its flexibility, diversity, and power:

• Flexibility: the number of internet service providers (ISPs) being installed in both buildings gives tenants flexibility as they have a variety of providers to choose from
• Diversity: both buildings have diversity across the site and especially within both buildings; there are multiple universal communications chambers surrounding Press Centre and Broadcast Centre, which makes installation of new services fast and easy. There are multiple communication points of entry, as well as diverse risers, in each building which creates full redundancy and reduces the risk of any single point of failure
• Power: the power for both buildings is fed from three individual substations. This increases the resiliency and redundancy

Commenting Gavin Poole, Chief Executive of Here East said: “Here East is a world-class facility and its very fitting that we’ve received a world class connectivity rating. We are one of the most connected buildings in Europe, where makers, entrepreneurs and technology experts will come together to experiment, build and create – We pride ourselves on our ability to connect, not just through the fibre cables running below our feet but through our vision to bring people together to share ideas and to foster innovation.”

William Newton, EMEA Director, WiredScore, commented: “Here East truly exemplifies how redevelopments don’t just change individual buildings, but instead can totally transform whole areas. In this case the former Olympic press buildings will become a beacon of East London’s digital and creative industries. The team have taken great care to not only ensure that the buildings are used to their full potential now, but are also future-proofed to support the changing needs of digital and creative businesses for years to come. Both the Broadcast Centre and Press Centre have achieved Wired Certified Platinum for Development and Redevelopment, WiredScore’s highest digital connectivity rating. This means that current and future tenants can be confident that they are investing in an office space which will allow their business to grow and succeed – whatever their future technology needs.”