iCITY has submitted its planning application to the London Legacy Development Corporation.
If approved, the former Press and Broadcast Centres on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will be transformed into a world-leading creative and digital cluster.
The plans would deliver thousands of jobs, apprenticeships and training opportunities to the local community.
Training ground
The refined designs mean iCITY will now create over 7,500 jobs – 1,000 more than predicted when they completed the deal in May.
This is split into 5,300 jobs directly on-site and a further 2,200 in the local community, through the impact of using local supply chains.
Both Hackney Community College and Loughborough University will locate there, training thousands of students a year with the skills to take advantage of jobs in the digital economy.
And Shoreditch’s TechHub will be expanding to the site, launching the first shared workspace at iCITY to offer desks to startups.
A space odyssey
iCITY refined its designs following public consultation earlier this year, and has unveiled a new set of images by leading architects Hawkins\Brown.
The project is a joint venture between special real estate investment company Delancey and Infinity SDC, the UK’s leading data centre operator.
iCITY is designed to provide a new home with state-of-the-art infrastructure for the creative and digital industries, the fastest growing sector of the UK economy.
It will include a range of versatile spaces and a yard for activities from film screenings to markets, pop-up stalls and street food vendors, as well as a whole host of community events. The former briefing facility between the two buildings will be developed into a 1,000 seat auditorium.
Tenancy agreements
iCITY say they expect to begin construction work in the summer of 2014.
BT Sport is already broadcasting live directly from iCITY’s 80,000 square foot production hub, and key tenants Loughborough University, Hackney Community College and Infinity SDC will locate there from 2015.
The entire iCITY area is planned to be fully operational by 2018.