On why the future looks best out west

East Tower. But Shaw points out that t hes e a re a bout ha l f t he pr i c e o f equivalent flats in Notting Hill and twothirds that of units in the Battersea Power Station development. He is adamant they will be lived in, rather than stagnate as investment properties. “We know the people who have bought here are going to live here because we know them: our lawyers bought a flat, Soho House members have bought flats, BBC employees have bought flats...” HE interior designer Sophie A s h b y, w h o s e clients include the aristo-actress Gabriella Wilde as well as burger joint Patty & Bun, has also bought a flat in TV Centre with her boyfriend, fashion designer Charlie Casely-Hayford. “I rent in Notting Hill so this was a way of getting on the property ladder in the next-best place, Shepherd’s Bush,” she says. “The apartment I’ve bought is in the Helios building, it has polished floors, Crittall windows and there is history and soul and character to the architecture. I’ve always liked west London. In east London you have to subscribe more to a lifestyle. Here you can be anyone and just enjoy the lovely restaurants and shops and parks. I make the most of London and so does Charlie, and Shepherd’s Bush is strategically placed for that.”

Perhaps it was natural that, after ye a r s o f focus on the s t r e nu o u s trendiness of east London, the city’s collective gaze should swing back west. “We are really excited about west London,” says James Scott of The Collective. “Shepherd’s Bush, North Kensington, Cricklewood and Brent Cross are geographically well placed with fantastic transport links and many of the fundamentals that places like Shoreditch had 10 years ago. There are already cool things happening in Acton and around Wormwood Scrubs and Ealing Studios.”

David Gann points out that there were innovative tech companies along the M4 corridor long before they started popping up in Old Street, and that Whi t e C i t y is close to I mper i a l ’s Kensington base and the hospitals where it has research departments.

“But it’s a wrong-headed view to talk about east v west,” he adds. “This is about creating the most for London. Our core academic work is going to be out there [at White City] and that will bring hundreds and thousands of t alented people who are keen on developing next-generation solutions, new medical interventions, new data science stuff, tackling issues of climate, environment, health care and antimicrobial resistance.

“For the past 15-20 years people have t alked about t h e K i n g ’s C r o s s development, which has been truly magnificent: what’s happening at White City, with us as one of the huge anchor developers, is on the same scale and over the next 10 to 15 years is going to transform that part of London.”