Growing Places Fund Round 3 Update
Bids received through Round 3
On 21 October, the third round of the Growing Places Fund closed, through which
£7.5 million capital funding was available. 10 bids were received seeking a total of
£13.9 million capital investment. The majority of bids are private sector led, which
aligns well with the aim of this fund (to use public sector funding to encourage private
sector investment). The focus of bids submitted ranged widely, and included those
that seek to:
 Create workspace for SMEs across a range of sectors, including science,
technology, arts, culture and design
 Improve London’s infrastructure by creating a smarter way of using energy for
businesses
 Support the growth of investment funds for social SMEs
 Establish a mixed-use development, providing both residential and
employment space
 Help London stay open for business by providing public realm improvements
 Unlock housing growth through the improvement of local transport
infrastructure
In Round 3 the LEP asked bidders to address how they will support the
implementation of one or more of the ten priorities set out in the London Enterprise
Panels ‘London 2036: An Agenda for jobs and growth’ report. All ten priority areas
have been addressed by the portfolio of bids received, with many focusing on:
creating the conditions needed to support the growth of SMEs; training more
technical talent; increasing the focus on emerging markets; securing long-term
infrastructure investment; and helping London stay open for business.
Bids are now being assessed, with recommendations scheduled to be submitted to
the LEP in February 2016 via an urgency procedure. See appendix 2 for a list of the
bids received.
Unallocated funding update – Custom House
The LEP approved the Custom House (Royal Docks) proposal from the London
Borough of Newham in Round 2.5 of GPF, which allocated £5.95m towards works on
the station interchange and decant costs for redevelopment of a site adjacent to the
interchange.
After careful consideration, the GLA concluded on 8 April 2015 that the £4m that had
been allocated for investment in the Custom House Interchange for public realm
improvement works would be better funded by the Royal Docks Enterprise Zone,
which reduced the allocated GPF funding from £5.95m to £1.95m.
Funding of £1.95m was retained for decant costs for the Custom House project
whilst the London Borough of Newham worked on identifying and securing additional
funding to deliver the public realm improvement works. During this time the London
Borough of Newham managed to identify and secure £1.95m from their own funds to
cover the decant costs for Custom House, and the first phase of decant has now
been commissioned and demolition completion is scheduled for March 2016.
The Custom House project has therefore been making good headway and is now in
a position where securing funding from developers is a more favourable mechanism
of securing investment for the remainder of the project, as opposed to using GPF
funding. As a result the London Borough of Newham withdrew their GPF Custom
House proposal; written confirmation was received by GLA Officers from the London
Borough of Newham on 23 October 2015. This increases the unallocated pot of GPF
from £7.5m to £9.45m.
Officers are currently exploring the options for this additional £1.95m unallocated
GPF funding, this includes the option of:
 Ring fencing funding for GPF Round 3 applicants whose bids require further
development prior to being considered for endorsement;
 Adding the £1.95m to the current Round 3 pot, and committing all or part of
this Round 3 pot; or
 Holding onto the unallocated funds and developing ideas of how we could
enter into partnerships with organisations that could give GPF wider exposure
to the private sector as a source of funding, for example organisations like
Innovate UK.
Officers will continue to explore the options and make a recommendation to the LEP
in March 2016 once it is clear whether the full Round 3 pot has been fully committed.