The hard grind of regeneration is in places like Dagenham where Sanofi wants a shiny science park in a place it will leave, following Ford. The shiny, illuminated part of the region’s property business is the doubling of the size of Pinewood and the help for the UK film industry and its employees, whether they be luvvies or carpenters.
In between the two extremes, so to speak,
Cambridge plans to keep the momentum of its university inspired growth formula going with a massive development on a 150 hectare piece of farmland. In the case of Sanofi, it is a stark reminder that the pharmaceutical industry is changing from a monolithic structure to something else.
That has been well illustrated by Pfizer closing most of its research base at Sandwich, Kent. To some extent this is perplexing because pharmaceuticals have been lauded as a great growth industry for the UK. Apart from the sparkle of Cambridge, Stratford and East London appear to have taken on a new dynamism with the input of the £billions for the Olympic Games. That is shown by the deal on the two hotels and the £2 billion development plan by Lend Lease. There are other serious plans for the area, such as Stanhope and Advanced Business Parks (of China) at Royal Albert Dock for a 139,350 sq.metres (1.5 million sq.ft.) office led project.