Eastern City BID launches campaign to ‘shape future of the Square Mile’

The Eastern City Business Improvement District (BID) has launched a campaign for a second five-year term, aiming to shape the future of the Square Mile's highest district. The BID, which represents the people and places of the area, has pledged to continue its work on improving public spaces, collaborating with cultural institutions, and encouraging after-work activities.

The campaign, which will be decided by a ballot on January 27, acknowledges the evolving nature of the City, with a projected need for 1.2 million square meters of new office space by 2040.

At a launch event held at The Treehouse in 40 Leadenhall, the BID team showcased their vision for the next five years, as well as their achievements thus far. These accomplishments include 20.8 million impressions across promotional campaigns, with over 180,000 people attending more than 400 events and cultural activities. The BID has invested £465,433 in the redesign, improvement, and maintenance of public green spaces, installing nearly 3,000 plants and 86 public benches/seats.

Additionally, they have secured 3,568 mobile phones from theft through 22 marked sessions, and conducted 38,524 hours of additional street cleaning.

The BID, the largest in the Square Mile, covers an area stretching from Liverpool Street to the north, Fenchurch Street Station to the east, and King William Street to the west. Among its successful initiatives, the BID has brought cultural institutions into underutilized spaces, such as SET Ceramics near Fenchurch Street Station, which won the City AM’s Toast the City award for Best Art or Culture Experience.

The organization has also contributed to the regeneration of green spaces and created public seating in areas like St Peter-upon-Cornhill churchyard, Fen Court, and Fenchurch Street Station plaza.

Kate Hart, Eastern City BID chief executive, emphasized the importance of community building in the post-pandemic era: "With hybrid working here to stay, giving people a reason to come together matters more than ever, and we’ll keep building a community around them." Hart stated that the BID aims to create more greenery, better public spaces, art, seating, and animation to transform the Square Mile into a destination rather than just a workplace.

Eastern City BID chairman, Nick Carty, highlighted the necessity of a comprehensive approach to district development: "A business district that only thinks about business isn’t one any of us want to work in. We began this term focused on Covid recovery and will end it by playing our part in shaping a genuinely new way of working." Carty stressed that renewal is something the district must earn through continuous community engagement and collaboration.