London Mayor Sadiq Kahn launched plans for a £1.1bn cultural hub in the summer just a stone’s throw away from the London Stadium in Queen Elizabeth Park.The new hub in Hackney Wick area will feature an outpost of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a Sadler’s Wells dance theatre and a new home for the London College of Fashion, along with residential towers.
The park’s planned arts district, once known as Olympicopolis, in tune with Boris Johnson’s penchant for ancient Greek, has been reborn under Sadiq and rebranded East Bank, with the addition of a new base for the BBC symphony orchestra and recording studios. It now features four towers rather than two, the V&A has been slashed to a third of its size and what was a parade of dour brick blocks has been jollied up in more expressive clothing