Imperial College London and the Earls Court Development Company (ECDC) have established a new partnership to advance climate innovation in London ahead of the £10bn regeneration of Earl’s Court
The partnership will see Earls Court’s 40-acre brownfield site used as a live testbed for climate-tech R&D, giving Imperial academics, students, spinouts and start-ups access to real-world urban conditions where they can test, evidence and scale new technologies.
The wider Earls Court masterplan will deliver around 4,000 homes, 2.5 million sq ft of workspace, 20 acres of open space and public realm, and a new climate innovation hub. The development is expected to generate £3bn GVA per annum, creating and supporting up to 12,000 jobs on site and 23,500 jobs across the UK supply chain.
Peter Runacres, head of urban futures at the Earls Court Development Company, stated: “Partnering with Imperial brings world-class research, a pipeline of talent, and deep sector expertise that will help us shape Earl’s Court as one of the most sustainable developments in London.
“Following quickly after a resolution to grant consent in both boroughs, this is a critical part of our focus on delivering a transformative development at Earls Court. Together, we will create a major new destination for climate innovation, where pioneering businesses, academia and future-focused organisations come together to accelerate solutions to address the climate emergency.”
WestTech London: Unlocking the city’s construction innovation landscape
ECDC has also joined WestTech London, the globally competitive ecosystem driving frontier innovation and entrepreneurship, creating jobs, attracting investment, and cementing the UK’s position as a leader in science and technology.
WestTech London unites stakeholders – including Hammersmith & Fulham Council, its Industrial Strategy Upstream London, and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea – around a shared mission to unlock the potential of West London’s innovation landscape.
Welcoming ECDC to WestTech London brings a new focus on cutting-edge climate research and cleantech entrepreneurship within the ecosystem.
Commenting on behalf of WestTech London, Professor Peter Haynes, Imperial provost and deputy president, said: “With the creation of WestTech London, we embarked on a mission to empower the future of scientific collaboration.
“We have been delighted with the response from stakeholders who share our vision and have joined us in unlocking the innovation potential of west London to drive investment, economic growth and job creation. This new partnership welcomes ECDC into the WestTech London ecosystem and will play an important role in helping to advance climate innovation for the UK.”
Imperial and ECDC were connected by Hammersmith & Fulham Council as part of its inclusive economic growth strategy, Upstream London. Its partnership with Imperial has already transformed White City into one of the most dynamic innovation districts in Europe, and as London’s fastest-growing economy, H&F Council continues to work with businesses and institutions to turn innovation into opportunity.
Testing clean tech innovations on real-world sites
The climate innovation partnership will see ECDC:
- Use Earls Court’s 40-acre brownfield site, which spans the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham and the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, as a live testbed for climate tech R&D, creating opportunities for academics, spinouts and startups to test and evidence their clean tech innovations in real-world settings
- Support founders through Imperial’s Venture Catalyst Challenge, the flagship entrepreneurial competition for students and early career researchers, and Undaunted, Imperial’s centre and incubator for climate change innovation
- Collaborate with Imperial on climate innovation skills development and education, delivering the critical skills needed for the UK to be a global leader in this burgeoning sector
- Work with H&F Council to embed Upstream London and the Pathway Bond programme, maximising the opportunity for local people to be part of the clean economic future
- Host a Jawdrop Summit focused on climate-tech, organised by Upstream Nexus, the joint venture between Imperial and H&F Council.
Enabling developers to play a more active role in climate innovation
The Earls Court masterplan will be a £10bn transformation to create a climate-resilient district for London, with around 4,000 homes and 2.5 million sq ft of workspace focused on a climate incubator primarily clustered within Hammersmith & Fulham.
As the climate innovation hub at Earls Court is brought forward, the partnership will also be a cornerstone of the place-based investment envisioned in the UK Industrial Strategy.
Through WestTech London and Upstream London, Earls Court will be connected to other innovation clusters across London and the UK, creating opportunities for R&D across the Earls Court site and driving greater economic growth.
The Earls Court development will make a major contribution to the UK economy, generating £3bn GVA/annum, creating and supporting up to 12,000 jobs on site and 23,500 jobs across the UK supply chain.
As the climate innovation hub at Earls Court is brought forward, the partnership will connect innovation clusters across the UK to generate greater economic growth, and as further projects such as the Stone Demonstrator, an onsite research tool led by the Design Museum’s Future Observatory programme, come forward, opportunities for joint R&D will expand across the Earls Court site.
“The built environment is one of the most crucial and urgently needed areas of focus for climate innovation. We know that the collective power of Imperial’s entrepreneurial universe is vast and now, thanks to this partnership with Earls Court, our talented students, inspired staff and pioneering founders will have the opportunity to advance their climate innovations in a real-world setting, at one of the UK’s most exciting regeneration schemes,” concluded Alyssa Gilbert, co-director of Imperial’s School of Sustainability and director of innovation at the Grantham Institute and Undaunted.
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