ADDING VALUE
“We spend a lot of time trying to understand where the touchpoints are between businesses in the broader world and then the pure Here East world”
72 | MEETINGS INTERNATIONAL | BIR No. 26 2020
GG Archard/Here East
Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), whose Social Impacts Award Programme went to the facility. Not only for the Best Commercial Project of London and the South East but also for the Best Overall Project, the crème de la crème across fourteen disciplines of evaluation. Reflecting such acknowledged success in their community impact bolstered by their campus collaborative triumphs, Here East is eager to adhere to a winning formula that has served it so well in its first four years of operation and seems well established for the years ahead. “We look long-term, so five or ten years out and so we are very much configuring for the future, and that is still in our DNA,” says Gavin Poole. “Our vision stays the same, and that's not just because we're dogmatic. The vision works, and we know it works both physically and virtually, and that's what we're committed to. Over the past years, we've had a huge amount of fun through this project, but I've always said that when Here East is full, that is when the fun starts. Now is when we can drive-forward.”
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time that we can drive community engagement. “That's not just the aspiration of the team behind Here East because it's what motivates us, but also it's really important for our customers,” says Gavin Poole. “We get pushed on that now. On what the talent pipeline is, on how we work in the local community, on how we can build our talent pipeline. How can we make sure that they're not excluded? How can we add value into their community, how can we help add GVA (gross value added) into the wider community? All of a sudden, that is interesting. “We meet people and take the brand out internationally, which is about brand building and also about raising awareness so that we can potentially gain more customers from international markets,” says Helen Fisher. “This is not about us pivoting away from the community in Hackney and the local area, but it's more about making everybody in the world more aware of Here East and the amazing collaboration that happens on the campus.” The collaboration going on in Hackney and Here East has recently been formally recognised by the
