Hilton hosts Great West launch
Councillor Amrit Mann, deputy leader of Hounslow Council, welcomed more than 100 guests including Suzie Betlem and several members of Brentford Chamber’s executiveon 21 July to the launch of the second edition of Great West magazine, which he described as “a fantastic publication which showcases our borough and tells the world our story”.
The event was hosted by the Hilton London Syon Park and, on a sunny evening, was held in one of its courtyards. Mann said: “We’d like to thank the hosts for this very fine venue; our sponsor, the Treaty Centre; the organisers, 3Fox International, publisher of Great West; and all the MIPIM and magazine sponsors. Both the leader and I recognize that business in Hounslow is the key to our success, so we are very supportive of business and want to make sure it is valued. The overall success of our borough, the economy of Hounslow, is reliant on those businesses and some of the key players are here today.”
Sascha Koehler, general manager of the Hilton London Syon Park spoke about his hotel: “We’re in an oasis in Syon Park, very well connected to central London – seven miles from there and Heathrow is only seven miles away. We’ve been here for three and a half years, having opened as the Waldorf Astoria and then transformed into Hilton London Syon Park a year and a half ago. We’re now affordable luxury, which is also the slogan for Marco Pierre White who opened the restaurant here in mid-April. We’re pleased to be part of this borough, hosting events like this and helping out wherever we can.”
John Jones, business development director at property consultancy GVA, and one of Hounslow’s MIPIM sponsors, said: “Hounslow has been one of the most progressive and innovative London boroughs to work with. Regeneration projects and infrastructure development are at the heart of Hounslow’s work – regeneration to create better housing, jobs and a better environment.”
Jones added that GVA’s role is to support Hounslow, with five of its professionals advising on estate management, projects, valuation and asset management. He said: “We have worked hard on building detailed property data and knowledge to provide a platform and advice for Hounslow so that they can focus on their strategy and particularly those regeneration projects.
“For us, Hounslow has been a great place to do business.”
Brendon Walsh, Hounslow’s director of regeneration, economic development and environment, spoke about the political priorities of the council: “The focus is on regenerating our town centres, keeping on with the push to make Hounslow a fantastic metropolitan centre, making Brentford a buzzy, lively place without losing the edge that it has in terms of the quality of the place.
“And we keep pushing at the Golden Mile, the Great West Road. We did an initial masterplan but found that the lack of public transport into that corridor was holding it back. Our transport engineers came up with something very elegant, a direct link into the new Crossrail station in Southall and also a link into Crossrail at Old Oak Common. The Golden Mile will go through another iteration of design and development and we want to push that at the market again.”
Walsh added that the Golden Mile opportunity site has the potential for 14,000 jobs and 2,500 homes, with a relatively modest cost of £50 million to adapt existing infrastructure and create the necessary connectivity.
He concluded: “Great West magazine goes far and wide in the development community and MIPIM this year was really good for us. We had a very big stand there and it attracted a lot of attention and, hopefully, our sponsors will want to do more with us. It’s important for us to stand together, as Hounslow is a place on the move in the right direction.”
Reproduced from http://www.greatwestmagazine.com