#198 London’s low carbon future needs overseas investment, says Opportunity London Boss

PropCast

Andrew Teacher speaks to Jace Tyrrell, chief executive of Opportunity London, on his role attracting £100bn in capital investment for low-carbon real estate, infrastructure and transport, and his rich background in aligning public and private sectors in major cities worldwide over the last 25 years. Jace Tyrrell has spent the last two decades promoting London as an attractive investment destination. Perhaps best known for his time as Chief Executive of New West End Company, the business improvement district (BID) for London’s West End, this expertise informed his next role exporting the BID model to Australia across Sydney’s Western Harbour, the New Sydney Waterfront Co. Tyrrell estimates that there are now around 2,000 business improvement districts worldwide, each established by local democracy and funded by a levy on local taxation. Jace Tyrrell is British by birth but sees himself as very much a ‘Boomerang Brit’, having grown up in Singapore and Canberra thanks to his father’s career in the Foreign Office. On his parents’ retirement, he enjoyed a very remote, rural stint in Queensland that he likens to “living in an episode of the Flying Doctors”. Tyrrell believes his diverse experiences during a globe-trotting upbringing has helped him in “dealing with lots of different cultures, different people around the world.” More recently, Tyrrell was recruited to lead Opportunity London, a new partnership between the City of London Corporation, London Councils and the Mayor of London alongside public and private partners. Opportunity London is co-chaired by London and Partners and NLA. Its mission is to attract the next £100bn in capital investment into London’s low carbon real estate, energy and infrastructure. Opportunity London has identified the first nine investment zone opportunities in London, seeking £9.5bn of immediate investment at locations as diverse as Old Oak, Brent Cross Town, Crystal Palace and Earl’s Court. To that end, Tyrrell has spent the last six months or so travelling and speaking to investors globally about their preferences and attitudes towards the British capital. Citing research by JLL for Opportunity London, Tyrrell argues that London remains “the most globally traded city for real estate in the world, stretching back over the last five years.” Nevertheless, while the value of that investment was £22bn pre-2019, the value in 2024 is £11bn. Tyrrell says that some of the loss can be attributed to “macro trends on the cost of capital and pressure on sovereign wealth and pension funds to invest domestically within their own jurisdictions, resulting in lower outward capital flows.” Yet, as Tyrrell also cautions, “some of the reason why is the pace of getting decisions made, and unlocking the deals, has slowed which is putting off some global investment committees.” In the year ahead, and with a new Government, Tyrrell hopes “to get some of that friction out of the decision-making process to unlock more investment deals.” A primary challenge for a Labour government focused on productivity and growth will be courting third party capital, given the state of public finances. To do that, in Tyrrell’s view, will require being “very clear with metro mayors and local councils about what they wish to achieve through planning, in turn unlocking investors for housing, infrastructure and transport. These investors will need to be reassured that the goalposts will not be moved.” This will also involve acclimatising local authorities to “being more comfortable talking to institutional and private capital.” Outside of Opportunity London, Tyrrell has been advising in Singapore on a consultancy basis, and points to an example there of what can be achieved where decision-makers agree to a common vision. Tyrrell says: “I think their commitment to net zero and the green economy, and translating that into changes to the public realm, are striking. I don’t know any other city in the world that’s moved at pace and been able to deliver that.” The net result so far has been benefits including net zero energy supply. For Tyrrell, one of the key things holding back London from achieving similar results is “more consistency in the levels of planning between the three levels (national, regional, local) of government in terms of shared investment, shared outcomes and quicker decision-making.” Tyrrell is also currently involved in an Urban Land Institute pilot, one of seven worldwide, in Melbourne, Australia, where 3,500 property owners and occupiers are collaborating on one of the “first sustainability improvement districts in the world”. This will “bring forward projects that will help the businesses get to net zero faster.” Tyrrell believes the sustainable improvement district pilots will be instructive to other districts worldwide, but caveats that it must be done at scale.” I know the business improvement districts in London and we have been spending some time thinking about how to scale net zero efforts. There are good programmes locally – supplier switching and improving infrastructure for electric vehicles are some examples – but some of this is quite low level and not very impactful.” Tyrrell believes that there is “an opportunity for all the business improvement districts to come together or perhaps to form a sustainability improvement district pilot.” For Tyrrell, the benefits of collaboration between public and private also extends to the future of Oxford Street, a district he was responsible for while at the New West End Company. Tyrrell believes that, with the appropriate funds and a shared vision, now stewarded by the New West End Company and Westminster City Council, the area can be effectively repositioned. He predicts: “Come back in a couple of years’ time, and we’re going to be really proud of the nation’s high street.”