HELEN ARVANITAKIS

» On Greenwich Peninsula , we ’ ve been building the Design District in a period of flux and reckoning for UK creativity . Before COVID-19 , our goal was simply to create a dedicated district for the creative industries that would provide workspace to businesses and individuals at all stages of growth , but as the pandemic has continued , we ’ ve realised that the survival of the sector we ’ re investing in needs us to do more than that . The way work was changing , both positive and negative , led to the development of Bureau – a new members ’ club and flexible workspace for freelancers and small studios – and encouraged us to formulate new part-time tenancy models and flexible contracts ( what we call the ‘ On / Off Office ’).

» When it came to financial bailouts , freelancers and the self-employed ( which make up around 47 % of the creative industries ) turned out to be at the back of the queue . As the clouds lift and something resembling normality is restored , it ’ s likely that our creative sector will be a shadow of its former self . Already eroded from within by being forced to operate within an infrastructure that did not adequately support them , the creative industries are on track to be hit harder by the pandemic than many other sectors – bearing the brunt of a £ 29bn GVA shortfall in 2020