Regardless of your view of the profligacy or otherwise of the Olympic Games or the contentious politics and societal ethics of Olympics-driven regeneration, few will dispute the fact that the transformation of the Stratford London 2012 Olympic site over the past decade has been extraordinary.

What was once a post-industrial wasteland scarred by railway sidings and abandoned factories is now home to one of the largest shopping centres in Europe and, in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, the largest new urban park built in Europe in the last 150 years.

The latest phase of the area to be undergoing development is the International Quarter London (IQL) sandwiched between Westfield and the Olympic Park and now home to key corporate tenants like Transport for London and the Financial Conduct Authority, both accommodated within new Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners buildings. The £2.1bn 317,000sq m quarter contains a number of other commercial and residential buildings and has a prime positon overlooking East Bank, the district’s planned arts quarter which will eventually contain eastern outposts of the V&A, BBC and the London College of Fashion.

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