MD1399 World Expo 2025

London 2012 was a triumph, championing our city’s creativity, enterprise and warmth; demonstrating that London is a global city that others look to.

The Mayor’s 2020 Vision presents London as a city that looks outwards to the world and the future with growing confidence. It sets a broad course that communicates our readiness and ambition to lengthen London’s lead as the greatest city on earth. In doing so the Mayor believes that we must invest and build, innovate and create, capitalise on our advantages and self-promote unashamedly.

The World Expo provides an opportunity and a platform for showcasing London’s strength, creativity, culture and innovation. The benefits to London and the UK in jobs, growth and infrastructure could be considerable. However there will be significant commitments – the business case must be clear and London’s business community must be behind it.

The World Expo 2025 Bid Consideration Phase will consider the rationale, the resources and commitment required, and the potential benefits that could be gained by a London Expo in 2025. We will assess, review, challenge and ultimately recommend to the Mayor whether London should proceed with a bid to host the Expo in 2025.

Background on World Expo

The Great Exhibition, held in London in 1851, inaugurated World Expos as the hallmark events of a world aspiring to strengthen its connections, celebrate its cultural diversity and marvel at its technological wonders.

Today, World Expos remain a meeting point for the global community to share innovations and to educate and inform humanity of the latest innovative breakthroughs.

World Expos can be a catalyst for economic, cultural and social transformation and can generate important legacies for the host city and nation. For instance, Shanghai 2010 World Expo helped transform a heavily industrial city-centre area into a thriving cultural and commercial district while also bringing its theme “Better City, Better Life” to the attention of 73 million visitors.

The site of the Shanghai Expo was the Nanpu Bridge–Lupu Bridge region in the centre of Shanghai along both sides of the Huangpu River. The area of the Expo 2010 covered 5.28 km2.

The next World Expo takes place in Milan, Italy, in 2015, with the theme: “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”. The site is located northwest of Milan in the municipalities of Rho and Pero, and covers an area of 1.1 km2. It is adjacent to the new Fiera Milano fairgrounds, designed by Massimiliano Fuksas, whose project may be considered the cornerstone of the urban redevelopment of the entire area. The zone had long been an industrial area before being converted to logistical and municipal services and agriculture. The fairgrounds and the Expo site will be connected by a pedestrian bridge adjacent to the Rho-Pero high-speed rail station. The chosen area is oblong in shape with an overall length of nearly 3 km (1.9 mi).

In 2020 the World Expo will be hosted in Dubai, with the theme: “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future”. The site will be Dubai Trade Center – Jebel Ali: a 4.38 km2 site on the south-western edge of Dubai. Equidistant from the centres of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the site is located next to the new Al Maktoum International Airport and also located in close proximity to Jebel Ali Port, the third busiest port in the world.

The BIE

The Paris-based Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) is the international body responsible for overseeing the calendar, bidding, selection and organisation of World Expos.

The London Bid Consideration Phase will consider whether to proceed with a bid to host the World Expo in 2025. During that time a project team will:

• Consult with business, government and other stakeholders to determine the level of interest and engagement with the idea of a World Expo bid;
• Develop ideas for a London bid theme;
• Develop the options for governance and operations during the bid phase;
• Identify and assess sites potentially capable of hosting the World Expo;
• Produce an assessment of the costs, revenue and funding options for a London Expo, as well as the benefits that would result from bidding for and hosting the World Expo;
• Review the bid process and London’s chances of success;
• Scope London’s presence at the World Expo in Milan in 2015.

The project team will receive advice and input from a steering group comprised of high level stakeholder representatives.

The output of the Bid Consideration Phase will be a report and recommendation to the Mayor.

The Bid Consideration Phase runs from June – December 2014. Should the decision be taken, in December 2014, to proceed with a bid for the World Expo, the appropriate governance structures will need to be set up in early 2015. Cross party support will be required, along with the necessary funding to support a bid.

The Mayor is requested to provide in principle approval for an additional £70k in 2014/15 to support the Bid Consideration Phase work programme. The additional funding will take the total project budget to £220k.

Ultimately it will be a decision for HM Government as to whether to bid for the World Expo, as it is the Government that must apply for and may subsequently receive permission to host the World Expo. The Government would maintain direct responsibility for the control and implementation of the Expo.

BIE guidance states that the Government that applies for, and receives, permission to host a World Expo should maintain direct responsibility for its implementation, including the provision of guarantees and underwriting of costs.

A bid application must be submitted a maximum of nine years (May 2016) and a minimum of six years (May 2019) before the proposed opening date of the Expo. We would clearly not anticipate submitting a bid prior to the Mayoral Election in 2016, however, beginning on the date that the first candidacy application is submitted to the BIE, any other government wishing to organise an Expo for the same year has six months to submit its own bid application; so this could affect the timetable.

In June 2014 a bid was submitted to the Central Programme Fund for £150k to support delivery of the Bid Consideration Phase. This funding has been allocated as follows:

(See table in signed decision form)

An additional £50k is required to complete the costs and funding work.

A further (up to) £20k is required to support the economic impact analysis. GLA Economics have developed the strategic case but have indicated that additional specialist resource is required to complete the more detailed cost benefit analysis. It is proposed that this is delivered by bringing additional resource in-house via a short-term secondment arrangement.

The site analysis work indicates that there could be at least one viable site option, such that the project team consider that it is worth investing additional resources to fully explore the costs and benefits.

The provision of this funding and delivery of the Bid Consideration Phase are not considered to give rise to any negative equality impacts.

Equalities impact considerations and mitigations will be built in to the project as it moves forward.

a) key risks and issues

The table below details the risks associated with this project. Probability/ impact are ranked 1-5, with 5 being the most likely/ highest impact:

b) links to Mayoral strategies and priorities

Economic Development Strategy:
• To promote London as the world capital of business, the world’s top international visitor destination and the world’s leading international centre of learning and creativity.
• To attract the investment in infrastructure and regeneration which London needs, and to maximise the benefits from this investment and in particular from the opportunity created by the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and their legacy.

c) impact assessments and consultations.

A key strand of the Bid Consideration Phase is consultation with London businesses to understand their level of interest/engagement with the idea of a London 2025 bid; what theme would engage them; what they would see as the legacy priorities for a London bid/ London Expo; and whether they would see a London Expo bid as a sponsorship/partnership opportunity.

TfL have been consulted on procurement options.

5.1 The expenditure of £70k on services required to complete the cost/revenue analysis and support the economic impact analysis in respect of London’s consideration of bidding to host the World Expo in 2025 will be funded from the 2014-15 Central Programme Budget.

6.1 The foregoing sections of this report indicate that:

6.1.1 the decisions requested of the Mayor fall within the statutory powers of the Authority to promote economic development and wealth creation and/or to do anything which is facilitative of or conducive or incidental to the promotion of the same in Greater London; and

6.1.2 in formulating the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought officers have complied with the Authority’s related statutory duties to:

(a) pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people;
(b) consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities betweens persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom; and
(c) consult with appropriate bodies.

6.2 The supplies and services required must be procured by Transport for London Procurement who will determine the detail of the procurement strategy to be adopted in accordance with the Authority’s Contracts and Funding Code.

6.3 Officers must ensure that appropriate contract documentation is put in place and executed by the successful bidder(s) and the Authority before the commencement of the supplies and services.

The next steps following MD are summarised below: