London Mayor Pledges £1.2m to Support the Capital's Creative Industries With Energy Bills

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today (1 September) pledged £1.2m funding to enable workspaces in London's nine Creative Enterprise Zones to become greener and more sustainable, as small creative businesses and organisations struggle with the pressure of rising energy bills.

Local authorities with accredited zones are invited to apply for grants of up to £200k to invest in practical and achievable measures that will improve energy efficiency, resulting in more environmentally-friendly creative workspaces across the capital and helping to reduce their reliability on energy.

The move comes as businesses, who are not protected by the energy price cap, face up to the reality of the cost of living crisis with up to five times higher energy bills, and UK inflation rising above 10 per cent for the first time in 40 years, driven by soaring prices for food and fuel.

Theatres across the UK have already stated that their heating bills are unsustainable. Owen Calvert-Jones, Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds revealed last month that the theatre's heating bill had gone up by £45,000.

Sadiq established Creative Enterprise Zones across London in 2018 to ensure that artists and creatives have affordable places to work, are supported to start-up and grow, and where Londoners can develop the skills required for work in the creative industries. By 2025 the Creative Enterprise Zones will have increased new, permanent, affordable workspace by more than 65,000sqm.

This latest funding will support creative enterprises to explore and implement solutions to improve their sustainability. For example, grants could be used to help replace a building's older heating system with heat pumps and install new windows, or conduct an 'eco audit' to investigate ways for organisations to become more energy efficient.

The Creative Enterprise Zones programme has so far invested £14m to support London's artists and creative businesses and has already established nearly 1,000 creative training, work placements, and jobs across the nine zones - Croydon, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Hackney and Tower Hamlets, Haringey, Hounslow, Lambeth, Lewisham, and Waltham Forest. Earlier this summer, the Mayor announced further investment to help support 5,000 young Londoners to enter the creative sector.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "The capital's world-leading arts, cultural and creative industries help to drive our economy and inspire young people, but the energy crisis is hitting the sector hard and it is vital that it is supported to become more energy efficient, especially as these businesses are not protected by the energy price cap. This latest investment reaffirms my commitment to placing the environment at the centre of our economic recovery and will help workplaces deal with burden of the cost of living crisis and spiralling energy bills as we build back a fairer, greener city for all."

This fund is only available to Local Authorities with Creative Enterprise Zones and accessible to those currently applying for accreditation status.

For more information on Creative Enterprise Zones, click here.

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