One of the UK's biggest ever tech hubs is set to open within months at the London Olympic Park

A new technology centre that's being quietly developed in a corner of London's Olympic Park is nearing completion as it gears up for launch next summer.

The UK government said the 2012 London Olympics and Paralympics cost £8.92 billion. That reportedly works out at £142 per head for every man, woman and child in the UK.

It's therefore no surprise that there was pressure on the organisers of the Olympics to find new uses for the facilities.

London residents tend to be aware that the Olympic swimming pool, for example, is now open to the public. Many of them are also conscious that the Olympic Stadium is going to be rented to local football club West Ham.

But it's fair to say people in London and the rest of the UK are less aware of the plan to create a giant new technology hub in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, even though it could end up being one of the park's most significant economic legacies.

The development, dubbed Here East and designed by architects Hawkins/Brown, is a joint venture between real estate investor Delancey and data centre operator Infinity. It involves two enormous media buildings on the western fringe of the Olympic Park being converted into a space where startups and more established businesses can interact.

Thousands of tech workers

The Here East site will be able to accommodate at least 5,500 people when it opens its doors next summer, the organisation's CEO Gavin Poole told Business Insider on site, adding that's the conservative number. That arguably makes Here East one of, if not the, largest technology centre in the UK.

"We're on target to open next summer," said the former RAF officer. "You can't compare it with anything else. This is a dedicated campus about collaboration and innovation that we haven't got anywhere else."

It's likely that many of the people that end up working at Here East will come from neighbouring Hackney Wick, which is renowned for being home to lots of creatives, or hipsters, depending on how you look it.

The press and broadcast centres used to share the Olympics with the rest of the world are at the heart of the project. They were initially designed to cater to over 20,000 broadcasters, photographers and print journalists, which means they inherited one of the best connectivity infrastructures in the country, according to Poole. This includes access to 42MVA (mega-volt amps) of power, and fibre networks that have remained in place around the Olympic Park following the London 2012 Games. 75% of the UK's major internet exchanges are just two miles away in Docklands, Here East claims.

The media buildings, which cost a reported £355 million, are huge. Between them they offer over 1 million square foot of commercial space.

The New Shoreditch?

With 3,228 tech firms per square kilometre, Shoreditch has long been the home of London's technology scene but there are an increasing number of hubs in the city that are fighting for attention, from King's Cross to Croydon to Stratford.

Poole is optimistic that he'll be able to attract technology businesses of all shapes and sizes to Here East, despite it being a mile from the closest London Underground Station, Stratford. "There'll be four shuttle buses running between Stratford and Here East that will meet demand," he says.

In Poole's defence, one well-known corporate has already made the move to Here East.

BT Sport has already moved in

BT Sport agreed a 10-year lease in 2012 to be the anchor tenant of the broadcast centre. Today BT Sport has three TV studios, a control centre, 20 edit suites, and an audience holding area at Here East.

While BT Sport is perhaps the best-known tenant, the one taking up the most space is data centre provider Infinity, which has built a data centre into the broadcast building that takes up more than half of the building's footprint.

Academic Institutions including University College London (UCL), Loughborough University, and Hackney Community College are also going to be tenants at Here East. The universities plan to open research and development facilities, while Hackney Community College plans to offer digital apprenticeships in partnership with BT Sport.

The developers hope that a theatre, shops, bars, a microbrewery, and restaurants will keep those that work at Here East entertained, as well as fed and watered.

While space is filling up, there's still plenty of room left for other corporates to move in, according to Poole, who says he's particularly keen to see the innovation units of large media agencies and banks move in.

At the same time, he's adamant that he doesn't want a tech giant like Microsoft or Facebook to move its headquarters to Here East. The reason, according to Poole, is that they'll keep themselves to themselves and they won't integrate with the community. He said he's been approached by several large technology companies that he's turned away.

Innovation Centre

One of the site's key features will be the "Innovation Centre," according to Poole.

The space, which was due to open in July 2015 but now has no official opening date, will include a 45,000 square foot incubator, possibly to be run by a company like Techstars or Seedcamp, a coworking space and managed offices. Poole said Here East will have some announcements to make around who the tenant(s) will be for the Innovation Centre within the next few weeks.

The success of Here East will largely depend on how it is perceived by the young technologists and creatives that power many of the startups in London. It also needs to get more large corporates involved, beyond BT Sport.

Can Stratford become the new Shoreditch? It'll take some doing.