New report recommends empty London offices are turned into ‘late-night party zones’

A new report from creative studio Bompas & Parr has recommended reviving London’s commercial office blocks, which have been partially deserted in the post-COVID shift to working from home, by transforming them into “world-class late-night party zones” at evenings and weekends.

The suggestion aims to solve two problems at the same time. The first is the building spaces left empty in the English capital’s financial districts such as Canary Wharf and the City of London, which have struggled to regain tenants to full capacity after many left during lockdown, and the second is the crisis in the nightlife industry with venues closing down at a rapid rate (according to the Night Time Industries Association [NTIA] more than 3,000 night-time venues have shut down since March 2020).

Read this next: How The Cost Of Living Crisis Is Impacting Nightclubs And Promoters

The report, titled The Future of P-Leisure 2026, also notes how few people live in these areas that predominantly exist to serve the 9 to 5 work week, making them ripe for nightlife without fear of noise complaints and resident opposition.

“While over half a million people work every day in the square mile of the City of London, only 8000 people actually live there. This daily mass exodus leaves immense square meterage that could house nocturnal revelry. We envision a future, where financial districts in London and the world over are transformed into world-class late-night party zones,” it envisages.

“By day, the city bustles with suits and stocks. By night, it’s reborn as a pulsating rave arena. With few residents to file noise complaints, organisers capitalise on the empty, echoing canyons of glass and steel. Empty office lobbies become sought-after DJ booths, rooftops host industry-defining light shows, and any space that isn’t locked morphs into a dancefloor to create a sprawling web of passionate chaos as capitalism and counterculture merge.”

Read this next: Sadiq Khan launches London's first-ever "Nightlife Taskforce"

Michael Kill, CEO of the NTIA, has indicated that the idea is not as fanciful as it may initially seem, with discussions about zoning rules being adapted to provide “preferential planning and licensing opportunities” to nightlife businesses in financial districts, reports The Guardian.

Kill says: “There are conversations going on about things like the City of London, where the financial district is, as there is a very limited residential core so without a doubt, given some of the noise complaints and restrictions, that actually makes sense and works for nightlife.

“What we’ve always had with the financial districts is, after a Friday night, they close down and everyone disappears. But now we’re seeing people only work from the office for about three days a week. Friday has become an extension of the weekend. So landlords are obviously looking for new opportunities, and that is a very constructive conversation we’re having.”

The report from Bompas & Parr, which describes itself as a “studio with a zeitgeist mindset”, also notes how the global population is aging up — noting a projection from the World Health Organisation predicting that “between 2015 and 2050, the proportion of the world's population over 60 years old will nearly double from 12% to 22% — and that nightlife should consider aiming towards older crowds, claiming “the days are numbered for the under-30’s monopoly on fun, hedonism and cool.”

Read this next: Meet the woman who wants to revolutionise the UK's approach to club drugs

It notes that “older people are more likely to participate in casual, unprotected sex than the younger generations”, and includes a quote from Fiona Measham of drug safety group The Loop that “people well into their 50s are ‘getting back on it like they used to’ at festivals.”

Another prediction is that designer drugs tailored towards older generations will be developed to suit the partying habits of the elderly, taking into account issues such as blood pressure and heart health for a safer experience.

Read the full report here.

[Via: The Guardian]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Editor & Digital Director, follow him on Twitter