The Big Issue is playing a leading role in the UK’s environmental future with a new multi-million pound partnership to support green jobs and business in the capital.
Big Issue Invest, the investment arm of The Big Issue Group, has joined forces with Lambeth Council and tech investor Sustainable Ventures to open a new innovation hub for climate technology and green businesses at London’s County Hall.
The £5 million partnership aims to create space and mentoring for 4,000 green jobs and 1,000 businesses by 2025.
“We have supported Sustainable Ventures as they have grown, with early loans to their previous workspace,” said Danyal Sattar, chief executive of Big Issue Invest “This is a major investment for us at Big Issue Invest. As CEO, I’m pleased that we were able to match the scale of their ambition with our latest investment. The green economy creates jobs and our investment is supporting that employment creation, at just the right time for recovery.”
The County Hall plan will be a “blueprint for further workspaces” in other cities, according to Sustainable Ventures, “supporting the spread of green jobs and delivering on the levelling-up agenda”.
The third and fifth floors of the iconic building, situated on the River Thames opposite the Houses of Parliament, have sat empty for 35 years. The new plans mean thousands of green entrepreneurs and companies will be a stone’s throw from the heart of government.