April 18, 2023 at 11:47 am
Efforts to help central London and Old East Village (OEV) businesses survive months of streets set to be demolished and blocked for construction have brought back the popular City Incentives scheme.
Since Tuesday, the construction funds for the core area have returned.
The scheme, now in its fourth year, will hand out $5, $10 and $20 vouchers to Londoners to entice them to the two areas – despite roadworks. The vouchers can then be redeemed at participating businesses until November 30, and the City will return 100% of the value of each construction dollar to the business that spent it.
Jennie Dann, Director of Building and Infrastructure Services London, said: “This year has been another year of major construction projects in the core area and our priority is to mitigate the impact and support businesses as necessary infrastructure updates are completed.” “The project team worked closely with the City of London The Center and the Old East Village BIA work closely together as we work together on initiatives such as the Core Building Funding Program to promote and support local businesses during construction.”
Construction funds will be awarded through customer giveaways, contests and promotions. Businesses offering and accepting promotional funding can be identified by an orange building dollar sign in their window.A full list of participating businesses is also posted at central london and Old East Village website.
“Old East Village businesses have embraced the construction funding program wholeheartedly, and our OEV clients are eager to enjoy that extra special outing at OEV while supporting hyperlocal,” OEV BIA Manager Jen Pastorius said in a statement. Demand is growing, so this year OEV BIA, in our returning Only in OEV event series, we will be distributing over $20,000 in construction funds through Cash Mobs.”
The construction funding program, funded by the city’s Core Region Action Plan, initially launched in summer 2020 to provide a needed boost to local businesses that have been forced to close their doors or scale back operations due to the pandemic. Every year since its return, it has helped mitigate some of the impact of construction on businesses. By providing additional incentives to spend in the city center and OEV, it is expected to contribute over $90,000 to the local economy.
Only vouchers marked 2023 will be accepted.