We are extremely grateful to the members of our Advisory Group for providing us with expert advice and guidance throughout the project: Harry Badham (UK Head of Development, AXA Real Estate); Charles Begley (Executive Director, London Property Alliance (CPA/WPA)); Sir Mark Boleat (former Chairman of Policy and Resources Committee, City of London Corporation); Joanna Cagney (Head of London Housing Delivery, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government); Lucy Craven (Deputy Head of Policy, International Affairs, Heathrow); John Dickie (Director of Strategy and Policy, London First); Simona Iammarino (Professor of Economic Geography, London School of Economics); Celia McSwaine (Senior Consultant, Stonehaven); Nabeel Khan (Head of Economic Development, Greater London Authority); Steven Spires (Senior Insight Manager, London & Partners); Tim Moonen (Director, The Business of Cities); Julian Sharpe (Principal Director, TP Bennett); Justin Taylor (External Communications Manager, Heathrow); and Beth West (Head of Development for London, Landsec).

We would like to thank Dr Laura Davison (Head of Research, City of London Corporation), Ian Gordon (Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics), and David Slater (Director of Trade, KPMG) for their technical comments on the draft report. Special thanks are due to London & Partners, for providing us with access to Foreign Direct Investment intelligence.

We would additionally like to thank our anonymous interviewees for generously giving their time and sharing their insight. Gratitude also goes to our colleagues at Centre for London – Joe Wills for his contribution to the research, Richard Brown for his inestimable advice on improving the draft, and Megha Hirani for designing the publication. The views expressed in this report are nevertheless solely those of the authors, and all errors and omissions remain our own.

This project would not have been possible without the generous support of our funders. We would like to extend our thanks to the report’s Major Sponsor, Heathrow, and its Supporting Sponsors London & Partners and London Property Alliance (the latter with support from its members Capital & Counties Properties PLC, Grosvenor, Landsec, Oxford Properties, The Crown Estate and TwentyTwo (AXA)).