Sector Expertise

Tap into a Wide Range of Skills Across all Sectors

Havering already hosts more than 8,300 businesses in a diverse range of sectors from manufacturing to financial services. The borough employs 108,200 people of working age and sees approximately 1,000 new enterprises launched every year. Nearly half the residents commute within the borough, helping to sustain a strong local economy and an excellent employment rate. There is a strong tradition of firms in Havering to retain their staff as employees prove to be flexible and loyal to their workforces.

Havering presents two major strategic commercial locations: Romford and Rainham, with Harold Hill also offering major development options.

Construction
The largest sector in Havering, construction remains a mainstay of the local economy and over the next decade employment in this sector is expected to grow. With availability of industrial land at affordable prices Havering has good competitive advantages for the construction sector. Strong partnerships with skills providers, such as the Havering College Construction Campus will guarantee that the borough is best placed to ensure the steady flow of a skilled workforce to take advantage of planned infrastructure projects and activity in the housing market.

Care
Health and Social Care is a vital market for Havering and the leading sector by employment due to Queen’s Hospital, a premier acute hospital providing complex care and specialist services for the population of North East London and Essex. The borough has the largest population of people aged 65 and over in London – and we are committed to working with providers to develop a stimulating, diverse and active market ensuring that our residents needs continue to be met.

Professional Services
Romford is Havering’s key hub for office-based employment and is home to over three quarters of the borough’s Class B1 Business property. The majority of this is concentrated within the Romford Office Quarter, mainly in the Western Road and Eastern Road areas.

Romford’s office quarter is conveniently located in close proximity to the town’s main line railway station and major bus interchange facilities. The town centre as a whole benefits from very high levels of accessibility and these will be enhanced when the new Crossrail services become operational in 2017/2018. This accessibility contributes considerably to the importance and significance of the Romford Office Quarter in employment and economic terms.

The Romford Office Quarter delivers good quality office space within a business orientated environment to mainly professional services, with rental rates that are low in comparison to areas such as Canary Wharf. With an impressive and very extensive range of town centre facilities on the doorstep, plus numerous amenities, public transport links, road connectivity and services, it is no wonder this area is considered a key location by so many businesses.

Retail
The retail sector share in Havering is one of the largest in London.

Havering has seven designated town centres, a Metropolitan town centre and six district town centres. Romford is the Metropolitan town centre within the borough and is the 5th largest within the London region. Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row, Elm Park, Harold Hill and Rainham are the district town centres within the London Borough of Havering.

Romford town centre has a diverse range/special mix of national high street shops/brands, unique specialist independents, restaurants, cafés plus a traditional outdoor market dating back to 1247. Romford has three large vibrant shopping and leisure malls plus a shopping arcade; The Brewery, The Liberty, The Mercury and The Romford Shopping Hall.

Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row, Elm Park, Harold Hill and Rainham offer a diverse range of multiples and unique specialist independent shops and restaurants all within conventional high streets and historical locations.

A Key Manufacturing Hub
The Havering Riverside Employment Area at London Riverside in Rainham is a key hub for manufacturing businesses and employment opportunities in the Thames Gateway development zone. It is home to more than 500 firms ranging from small and medium businesses across a variety of sectors to major international companies. It is also home to important centres of learning and business support such as the Centre of Engineering and Manufacturing Excellence (CEME) and Havering College’s Southern Campus.

It also has the largest reservoir of available brownfield strategic industrial land in London. The newly opened East London University Technical College (Elutec) on the CEME campus offers a fantastic education centre for young people interested in manufacturing, engineering, design and technology has been created and delivered in partnership with distinguished businesses such as Ford and Network Rail and universities including University College London.

Other major sectors include admin support, education, logistics and the green sector. In 2010, Havering was included in the GLA’s plans for setting up a Green Enterprise District in East London (the Thames Gateway). This has already started to raise East London’s profile as a world-class business destination for green enterprises and as a pioneering centre for low-carbon solutions.