Pinpoint Interviews: Ajit Chambers (TOLOC) on Reinventing London ...

As part of our Pinpoint Interview series, Pinpoint Politics? Prithvi Hirani presents an interview with Ajit Chambers, founder of ?The Old London Underground Company?.

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Mr. Chambers, a former executive at JPMorgan Chase, founded The Old London Underground Company in 2009 as a visionary and challenging project to re-imagine London?s cultural landscape. His ambitious plans have the support of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and have the potential to change the way we see old and disused sections of the UK?s capital city. Furthermore, the success of the unique business model behind The Old London Underground Company may encourage other global cities to begin to reinvent rundown historical landmarks into economically viable cultural heritage.

Some of the plans for the London Underground?s abandoned tube stations include rooftop restaurants, sections of empty corridor opened up as historical attractions, and even climbing walls positioned in the deep underground shafts.

PH: What exactly is the Old London Underground Company? How are you undertaking this project?

AC: The Old London Underground Company was designed to use a consortium of UK businesses to build underground space under any city in the world. The company?s first operations are to change London?s 26 abandoned tube stations into a range of experiential tourist attractions ? with associated businesses such as food and beverage.

I have designed two bespoke methodologies:

1.? A political methodology to get through political hoops by showing value to the defined stakeholders of any city. This is being released to Universities around the world at the moment (picture on the right). The University of Dubai and Cambridge University are currently using The Old London Underground Company (TOLUC) as an example of strategy in their business courses.

2.? A funding methodology to be able to gather funders and create ROI through a private and public partnership (PPP) but without the legal expense of creating an over-complex requirement.

PH: What is the inspiration behind it? What is the vision and for how long have you been working on it? Like Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the London Assembly, we are curious to know the main causes of delay?

AC: The inspiration is purely selfish ? that I want to build something during my lifetime, rather than simply spend it in an office. I have been working on it for three years after realising that the Leisure and Tourism Sector enabled me to build a sustainable way of making revenue for London in the ?credit crunch?.

The main cause for delay in large projects is usually the people who are against them.? These people are easily identified as people who are part of the political chain but who make no personal financial gain, yet they?still?have to do work on the project.

PH: We are aware of the support you are receiving from the Mayor of London and Conservatives like John Redwood. However, how are you coping with challenges from Transport for London (TfL) and red tape and the Ministry of Defence?

The Company is supported by the Mayor of London who pledged on BBC Parliament TV that ?we will do the project as long as it doesn?t cost a penny of public money?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wq3fNmnYyuA

The Company is also awaiting a site visit into one of the Ghost Stations by the Chair of the All Parties Group (APG) for Underground Spaces in Parliament and another 65 MP?s, assisted by The Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy, which is a positive sign too.

Also, we are coping well since MP Mike Weatherly (Hove and Portslade) came on Canadian TV outside Westminster and showed support towards the project.

Transport for London, (TFL) is after all a government led body that is dealing with state assets and must therefore abide by the rules set out by HM Treasury concerning any property.? We have support from within HM Treasury from the Commercial Secretary ? Lord Sassoon and other such respected members of the Treasury. Challenges from TFL are being overcome on a daily basis ? The Mayor of London has now tasked TFL?s David McNeill to steer us through any Red Tape within TFL.

The Ministry of Defence is a curious one. Those on the?business side of the MoD are assisting me, whereas individuals in the MoD property group are under scrutiny as we question them over an intended untendered sale of government property (much like in the Rebecca Brooks case).

PH: How do you believe that this project is providing the kind of urban regeneration London desperately needs? What have been the major urban planning barriers to a project redefining London?s heritage?

AC: The Project is showing London that urban regeneration does not have to be ?more of the same? and that thinking out of the box will show us the answers that are hidden but blindingly obvious once explored. We are making ?1 billion pounds of space available to a city that is desperate for it by simply adding health and safety in an efficient and?economic way.

Major urban planning barriers have all been beaten by meetings over the past year. Westminster?s planning department has been the most helpful. After all, if the Qatari Royal Family can build a house (worth ?70 million) within 6 months in central London within 50 metres of one of the Ghost Stations, and manage to get through planning, I am sure a Heritage project that is set to bring ?50 million into the country should be able to do at least the same?

PH: How are you bringing this project to the fore in the public domain? I came across the e-Petition to the Government, tell us a bit about your advocacy strategy?

I have run a number of media campaigns across the world advertising ?the opening of the abandoned tube stations in the world?s oldest underground system?.

Most recently Metro International launched a story in 22 countries. I know that the value of the project itself is unbeatable, therefore many may try and discredit me ? but the project itself will stand solid. I started with financial media ? Bloomberg, City AM, Bridging and Commercial etc ? and then moved to International Media and then back to Local media.? I remember when we got to a position where one in ten people knew about the project, now one in two people in London know about it. Exposure at different stages is crucial to success ? by proving the project?s real value (which is to capture the spirit of London as we move into the recovery) I can prove that I am doing something for the country, a mentality that few people still believe exists.

I also always believe that you have to give something to gain something so I have given public talks to a number of organisations, such as Subterranea Britannica in the Imperial College London, and supported Cambridge University Press as they use us in the business and economics course for Entrepreneurialism and Strategy. I filed an Early Day Motion in Parliament (EDM); I started the petition; I invited 66 MP?s on a ghost stations site visit (to which Norman Baker, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary?of State for Transport, arranged his own private visit after our meeting, arising to say ?I do see value in exploiting the derelict tube stations?).

In a nutshell, the project itself has such strength that everyone knows it should happen, my job is simply to make it happen.

PH: What kind of projected positive impact will it have on these areas of London, culturally and economically?

Culturally, the project was made to capture the spirit of the 2012 Olympics and put it into a project that will be hard to match by any other country?s Olympics in the future ? as we have the world?s oldest Underground which was copied by New York and Paris years later.? Economically, the project is mammoth! Economically, we value the build cost of the sites to pay the consortium in the value of ?200 million, therefore filtering investment into the country. The real benefit is that our UK consortium can then bid to open underground space under cities ALL over the world with this experience.

PH: Why is it important, in a city like London, for the Old London Underground Company to revitalise and reallocate public space? How can the project benefit the people of London, the UK and the world?

The project tangibly shows that anything is possible with hard work in the right places, and a loyal and delivery-based approach. As the UK?s financial situation flounders under changing political power battles, we are showing that sticking to a goal with unerring attention to detail can deliver a project of this complexity. The project benefits the people of the UK be revitalising public splace and demonstrating the value of our kind of?approach.

PH: In an interview last year you said, ?We?re at crunch time now, where I have proof of funds of twenty million pounds. I?m going to make you a company that will deliver two hundred million pounds worth of turnover for London businesses.?, What gives you the confidence to believe in the success of the Old London Underground Company as a business and as a cultural project?

The confidence comes from a multitude of factors. If I had to give you a simple answer it would be that all my actual experiences over the past 39 years were used in the calculation to produce this product, this tourist adventure, with the knowledge that if I am wrong I will have to change myself. As a cultural project, what gives me confidence is that I can call anyone in the world right now. No one is not taking my calls, from Barbara Broccoli to the Head of Coca Cola U.S., and knowing that I called the Board of the Heritage Lottery Fund, the World Monuments fund CEO, and the Visit England Chief Executive first, gives me confidence; I am?realising that culturally this project fills a gap in the UK, the gap of future and recovery and spirit.

PH: Lastly, in some sense, the Old London Underground Project is redefining the historical map of the city, what are the benefits and challenges of such a big responsibility?

The main benefit is that my team and I feel true success which often doesn?t come with a salaried job.? The challenges are that my team and I must use all our contacts and our true personality to move the project forward. In essence we ALL put out names behind it.? In history the majority laugh at the minority who do projects like this.? I tell my team that eventually that majority become our clients and customers ? paying clients and customers. The key to responsibility is that if it?s enjoyable? you?re in the right place.

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Ajit Chambers is the founder and CEO of The Old London Underground Company (TOLUC). Formed in 2009 with the continued support of Boris Johnson, TOLUC manages a consortium of businesses working together under a bespoke methodology?to make commercial use of space under major cities around the world. London?s elusive ?Ghost? tube stations are the company?s flagship product.?Formerly a JPMorgan executive, Ajit has been a strategy consultant on major projects within the MENA environment over the past 15 years.?His strategy to hand pick staff from different departments and even different towns led to early success remodelling the Barclays Global call centre strategy.?He was later was influential in the partnership change contract (2006) from EDS to Getronics.

Source: http://pinpointpolitics.co.uk/?p=3508

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