Players from QPR joined hundreds of children and young people to open the new WEST Youth Zone in White City.
WEST is part of Hammersmith & Fulham Council's ambitious new £150million EdCity development, located close to QPR's Loftus Road stadium.
We chose the charity OnSide as our partner for our EdCity project and granted them the land due to their excellent record and our shared mission to change and improve young people's lives.
Rangers' players Jimmy Dunne and Lucas Andersen visited the youth centre opening party in April.
Every young person deserves the best possible start in life
The new Youth Zone is now open seven days a week. More than 700 people have already signed up with memberships costing just £5. They then pay 50p each time they visit.
WEST CEO Elanor Gunn said: "I'd like to say a huge thank you to our staff, volunteers and incredible supporters, in particular Ark and the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, for enabling us to now be open seven days a week for young people."
The Youth Zone also includes an indoor climbing wall, performing arts studio, fitness studio, and a café that will serve hot nutritious meals costing no more than £1.
Click here to sign up as a member and here to see WEST session times.
WEST Babyzone
The new Youth Zone also includes a dedicated Babyzone. It's a free space for families with children aged up to five years old to come and play together.
It includes different classes to participate in such as:
- toddler sense
- baby sensory
- baby yoga
- little kickers
- craft
- reading and more.
The BabyZone is open every Tuesday 9:30am to 2:30pm (term-time only) with everybody welcome to attend any time between these hours.
Find out more about the Babyzone on Facebook or email hello@babzyzone.org.uk
Royal visit to EdCity
The Prince of Wales paid a special visit to EdCity in March.
He heard how H&F's innovative partnership with OnSide has brought the WEST Youth Zone to White City.
Prince William toured the Youth Zone, meeting young people using the four-court indoor sports hall, before seeing the teaching kitchen and unveiling a commemorative plaque. He was also invited to join in a game of basketball.
Our EdCity development also includes:
- a new Ark White City Primary Academy, opened in November last year
- 132 new homes – all of which are affordable for local people
- a new building for Harmony Nursery to increase capacity to 75 children
- an expanded H&F Adult Learning and Skills Centre providing training and life-long learning opportunities for local residents
- a new 100,000sqft office space for up to 1,000 jobs and other organisations and businesses.
For more details, visit the EdCity website.
Industrial Strategy boost for White City
We launched our Industrial Strategy in partnership with Imperial College London in 2017.
It's designed to support the development of a world-class innovation ecosystem, fuelled by close collaboration between academics, businesses, entrepreneurs and residents.
We've now attracted more than £6billion of investment in White City from some of the world's hottest science, tech, education, media and medicine companies.
This investment has helped us create more than 8,000 local jobs in exciting new tech-driven industries to this new global economic hotspot in White City – which is now home to major global companies such as Novartis, L'Oréal and Publicis.
