At Home on the Peninsula
We all think we like to know London, though Angus Knowles-Cutler probably has a better grasp of today’s city than most. Knowles-Cutler is the UK Vice Chairman and London Office Managing Partner for the international business services firm, Deloitte, and business chair of the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP), which advises the Mayor’s office on strategy and government investment decisions in the capital.
He is also a visiting professor at the Centre for the Digital Economy at the University of Surrey, where he works on technology, AI, robotics and the changing nature of work.
Knowles-Cutler has worked on global surveys of talent within the major urban centres around the world, and has concluded that London is the high-skills capital of the world, with a great number of valuable, high-skilled workers than anywhere else. “New York is the next closest, but we’re still ahead,” he says.
Part of London’s appeal, he says, lies in its great mix of talents; there are few other places around the globe where you can meet with brilliant financiers and computer engineers in the morning, and world-class artists, gallerists and curators in the afternoon.
Now he’s working to ensure the city stays at the top. “We’ve got to work our way through Brexit first,” he explains, “but it’s all about skills education and training. We don’t need any more fork-lift truck drivers, or call-centre operators, for example. The Greenwich Peninsula’s Design District is a very positive model. And from my balcony I can see Stratford, where the new UCL campus is going in; I can look down and I can see the Thames Clipper; and in the sky, I can see the planes heading for City airport. The centre of London is obviously moving east. It's exciting.”
As you may have gathered, he’s a Greenwich Peninsula Resident, having recently acquired one of the Tom Dixon apartments inside No. 2 Upper Riverside. “We got the keys in March,” he says, “and it’s really exceeded our expectations. There’s a great social community here.” Though he only spends part of his week in London – there's also has a family home just outside the city – he has still managed to sign up to the Neighbourhood’s various WhatsApp groups; find a regular table at Ardoa, the Peninsula’s Basque kitchen and wine bar, which serves as kind social club for his building, he says; as well as take part in impromptu rooftop barbecues, and even strike up a minor, linguistic barter system with a fellow resident.
“Part of London’s appeal lies in its great mix of talents; there are few other places around the globe where you can meet with brilliant financiers and computer engineers in the morning, and world-class artists, gallerists and curators in the afternoon.”
“I’ve come across a very nice Portuguese neighbour,” says Knowles-Cutler, who also has a holiday home in Lisbon. “He’s been giving me some Portuguese lessons, and I’ve been helping him with his English.” It’s a small, but perfectly formed example of the kind of rich London skillset that might lie right next door.
