Could London be losing its creative class?

Rohan Silva, a former senior policy advisor to UK prime minister David Cameron, has warned Londoners that the flow of creative people from New York to Los Angeles could be sign of things to come for the big smoke. He believes that the recent trend of creatives leaving New York due to exorbitant living costs and a lack of suitable studio space could also happen in London, and sooner rather than later!

Rohan Silver has warned that the flow of creative people from New York to Los Angeles could be sign of things to come for London

Silva worked for the Conservative government for nine years before establishing London's Tech City cluster of digital businesses, introducing tax breaks for angel investors and creating the concept of entrepreneur visas. He left Downing Street in 2013 to co-found the creative workspace Second Home, which opened its first building in London last year, which Silva described as a “New type of workspace and creative hub.” Designed by Spanish architects SelgasCano, the converted carpet factory attempts to reinvent the office to reflect contemporary working habits, allowing tenants to stay after work and mingle with one another.

Second Home is now planning to open a new outpost in the US, and has chosen LA over New York because Silva says “That's where the artists and the creatives are going, and that's what the company is about.” In preparation for the opening of its LA building, the company has bought SelgasCano's 2015 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion and will relocate the structure to a park in the Californian city at the end of the summer, where it will serve as a temporary performance and meeting space.

Silva worked as a senior policy advisor to David Cameron for nine years before establishing London's Tech City cluster of digital businesses

The mass migration of the creative class from New York is a cautionary tale for London according to Silva. He says” “I think we've really got to be careful in London that people don't pick another city and choose to go there, because the moment a city starts to lose its artists, things can fall apart and the city might lose its edge.” He does admit, however, that creatives in London are yet to find a suitable city, but warns it doesn't take long once the first few plant their roots and get the word out. He says: “The moment the sentiment moves, it can move very fast. The artists and the creative people are moving to LA and other people want to join them. And things can overcorrect. London's the same in that sense.”

London, like New York, is slowly becoming a city for the rich only. And with New York creatives finding suburbs such as Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick unaffordable and gravitating towards the West Coast as a result, how long before Londoners start to eye up Birmingham or Manchester as a more affordable alternative? There were a number of factors behind LA's emergence as a creative centre, including cheaper property prices, more distinct neighbourhoods (such as the arts district where Second Home is setting up shop) and the rise of the affordable taxi service Uber, which means that LA creatives are longer forced to drive everywhere.

Silva left Downing Street in 2013 to co-found the creative workspace Second Home, which opened its first building in London last year

The bottom line is that London needs to address the issues that have forced New Yorkers out of their home city before the same happens here. It's certainly not going to happen overnight, but Silva insists that serious changes need to be made if the creative class has any hope of surviving and thriving in the capital. He stresses that, whilst the traditional view for creatives has always been that they can move to a far flung area if city centre prices are too high, young people today interpret their quality of life differently to a generation before, preferring to live in the middle of the action. If you've ever lived in London, you'll almost certainly be aware of the fact that you simply cannot live anywhere close to the city centre in an affordable way, unless you opt for a house share situation or a complete hovel (hands up if you've tried both).

So, what steps do you think we need to take to make sure that Silva's grim portent of creative life in London doesn't come to pass? Sound off in the comments below.