Here East – Delancey’s innovation, tech and esports hub located in East London – has created a Here East Virtual Twin to showcase its campus at the heart of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
The virtual twin provides a platform for remote viewing, leveraging game engine technology to allow people from across the globe to virtually visit Here East remotely, in real-time.
Here East, Delancey’s innovation campus in East London, has partnered with digital design specialists Squint Opera for the Here East Virtual Twin. This is a replica of the Here East campus in the online world, which will eventually allow visitors to explore the campus on their own terms.
Initially, the twin is being used as an R&D tool to test emergent use cases, but will eventually be accessible for visitors to view.
Currently, the outside areas on campus can be explored in the virtual twin – and parts of the Press Centre, which is one of the main buildings on site. Here East is working on a phase two of the twin’s development, which will unlock more inside spaces around the campus.
“We are delighted to have partnered with Squint Opera to take this transformative step and develop our virtual twin. The ability to replicate our vibrant campus in a virtual forum and show people from all over the world our site, whilst having real-time conversations with them, is really unique.”
Gavin Poole, Here East
Esports News UK reached out to a Here East representative to ask about the photos supplied to us above and below, and whether they are real photos or of the virtual campus. The rep said the photos are of the virtual campus.
“The replica is very realistic due to technology that integrates data and animation with elements captured on-site – such as photographs and recorded sounds,” they said.
The Here East Virtual Twin leverages software including Epic’s Unreal Engine 5; Squint Opera has created a 3D replica of the Here East campus, which is experienced online, in real-time.
By integrating existing data with on-site captured elements – like photographs, recorded sounds, animated components and dynamic natural lighting – Squint Opera created a detailed replica of the campus.
The platform is powered by SpaceForm, which specialises in enterprise metaverse experiences for the built environment, allowing potential tenants, investors and communities to experience the campus without leaving their computers.
Here East Virtual Twin hopes to promote site globally
Here East is home to 6,000 people and 37 organisations in the technology, academic and creative sectors, including Staffordshire University London.
With 94% of its 1m sq ft site already leased, the virtual twin offers a new way to promote the campus globally, paving the way for future expansion.
Gavin Poole, CEO of Here East, commented on the Here East Virtual Twin: “We are delighted to have partnered with Squint Opera to take this transformative step and develop our virtual twin. The ability to replicate our vibrant campus in a virtual forum and show people from all over the world our site, whilst having real-time conversations with them, is really unique.
“This is an exciting step for us. We continue to experiment with the twin in this phase of research and development, and we look forward to being able to open up our East London home in due course. We will be able to showcase the collaborative environment we have cultivated and fostered over the last decade to new audiences globally.”
Alice Britton, Founding Director of Squint/Opera, said: “Squint Opera devised a true-to-life virtual facsimile of Here East to powerfully communicate this innovative space to a wide and varied audience. Our Virtual Twin uses Spaceform to connect and immerse people in this virtual twin, no matter where they are.
“The capability of our virtual twin to create a genuinely immersive environment for meetings enables our client to present every aspect of their project to potential tenants, investors, and communities in real-time. Here East has innovation at its heart, and together we’ve created a product that really reflects that.”
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
