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The Power 1000 - London's most influential people 2013: Introduction, a booming capital of tomorrow

Last year, The 1000 was brimming with Olympic champions. This year excitement has risen with the London skyline — and bubbled beneath the London pavements

LONDON, ENGLAND - JULY 03: 122 Leadenhall Street, known as the "Cheese Grater"(right), 20 Fenchurch Street, nicknamed the "Walkie Talkie" (centre), and the Shard (left), rise from the skyline of the City of London, viewed from the top floor of The Gherkin on July 3, 2013 in London, England. The Gherkin was opened in 2004 and has since become an iconic skyscraper on London's horizon, but new construction is continuing fast despite the economic climate and several major landmark buildings are currently being erected.

Matthew Lloyd/Getty Images

19 September 2013

London's Power 1000 is not a fixed and predictable list. It changes to reflect shifting fortunes and talents in a crucible of creativity where great ideas are as likely to come from individuals on laptops in coffee shops as from large corporations.

Last year, The 1000 was brimming with Olympic champions. This year excitement has risen with the London skyline — and bubbled beneath the London pavements. Cranes have dominated the city, while Crossrail powers beneath the soil. That landmark building the Battersea Power Station is being reborn; the remarkable Francis Crick Institute is rising in the midst of King’s Cross; a new business park in Albert Dock will be part of the great resurgence of the East. Our chunky new category this year, Movers and Shapers, pays tribute to the architects, engineers, developers and builders responsible for the physical expression of a booming capital of tomorrow.

This is a city at its best when it mixes future and heritage. The London Evening Standard has a role in this as a famous brand flourishing in a tough economic climate. It is also our purpose to nudge social progress, reporting on the powerless as well as the powerful. Our latest campaign, Ladder for London, encouraging companies to take on apprentices, is our contemporary version of Dick Whittington. London is, above all, a city of opportunity.

The capital is also a magnet for the rest of the world, so we start the list with our most powerful ambassadors. London’s newest power resident, Prince George, is a timely symbol. Our greatest tourist attraction, along with his great-grandmother, he has been chosen this year as the first among Londoners.

The 1000 is a power list of coruscating imagination and innovation. London has never felt more vivid or more open to possibilities.