Richmond

Overview of borough

Resident population: 180,100

Working age population: 116,300

Key town centres: Richmond, Twickenham, Teddington, East Sheen and Whitton. American and German community clusters. Richmond-Upon-Thames, in south London, is the most popular outer London borough for Americans with over 2,000 residents, and has become increasingly attractive to US companies as a London base.

The German community is fairly even spread across many London boroughs; one of the most popular residential areas in South London is the borough of Richmond-Upon-Thames.

Skills and Labour Force

Qualifications

Richmond has 56.9% of the workforce qualified to degree level (NVQ4+) which is high when compared with London at 38.6%.

International Schools / Universities

American International University
Based in Richmond. They offer dual American/ English accredited degrees.
Web: www.richmond.ac.uk

German School
Web: www.dslondon.org.uk

Swedish School
Web: www.swedishschool.org.uk

Colleges / Universities

The Richmond Adult Community College
A sixth form college in Twickenham. Vocational courses, 2 campuses.
Web: www.racc.ac.uk

Richmond-upon-Thames College 
Web: www.richmond-utcoll.ac.uk

St Mary's College,
Part of the University of Surrey. Degrees tend to be focused on the arts and humanities, human sciences, and teacher training.
Web: www.smuc.ac.uk

Business Base

There are 98,900 economically active workers employed in the borough.

There are 10,100 VAT registered businesses within the borough.

In addition to a number of key multinational companies in the borough, there is strong small business activity particularly in the business & personal service, and wholesale & retail sectors.

Other niche sectors in the area include: creative industries - Teddington and Twickenham studios, and Haymarket Publishing; energy sector - AES, Wellington Holdings, Gazprom and Wingas; and information technology - Neolane.

Key companies include: Gazprom, Anheuser-Busch Europe Ltd - Brewing, Haymarket - consumer Media,  Wingas UK, PepsiCo Holdings - Food and Beverages, Reed Exhibitions UK - Event organizers,  Serco, National Physical Laboratory, Wellington Holdings - Manufacturer and distributor of specialist seals, EBay, Hy-ten Group and William Grant International.

Unemployment rate (model based) 3.8% (Apr 2006-Mar 2007).

Transport

14 railway stations connecting to Clapham Junction, Wimbledon, North Woolwich, Waterloo, and Reading.

District Line Underground available from Richmond and Kew Gardens
London Heathrow Airport is only a 20 minute drive Gatwick airport is a 50 minute drive.

The A3 links Richmond to the South Circular and the M25. The proximity of the M3, M4 and M25 provide excellent communication to the South West, West and the Midlands, as well as the rest of London and the South East.

Quality of life

Top 5 attractions:

Hampton Court Palace
www.guidetorichmond.co.uk/hampton.html

Richmond Park
www.guidetorichmond.co.uk/park.html

Royal Botanic Garden, Kew 
www.rbgkew.org.uk

Richmond Theatre 
www.guidetorichmond.co.uk/theatre.html

The RFU Stadium at Twickenham
(England Rugby Football Union)
http://www.rfu.com/TwickenhamStadium

Business Support

Richmond Chamber of Commerce
First floor, 1-3 Richmond Road, Twickenham, TW1 3AB
020 8891 7457
Web: www.richmondchamberofcommerce.co.uk/

Richmond upon Thames Council
Civic Centre, York Street, Twickenham TW1 3BZ
020 8891 1411
www.richmond.gov.uk