There is a corner of Beijing that is, if not forever, then for the next fortnight, at least, England. Or London, to be precise. On the edge of Hou Hai lake, lying to the northwest of the Forbidden City, British business leaders have laid out their stall in the hope that the Olympics opens more doors for them in China than the ones to the Bird’s Nest stadium and their down-town hotel room.

London House, lodging in the members-only Shi Cha Hai Club, is billed as a “shop window” for British – and in particular London – businesses to meet, greet and eat with their Chinese counterparts. During a hot and humid night on the eve of the opening ceremony, officials from the London Development Agency (LDA) told invited guests how the venue – funded by the London taxpayer – would promote the capital as a place to do business.

Besides the free wine, home comforts such as pork pies and a rare urban refuge in a quiet traditional courtyard, the bait is London 2012. The next four years offer a unique opportunity as Beijing hands over the Games and its thick contacts book of service suppliers, consultants and manufacturers.

Think London, the Government’s foreign direct investment agency, aims to come away from these Games with 30 “leads”, such as a Chinese company planning to invest in Europe within the next two years.

Brendan Dineen, the agency’s director of 2012 Games, said: “Over time, these would yield £11 million a year to the London economy. Everyone is trying to tell their story here. We need to use this as an opportunity for 2012.”

The way to these opportunities appears to be energetic networking at lunches, dinners, drinks receptions, open days and seminars with the likes of Bank of China, Samsung and China Netcom covering everything from London as a science and technology sector to its creative and educational aspects.

Ian Clement, a London deputy mayor, standing in for Boris Johnson, who does not land in Beijing until next week for reasons of thrift, said: “This is not smoke and mirrors. It’s real business meetings and real propositions.”

London’s economy is forecast to grow by $80 billion (£41.6 billion) over the next five years, according to research by Oxford Economic Forecasting. With the Chinese economy growing fast, the question is where investment will go – to London, Frankfurt or Paris. Mr Clement said: “Everyone is switched on to China, so the world is our competition. We have got to be on top of our game. We cannot afford to do nothing.”

Besides getting more Chinese companies to come to Britain – there are about 550 already there, half of which are in London – the aim is also to use the Olympics as a route into China.

There is no more direct an example than RMJM, the UK architects’ practice, which designed the 220,000 sq m Olympic media centre. The company has been in China for 20 years, but the £150 million project has raised its profile. The company has 48 live projects in China, including a $90 million bio-technology research and development centre for Genzyme Corp.

InterContinental Hotels Group, the UK company that owns Holiday Inn, has three hotels at the Olympic Park. It has been operating in China for 24 years and has 91 hotels, but it signed half of the deals for another 100 hotels in development in the last year alone.

The Games last only 16 days, however, and so companies must act quickly. If, between bites of canapés and sips of wine, British executives fail to hang on to “leads” from the Olympics, their trips – and the money spent on elaborate showcases such as London House – will have been wasted.

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