Barking
By Delia
For our first field trip of 2024, Place Collective UK visited Barking, East London. Be First’s, David Harley and local partners walked us through a comprehensive tour of Barking's regeneration, from energy centres to town centre residential, alongside flagship workspace and cultural schemes. We got to understand the vision of the area against a backdrop of high deprivation and population growth along with fascinating insights into local cultural and heritage aspects. Who knew Barking was once the busiest fishing port in the world?
Our fieldtrip focus was Barking town centre and the Roding Riverside, one of 8 transformation areas in Barking and Dagenham borough, hence giving a sense of the scale of change. This was evident from the outset at Barking Station where work was underway to improve the entrance to one of London’s busiest stations. The pneumatic drill propelled us to the first stop at ThreeSixty Workrooms, run by Barking Enterprise Centres CIC which provides affordable workspace designed by Assemble architects on the ground floor of 360 Barking residential development. Chief Executive, Karen West-Whylie explained how the space is used for local business events and for providing an intensive support programme to SMEs (currently working with 36 local food businesses) with industry expert mentorship.
A highlight stop was the flagship workspace and cultural scheme A House for Artists, the result of a 6-year effort by arts organisation Create London and Be First. Designed by Apparata Architects, it provides affordable flexible live/workspace for up to 20 artists arranged across five floors with a light and simple fitout. In exchange for reduced rent, the residents deliver free creative programmes for the neighbourhood. This model embeds artists within the community as opposed to the traditional gentrification scenario. Grayson Perry’s courtyard lamp sculpture ‘Inspiration Lives Here’ honours Dagenham’s inter-war Becontree Estate.
We admired the award-winning terrace of houses on North Street, a Be First project designed by Peter Barber architects providing 19 affordable houses at council rents on the site of a once narrow island grass strip. Walking through Barking Abbey Grounds we got an insight into the remarkable cultural heritage of Barking Abbey (666 – 1539), also noting ‘The Three Lamps’ on Abbey Green, historically known as a place where people gathered to demand their rights, from trade unionists to female workers and suffragettes. Opposite us on East Street, a heritage lottery grant had enabled the parade of attractively restored high street Edwardian shops.
Celebrating and improving access to the River Roding is part of a wider aim with schemes like Abbey Quays on a former retail park, a £300 million waterfront development of more than 1000 homes in a mixture of tenures. The council is delivering the Women’s Museum on a ground floor site here (part of a S106-agreement) celebrating local heroes such as Saint Ethelburga and Mary Wollstonecraft. Across the River Roding at Fresh Wharf, a Countryside Properties site was halfway through a proposed 911 home scheme, commercial units, riverside moorings, leisure uses and a new park. Walking south we arrived at Ice House Quarter with its award-winning Granary building and the Malthouse providing affordable space for creative industries. Architect and PCUK member, Nikolai Delvendahl talked us through the Bow Arts ground floor conversion to 20 artists’ studios. A challenge was to maintain the stipulated active frontage whilst providing a level of privacy, the solution being a semi open plan, balancing privacy and active frontage with every artist having their own front door.
Within the Gascoigne estate, regeneration has been replacing high-rise blocks with new high quality mixed tenure development. Residential buildings aim to have as many front doors on the street as possible with a focus on a brickwork aesthetic. We passed the award-winning Gascoigne Primary School with its innovative roof play design and walked to Gascoigne Square Park by Turkington Martin, designed for active recreation through to quiet contemplation with MoveArt structures inspiring new ways to explore and interact. Heading north into Barking Town Square, Muf’s design transformed a once bland public space with landscaping and trees, public art, details such as Tom Dixon lamps, terrazzo paving and the Barking Learning Centre to win ‘Best European Public Square’ in 2008.
Rachel Foreman from alma-nac architecture practice presented the Barking Energy Centre, a project by B&D Energy, WSP & Be First (currently under construction). It has 3 core functions; to produce sustainable energy for the borough (+10,000 homes), to educate and inform the local community on sources of energy and to be a civic landmark central to Barking. The building is designed to be accessible and to encourage engagement and curiosity with its exposed functionality. Heat and energy are produced via a combined heat and power plant whilst the new network can be linked to future sustainable energy sources and emerging new technologies.
We ended with a tour of the former Council office block Roycraft House transformed by workspace provider MAKE IT London. Hannah Briley explained how the 3,400 sqm space became a hybrid affordable workspace prototype and cultural designation in a 5-month refurb. A dedicated team of 6 manage the project (10.5-year lease) with its ground floor multi-use event space and bar, 60 workspaces, 28 desk spaces, wellness/fitness studio and photography/film studio. They deliver employment opportunities and community events actively participating in the local economy with aims to benefit the wider borough rather than only be seen as an ‘affordable’ workspace provider. Discussions and networking were continued in MAKE IT’s Factory 15 Bar, the final stop on another inspirational PCUK field trip. Thank you to PCUK, Be First and partners.
