We Made That

We’ve been working on an important project to boost resilience and ecology in Battersea Business Quarter through a new public realm strategy. In collaboration with Urban Movement and Wandsworth Borough Council this establishes a strategic approach and vision for the public realm. The delivery of a series of ‘demonstrator’ projects will also test and iterate the strategy, including 2,950 m2 of new outdoor amenity space, +100 new trees and over 1,000 m2 of new sustainable urban drainage. The Battersea Business Quarter is a key area of development in Wandsworth’s Local Plan that sets out the Council’s ambitions for the Borough until 2038. The area sits right next to a new town centre which is built around the redeveloped and iconic Battersea Power Station that has now become a key focal point of the area, along with the arrival of the UK headquarters of Apple and Penguin Random House as well as the reimagined New Covent Garden Market. With this significant change, the district strategy provides safe, sustainable, and more enjoyable spaces for workers, visitors, and neighbouring communities whilst also mitigating the effects of climate change. Six overarching principles ensure action focuses on: 🌳 Enhanced biodiversity 🚴🏿♀️ Walking, cycling or using public transport 👣 Safe pedestrian routes 🤝 Boosting community-driven and inclusive spaces ↗️ Wayfinding to assist navigation 🚃 Celebrating unique industrial character More here: https://lnkd.in/e_cnVX7w 🤝 Stavros Oikonomidis, Holly Lewis, Tasnia Alam #publicrealmstrategy #ecology #sustainableurbanspaces #localengagement #BatterseaBusinessQuarter #WandsworthCouncil

As we come to the last day of the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, we look back to our event last week on Women's Safety Audits pilot projects. It was a moment to reflect, share insights, and celebrate a year of impactful collaboration in helping transform London’s public spaces to be safer for women, girls, and gender-diverse people. We’ve taken the opportunity to share the key resources developed during the Women’s Safety Audit pilot project. Dr Eve Avdoulos demonstrated how these documents are designed to empower organisations and community groups to conduct their own Women’s Safety Audits and create safer spaces in their local areas. The event brought together the project team, community researchers, Mayor's Office for Policing And Crime (MOPAC) and Transport for London, who co-commissioned this important work in support of the Mayor of London’s tackling Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. Together, we explored the lessons and significance of community-driven approaches to tackling safety challenges. We were delighted to have Caroline Criado Perez bring her deep knowledge and extensive experience as a champion of gender equality to chair the panel discussion. Drawing on themes from her book Invisible Women, Caroline reminded us why centring women’s voices is essential. 💡 Holly shared insights from the pilot, reflecting on our journey working with passionate community researchers from across the city. 💬 Kesi and Mia L., two of the amazing community researchers, spoke candidly about their experiences; choosing methods, gathering participants, and the critical importance of their involvement. They highlighted how audit methods gave them the tools to communicate about safety in new ways and open up meaningful discussions about challenging topics. 📢 Helen Cansick (Transport for London, Head of Healthy Streets Investment) and Lisa Le Masson (MOPAC, Senior Policy and Commissioning Manager) emphasised the importance of listening to grassroots voices and championing community-driven methods. They spoke about their ongoing commitment to using their networks to drive positive change on safety issues. This symposium showed what can happen through strong collaborations, involving women in shaping their spaces and providing the tools to support meaningful participation. Want step-by-step instructions and hands-on tools for planning, organising and implementing Women’s Safety Audits? Download the tools from the pilot project here: https://lnkd.in/eJ5Dzk3e Tasnia Alam, Eleanor Langdale, Niharika Basoae, Hanna B., Tiffany Lam, Mary-Helen Young, Annabel Precious, Clare Rishbeth, UCL Citizen Science Academy 📷 Jas Lehal #womenssafetyaudits #TfL #MOPAC #symposium #invisiblewomen #communityresearch #MayorofLondon #NoExcuse #16days

High streets are complicated places and the ground is shifting underneath them. Long-term vacancy remains a problem for many. So what should we be doing? Holly Lewis writes for The Guardian on emerging new approaches. Against a generally gloomy backdrop, a report published at the end of November by the House of Lords’ built environment committee makes for refreshing reading, opening with evidence of “an optimistic and flourishing future” for our high streets. The report is also honest about the scale of the problem. Our research for the Greater London Authority has documented that high streets are particularly important places for vulnerable people in society, so supporting them to overcome persistent vacancy is vital work. Investment in our high streets is investment in our communities. With the right overlapping of funding and need, they make for great places to tackle two issues with the same pound. If we’re smart about it, high streets can be at the core of the brighter future that we’re all searching for. #highstreets #adaptivestrategies #missions https://lnkd.in/ehvjwbhW

A Very #Croydon Christmas 👉 Come and join us on Saturday 7 December for a day of festive activities and input into the next stages of the Croydon Town Centre Regeneration Strategy. As part of our work on Croydon Council’s vision to re-define and shape the future of Croydon town centre, we have been hosting activities and interactive workshops with a wide range of local stakeholders. It's not too late to hear from you too! In July we heard from town centre businesses about how the town centre works for them, and they told us what sort of changes they would like to see in the future. Last month we heard from around 2000 people about specific spaces and activities around the town centre where they would like to see change and how this can help local businesses grow. This week we held a drop-in session discussing all things heritage, accessibility and healthy living. This Saturday we’ll be at #Croydon #UrbanRoom to celebrate and showcase some of the things we’ve heard. Come and join us for a day of festive activities, to say thank you for your input on the Croydon Town Centre Regeneration Strategy so far and to input into next stages of the strategy. Want to get crafty? Curious about how AI can help to demystify complex documents? Want to learn more about how decisions get made about your town centre? 📅 7th December ⏰ 10am - 5pm 📍 Croydon Urban Room, Whitgift Centre, CR0 1UQ Free and open to all. Book here 👉 https://lnkd.in/eveMftr3 #croydon #towncentre #engagement #regeneration #festive #popup

The idea of municipal architects in the UK generally conjures a particular era in our minds. The 1960s and 70s were a time of bold public building programmes. But, has the heyday of municipal architecture passed? Holly Lewis looks back to the future for TheMJ on her newest role as Town Architect for London Borough of Hackney where she is supporting the council’s existing in-house design teams in the delivery of an exciting range of programmes and projects. How can we re-invent the town/city architect role for the current local authority climate in 2024? 👀 https://lnkd.in/etV6R5sg #townarchitect #purpose #designchampion #London #Stadsarkitekter

Catch Oliver Goodhall in #Wigan tomorrow for "Room For Dreaming: Cultivating Creativity in Wigan Borough", where we’ll be exploring a chapter of The Fire Within: The Forge Cultural Manifesto and discussing how we can support artists and innovators in dreaming big, creating fearlessly, and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible by developing physical and mental space for creativity to thrive. Oliver will be contributing based our recent work with Esther Cordingley and Lauren Newby at ekosgen for Wigan Council on making strategic investments in: spaces, equipment, and most importantly, in the people who animate our creative sector. All part of embedding culture and #NationalSocialEnterpriseDay including hearing from Laura Mallows from ThickSkinTheatre and Emily Calland from Everyday and convened by Jess Fernhart 🙌💪 Tickets: https://lnkd.in/eQQBj4Wr

“What were you doing in that neighbourhood? At that bar? Waiting alone for a bus?' 'Why were you walking alone at night?' 'Why did you take a shortcut?' We anticipate these questions and they shape our mental maps as much as any actual threat. These sexist myths serve to remind us that we're expected to limit our freedom to walk, work, have fun, and take up space in the city. They say: The city isn't really for you.” (Leslie Kern) Discover how Women’s Safety Audits can help transform London’s public spaces. Hear what key experts, panellists and community researchers have learnt from a year of pilot projects. 📍 Safer London for All: Delivering Women's Safety Audits 📅 5pm – 7.30pm on 3rd December. Venue: Whitechapel Gallery Commissioned by Transport for London and the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime, We Made That and our supporting expert panel have spent the past year developing a methodology for piloting women’s safety audits to make London safer for women, girls and gender diverse people. This work has been delivered with community researchers, project leaders, an advisory board, UCL Citizen Science Academy and pilot local authorities. We are hosting a learning symposium to celebrate the journey, lessons and outcomes of the Women’s Safety Audit Pilot Project. We’ll be reflecting on the impact of this work during the United Nations 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, with Caroline Criado Perez (author of Invisible Women) chairing a panel discussion with Holly Lewis (We Made That), Mia L. (Community Researcher, Waltham Forest), Kesi Kadijah Fabu Randon MEng TechIOSH GMICE (Community Researcher, Westminster), Helen Cansick (Transport for London, Head of Healthy Streets Investment) and Lisa Le Masson (MOPAC, Senior Policy and Commissioning Manager). After the panel discussion and Q&A there will be an opportunity for networking and to connect with like-minded professionals and advocates dedicated to creating safer, more inclusive spaces. Join us as we discuss the process of the audits, highlight key findings, foster dialogue, and explore the broader implications of the project’s outcomes, with the goal of influencing future safety initiatives and policies. Book now 👉 Attendance is free and open to all, but capacity at the venue is limited so please book through Eventbrite: https://lnkd.in/e_kDy-zv Dr Eve Avdoulos, Tasnia Alam, Eleanor Langdale, Niharika Basoae, Hanna B., Tiffany Lam, Mary-Helen Young, Annabel Precious, Clare Rishbeth. 📷 Jas Lehal and Nina Robinson #womenssafety #TfL #MOPAC #saferlondonforall #spatialjustice #communityresearch #symposium #event 

The rebirth of town architects. Can the role of town architect be revived? Cities Today interviewed Holly Lewis on her role as the new town architect for #Hackney Central in a two-year pilot programme with Mayor of London and London Borough of Hackney. https://lnkd.in/e5MVMjnV

A big, bold bet on the creative industries? The government stepped up in 1946 and 2000 to provide for culture. We’re at another point of political change of gear. Unlike the millennium-era, our needs today aren’t a blob of a building sitting at the end of a quay, a jutting aquarium at a derelict dock, nor even a dome. These certainly had their time and place and (mostly) successes. In 2024 we need to enable clusters, networks of spaces and creative corridors to unlock opportunity. Enter, the Thames Estuary Production Corridor 👇 Oliver Goodhall writes in The London Standard https://lnkd.in/eBAypGSN