New 'creative quarter' to be built next to the O2 in Greenwich

Affordable workshops: a design for a market hall with restaurants and cafes in the Greenwich peninsula complex

A new “creative quarter” of affordable workshops and studios for artists, designers and traders priced out of Soho and Shoreditch is to be built next to the O2 arena on the Greenwich peninsula.

A planned complex of 16 buildings will accommodate up to 1,500 workers from 2020, with rents starting from £10 per sq ft for a workshop, a fraction of the cost of the West End or “City fringe” districts such as Hackney or Shoreditch.

Today’s announcement of the project — part of the £8.4 billion regeneration of the Greenwich peninsula — comes as concerns grow that London’s creative community is being forced out of the capital by the pace of “gentrification” and spiralling costs. One recent study found that about a third of artist studios in London was at risk.

Eight architects have been commissioned by Asian-owned developers Knight Dragon to work on two buildings each to prevent the design district from looking homogenous and “corporatised”. They are Spanish practices Barozzi Veiga and SelgasCano; London’s Assemblage, Architecture 00, Adam Khan Architects, David Kohn and 6a Architects; and Cambridge-based Mole. The 16 buildings will be built in groups of four, each with a courtyard and with a public square at the centre.

There will also be a “market hall” with restaurants and cafes and one building will have a basketball court on the roof. The two-and-a-half-acre site will be car free. Richard Margree, chief executive of Knight Dragon, said the buildings would offer flexible space that could be rented for as little as a week at a time. The four- to five-storey buildings will be designed to accommodate “makers” who need heavy machinery and regular deliveries on the ground floors, desk-based creatives such as designers on the middle floors, and studios for photographers or artists on the top floor where there is the most access to natural light.

He said he hoped the 150,000 sq ft quarter would also attract professionals such as tax lawyers so that creatives could have access to all the “essential services” they need to run a business on one site. Average rents across the development will be £25 per sq ft.

Mr Margree said: “The creative industries have always been part of the lifeblood of London and the engine room of its current and future success story, whether it is fashion, art, music or theatre. The fact that we’re building something new and shiny does not make it sterile. Most creatives want a nice clean, safe space in a cluster but want it at an affordable level.”

Sammy Lee, chairman of Knight Dragon, said: “Creativity is what drives forward any thriving city. The Peninsula presents a unique chance for our team in London to create a new permanent district designed by creatives for creatives.

“At the very centre of this new community will be artists mixing with start-ups mixing with independent market traders and design companies, large and small; everyone is welcome. We want a real mix of companies.”

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