Housing innovation to sustain creative practise in Hackney Wick and Fish Island
The CDT commissioned New housing research from Charli Bristow, former CEZ manager. The research focuses on the housing needs of local creatives living in Hackney Wick and Fish Island (HWFI).
HWFI was named one of London’s first Mayorally designated Creative Enterprise Zones in 2018, in recognition of both its contribution to London’s creative economy and the jeopardy the area faced from rising land values and a need to mature and diversify, supporting not only growth but greater inclusion. Organically grown, the area initially attracted artists seeking low-cost space in former industrial buildings from the 1990s. Since 2012, it has undergone rapid development and change from the coming of the Olympics. This change has produced widespread concern about the loss of workspace and affordable housing.
In this report, Bristow finds recent initiatives to provide housing in HWFI have failed to meet the needs of local creatives and people co-living in warehouses. Housing is out of the budget for most and sufficient provisions have not been made for a secure and sustainable work-live model of creative practitioners occupying local warehouses. These factors combined mean many are leaving the area, having a detrimental impact on the vibrancy and attractiveness of the neighborhood.
While these challenges are not unique to the area, HWFI's status as an internationally recognised cultural cluster provides a clear remit for focusing on the housing needs of creative practitioners with a view towards sustaining the cluster.
Bristow recommends new approaches to delivering i) work-live space which prioritises affordability and implements frameworks to ensure workspaces are continually used for creative practice and ii) community led housing models tailored to facilitate creative production, that will have significant potential to form part of a solution. Bristow argues that HWFI is uniquely positioned to pilot innovative solutions to housing challenges: it is a creative heartland where new approaches to securing affordable workspace are emerging, it additionally benefits from Creative Enterprise Zone status and a policy context which is supportive of innovative housing models.