“The generous funding secured will ensure that the building becomes a vibrant community asset making the arts more accessible by promoting heritage, cultural diversity and wellbeing.”
In partnership with Newham Council, Creative Land Trust has secured £3.8 million from The National Lottery Heritage Fund and other funders, to restore Alice Billing House, a Grade II listed, firefighters’ quarters, which incorporates a rare, firehose drying tower. The building is named after the first female sanitation officer in the borough.
Alice Billing House is being transformed and brought back to life as affordable studios for artists and creatives, who are critical to the ongoing contribution of £63 billion of annual economic output made by the UK’s creative industries.
Additional generous multiyear funding has been provided by the Garfield Weston Foundation and Architectural Heritage Fund as well as London Legacy Development Corporation and London Borough of Newham. The project benefits from ongoing advice and support from specialists at Historic England.
Alice Billing House sits at the heart of Stratford in East London. The news comes one year after Creative Land Trust opened the doors of the South Building under budget and on time, in collaboration with Newham Council, Purcell Architects and Grow Studios. It now provides permanent workspace for 25 artists.
The £3.8 million of funding will breathe life back into the North Building and further improve the South Building, ensuring that the Grade II listed property is safely restored and taken off the Heritage at Risk register. Its new resident artists will continue to build upon the inclusive and representative resource for Newham’s residents, offering activities in the new public spaces, including a pavilion and garden.
On completion in early 2027, Alice Billing House will provide additional affordable studios for up to 42 creatives, securing permanent space for local artists to thrive creatively and economically. It will also fund an ongoing outreach programme run by Grow Studios that centres around the arts and local heritage and engages extensively with the local community.
L- Willow Wreath-Making Workshop. Credit: Monika Szolle.
R – Playing with Fire Installation by Andy Mac Manus. Credit: Monika Szolle.
Annie Clements CEO of Creative Land Trust said: “The generous funding secured will ensure that the building becomes a vibrant community asset making the arts more accessible by promoting heritage, cultural diversity and wellbeing. Securing affordable workspace for artists and creatives in London is our focus and we are actively looking to partner with local authorities and property owners to expand our portfolio and replicate this flagship project in other underused heritage buildings across London and beyond.”
Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz said: “The Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz said: “The Creative Land Trust has been doing fantastic work across London opening up new affordable spaces for artists across the capital. So, we are excited to be working with them on Stratford’s Alice Billing House. Artist studios not only act as incubators for ideas, they bring a different vibrancy to an area. Artists can transform an area, breathing new life into communities and bringing new opportunities and businesses. We’ve seen how successful the first phase of Alice Billing House – it can only get better with the second, giving many local artists an affordable place to work.”
Stuart McLeod, Director of England – London & South at The National Lottery Heritage Fund, said: “We’re thrilled to be able to support this fantastic project thanks to National Lottery players. Not only will this project restore a historic building that is at risk, but it will offer Newham’s community a space to gather and artists a place to thrive. Projects like this are so important as they breathe new life into the communities we live in and the heritage that surrounds us every day.”
Riona McMorrow, Head of Grants at The Architectural Heritage Fund, said “It brings us great pleasure to have awarded further funding towards the transformation of Alice Billing House. Having previously supported work to restore the South Block, now a thriving asset for Stratford and London’s creative community, we are delighted to be providing this new Heritage Revival Fund grant towards design work for the refurbishment of the North Block. We look forward to seeing this heritage-at-risk asset brought back into sustainable use, providing additional affordable studios and helping more local artists to thrive creatively and economically.”
Aisha Mirza, Alice Billing House Studio Holder, accessible studio, said: “Finding genuinely affordable and accessible studio space in this city has become nearly impossible. I was looking for two years before I came across Alice Billing House and very luckily, I was accepted. Having this consistent space for dreaming, making and planning has brought a sense of security and possibility to my life and the life of my wider community which is completely priceless.”
Jordanna Greaves, Head of Cultural Engagement at Grow Studios, said: “This past year, bringing a new chapter into Alice Billing House has been both exciting and rewarding for the Grow Studios team. With the South Block now full of artists and a growing public engagement programme, there’s a renewed sense of energy and purpose in this incredible heritage site. Bringing artists together is at the heart of what we do at Grow, and we’re looking forward to building on this momentum as the North Block is brought back into action, and we continue to help shape the building’s future for all those who use it.”
Elizabeth Smith, Partner and Chair at Purcell said: “The restoration of Alice Billings House marks an important step in the physical, social, cultural, and environmental renewal of this historic Stratford site. We are pleased that funding has been secured to complete the restoration of the building’s North Block, helping to preserve its remarkable heritage. We look forward to continuing our work with Creative Land Trust to realise our joint vision of returning the building to public use and supporting creativity in Stratford through the provision of affordable studios, opening up new opportunities for artists, and contributing to the site’s long-term regeneration.”
L – Inside Alice Billing House South Block. Credit: Monika Szolle.
R – Credit: Andrew Baker Photographer
About Creative Land Trust
Creative spaces create value, and Creative Land Trust has been established to ensure that London’s artists and makers have affordable workspaces in which to innovate and create. Their activities contribute to the £63 billion per annum in economic output generated by the UK’s creative industries. Working with specialist studio providers, Creative Land Trust is on target to deliver affordable workspaces for over 300 artists in four buildings across London. It is actively seeking property owning partners with whom it can bring forward new workspaces to add vibrancy to new and established parts of London by enlivening existing vacant buildings, creating new places and actively engaging with existing communities through art.
Founded five years ago with Outset Contemporary Art Fund and with investment from the Mayor of London, Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Creative Land Trust has secured a portfolio of fully occupied studios, run by experienced studio providers and let on affordable terms. Subsequently, it has raised funding to restore a significant heritage at risk asset in partnership with the owning local authority and it has worked closely with the Mayor of London to develop new policy, which is designed to make the delivery of affordable workspace affordable for studio providers.
The impact of the spaces Creative Land Trust has delivered to date has been carefully measured and it is known to facilitate economic development, employment, community interaction, social benefit and wellbeing. As a charity, Creative Land Trust reinvests its receipts in the growth and delivery of its charitable objective – to retain London’s creative industries in London.
Contact our CEO, Annie Clements at info@creativelandtrust.org for more information.
About National Lottery Heritage Fund
Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.
Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6 billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.
heritagefund.org.uk
Follow @HeritageFundUK on Twitter/X, Facebook and Instagram
About Grow Studios
Established in 2007, Grow Studios began in two converted warehouses in Hackney Wick with a mission to provide affordable, customisable workspaces for artists and makers. Rooted in a strong DIY and sharing economy ethos, Grow has cultivated a vibrant and diverse community of over 100 creative practitioners – both established and emerging talent – across its Hackney Wick and Stratford sites.
The Studios are part of a wider ecosystem that includes GROW, an independent music and arts venue in Hackney Wick. The founders also operate studios with a project space in Plymouth.
growstudios.co.uk | alicebillinghouse.co.uk
Follow @growhackneystudios | @alicebillinghouse