Creative Land Trust invites expert studio providers to apply to run affordable creative workspace
An opportunity to provide genuinely affordable long-term workspace in Hackney, supporting artists in developing their practices, ensuring the creative community can thrive.
Having recently announced the acquisition of 33,000 square feet of ground and lower ground floor space that forms part of a new mixed-use development in the heart of Hackney Wick, Creative Land Trust is now looking for studio providers committed to equality, diversity, sustainability and community to run the workspace.
This is an opportunity to take a lease on either or both Blocks B and D at Curie House, 80-84 Wallis Road, a total of over 20,000 square feet. The blocks are currently under construction by Telford Homes with handover of the workspace to a shell and core specification to be delivered in late October 2021. Applicants will be asked to outline how they intend to use, run and let out the space, while locking in end-user affordability at rents not exceeding £14.50 per square foot. We encourage organisations with a track record in delivering affordable studio space to apply.
Cell Studios Returns to its Former Site
We are also delighted to announce that Cell Studios & Projects have been appointed to run the affordable workspace at Block A in the development’s Agate House. Cell Studios operated the workspace on this site before its redevelopment, and we’re thrilled to be able to build on their long relationship with the creative heritage of Hackney Wick.
Cell’s new studios in Block A will offer a range of sizes to accommodate the diverse spectrum of visual arts practices and workspace requirements of practitioners at all career stages, enabling a truly rich and diverse artistic community. The studios are aimed at visual artists working with painting, sculpture, moving image, performance and photography.
If you are looking to operate affordable studio space in the London Borough of Hackney please send your expression of interest to applications@creativelandtrust.org. Full details of the available space and an Invitation to Participate will be sent to you, ahead of a submission deadline on 17 May.
Background
Creative Land Trust was established in 2019 to secure long term, affordable workspace for London’s artists and creatives, ensuring a vibrant and prosperous future for this critical industry, enriching communities and strengthening our city. The Trust’s aim is to secure 1,000 affordable workspaces in the first five years, providing space for the creative sector and helping to maintain London’s status as an international cultural capital. This is a critical moment for art and culture in London, as the impact of Covid adds to the financial pressures forcing creatives out of the city; Creative Land Trust aims to reverse the trend.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, culture and the creative industries in London were worth £58 billion a year and accounted for one in six jobs in the capital. However, it is thought that the pandemic hit creative industries ‘twice as hard as the wider economy in 2020’, with a ‘projected 122,000 drop in employment among employees’ and ‘287,000 job losses among self-employed workers’. These projections are reflected in the Creative Workspace Resilience Fund with some studio’s providers reporting an average drop in income of 70% across artist tenants.
The Trust acquires buildings through purchase of freeholds and long leaseholds, asset transfers and strategic partnerships with local authorities, developers and landowners. The Trust then works with expert studio providers to lease space to artists, makers and other creative practitioners.
Alex Notay and Catherine Webster, Co-Chairs of Creative Land Trust:
“Creative Land Trust is excited to kick off the tender process of its first acquisition and looks forward to working with studio providers to deliver affordable studios at Stone Studios. We are delighted that Cell Studios & Projects, by reason of its long term involvement in the site and past success in the area, will be taking one of blocks for studio space and encourage other providers to come forward for the remaining space.”
Suzanne Johnson, Head of Area Regeneration Hackney Council:
“Creative businesses and activities are central to the Hackney Wick economy, culture and community and are key to its designation as one of London’s first Creative Enterprise Zones. Supporting the Creative Land Trust to secure its first site in Hackney Wick will support the creative community by ensuring that long term, sustainable affordable workspace is delivered in the area and reinforce the identity of the area as one of London’s most recognisable and successful creative clusters. It’s great news that Cell Studios, who have been based in Hackney Wick for some time and who are on our Approved Workspace Provider List, will be part of the development.”
Richard Priestley, Co-founder / Director, Cell Project Space & Studios:
We are thrilled to be partnering with the Creative Land Trust in their landmark first acquisition, and look forward to working alongside the other likeminded organisations that take up CLTs tender to operate the other affordable workspaces in the building. At a time when artists feel their contribution to community is threatened through lack of workspace availability and affordability, it is heartening to see that tide being turned by the CLT, and Cell is fully committed to playing our part in that positive change. The new studios will be considerably more affordable than in the former factory building on the site, but also built for purpose, fully accessible, better provisioned and with capped and controlled rents.