Art Park, London Borough of Harrow for Meanwhile Space CIC and Harrow Council with Jan Kattein Architects, engineersHRW and SGA Consulting

Art Park, London Borough of Harrow for Meanwhile Space CIC and Harrow Council with Jan Kattein Architects, engineersHRW and SGA Consulting

 

Art Park is a temporary creative campus in Harrow. The precinct provides 14 genuinely de-mountable, self-contained workspace units of various sizes and 6 micro exhibition spaces distributed across 3 small buildings that frame a triangular courtyard. The project responds to a need for affordable enterprise space and helps to diversify the existing town centre functions. Art Park is the first designated, flexible event-, exhibition, and specialist market space in Harrow Metropolitan Town Centre.

 

 

What is the programme and use of the space? How does the project foster community, connect people and contribute to urban life?

 

Art Park provides 14 self-contained community-, work- and retail spaces and six micro gallery spaces/retail showcases.
 
 Three small buildings enclose a communal courtyard. Elevating the ground floor above pavement level gives the buildings presence in their urban context, minimises the need for foundations and turns the yard into an amphitheatre for events and performance whole ramps ensure full accessibility.
 
 The courtyard fosters social interaction and provides opportunities for workspace tenants and creative practitioners to showcase their work. The illuminated glasshouses and three micro gallery containers have been placed in strategic positions to suit 2- and 3-dimensional art and design exhibits. Large in-built planters with native trees and shrubs screen the site from the car park, add green to a hard environment and attenuate rainwater run-off.
 
 Harrow’s town centre offer is dominated by retail and hot food take-away. Art Park introduces a complementary typology. The small footprint of units, associated rates exemption and flexible lease terms lower barriers for creative practitioners taking up workspace in the town centre. Shared spaces and communal events build a resilient community, setting entrepreneurs up for success and giving local people an opportunity to meet, learn and experience creativity.
 
 The site is designated as an Opportunity Area in the London Plan. Art Park is well-placed to inform the long-term development of the site, visibly advocating for the inclusion of affordable workspace, community and cultural uses in any legacy development whilst actively incubating the businesses and cultural organisations that will define Harrow town centre in the future.

How does the community space make a positive social and environmental contribution? 

 

Meanwhile projects build long-term resilience through temporality. Art Park does this by 
 
 - introducing untested uses and through its temporality reducing associated risk
 
 - acting as a stepping stone for recent graduates, market traders and home workers to move their business to the next level
 
 - re-purposing unproductive car parking space
 
 - giving the local authority a blueprint for rapidly addressing town centre decline
 
 - activating the town centre as a whole to increase footfall and viability of existing businesses
 
 - building a resilient community on site and setting entrepreneurs up for success
 
 London’s high land values combined with current funding constraints make it increasingly difficult to create community and affordable workspaces. Art Park capitalises on a window in the development pipeline where long-term development plans are yet to materialise.
 
 Art Park trials an ambitious approach to carbon reduction to inform similar temporary projects in the future. It does this by 
 
 - using small, generic building footprints that are easy to re-locate and can accommodate a range of uses
 
 - maximising usable floor area; minimising internal circulation
 
 - using reclaimed shipping containers
 
 - using generic structural systems details incl. exposed connections, removable lining and cladding
 
 - minimising the need for foundations and omitting internal finishes
 
 - using wood for construction elements that cannot easily be re-used
 
 - feeding the grid with 10,472 kw/h of electricity per annum using a 14.9KW photovoltaic system
 
 - using an electric heating; air source heat-pumps

 

Please explain the governance of the project, such as its viability, purpose, motivation and any consultation, co-creation or community engagement undertaken in the development of the community space. 

 

Art Park was delivered by Harrow Council and funded with Future High Street Funding from MHCLG. The project is underpinned by staged community engagement. The 4 stages are: explore, establish, develop and deliver. 
 
 Explore is characterised by a broad reach to understand the context and prioritise engagement leads. A survey distributed through existing business groups and cultural organisations sought to define potential uses and design approaches. The feed-back directly informed the design brief.
 
 Establish incorporated refined engagement with specific target groups. We undertook 16 1:1 conversation with creative entrepreneurs, third sector organisations, horticultural groups and business stakeholders. The interviews confirmed the vision to establish Harrow town centre as a hub for creativity design and advocated for students from Harrow College to become involved in the project.
 
 Develop focussed on space-led tenant recruitment. Particular effort went into identifying an anchor tenant and this effort led to the recruitment of the young person’s music organisation Crowning Greatness. 
 
 Deliver embodies a broad outreach program during the operational phase. The operational phase and community program was officially launched with a weeklong program of events in June 25 as part of the London Festival of Architecture which included an exhibition of designs from Harlow College Students.
 
 Art Park is managed and promoted by social enterprise Meanwhile Space CIC. All units are let at affordable rates and on flexible terms. Rental income covers operational costs. Regular tenant forums act as a sounding board and present an opportunity foster community cohesion and plan outreach activities.