QUALITY STREET CASE STUDY
OVERVIEW
L&Q site Bream Street is situated in the heart of Hackney Wick, a much publicised area of regeneration, what is often seen, to the detriment of the artistic community that have long been its lifeblood.
Already supporting local initiatives and events such as Hackney WickED, L&Q identified the negative attitude held by artists towards developers and constrcutors developing the area and wanted to implement a campaign to offer a creative outlet that would mitigate the graffiti seen across other developments.
L&Q sought the help of Wood Street Walls CIC an East London based arts collective, whose artists are currently based in Hackney Wick, to consult on the approach to ensure local talent was represented and 180m of hoardings surrounding the perimeter of the site was covered with artwork.
Approach
Wood Street Walls enlisted respected printmaker Aida Wilde, curator of Save Yourselves - a campaign to celebrate Hackney Wick’s artist community and a key voice in the the Hackney Wick community (where her studio is based) to curate the campaign alongside founding Wood Street Walls artists Static.
With the hoardings stretching 180m, it was agreed that each artist would paint 10m and together WSW and Aida consulted with Hackney Wick artists to secure an eclectic mix of styles that was representative of the local community.
The activity was staggered over two weekends with the aim of creating as much noise as possible, whilst also aiding the curation and management of multiple artists painting at the same time.
In order to connect the individual pieces of artwork, key colours from the development scheme’s palette were used and artists were provided with this in the form of emulsion and/or spray paint.
WSW worked alongside respected street art videographer Fifth Wall TV to capture engaging content across the two weekends to be seeded via his social channels to maximise the reach of the activity with the core audience.
Execution
Wood Street Walls worked in partnership with site manager Quadrant Construction to carry a Health and Safety & Risk Assessment of the site and painting area, creating method statements and delivering a Traffic Management report.
The hoardings were erected in two phases, 80m in the lead up to the first weekend of painting and 100m the subsequent weekend, decreasing the risk of vandalism - the final product was coated with anti-graffiti paint, delivered by JRHoardings, enabling the hoardings to be easily maintained and the artwork protected.
Fifth Wall TV, a highly respected videographer documented the whole process end to end, which can be found at the video link above.
“Being based in Hackney Wick, it’s important the artistic community is represented - around many developments there can be hoardings or space that have no direct relation to the area, so for L&Q to invite us and also work with Aida to curate this event, demonstrates with the right approach projects like this are positively welcomed into the area. ”
“Wood Street Walls worked with L&Q to provide an innovative approach to its standard protective timber hoarding covering and provided a positive visual impact. The collaborative and efficient work by Wood Street Walls enabled safe management during two work periods and provided L&Q with an interactive input to the final product.”
About L&Q
- L&Q is one of the largest charitable housing associations in the UK and a leading residential developer
- For over 50 years L&Q has been driven by its mission to create places where people want to live and as a charitable housing association we re-invest every penny of our surplus into our social mission
- To help solve the housing shortage L&Q plans to create 100,000 new homes in the next 10 years, half of which will be affordable.
- In 2015/16 we invested £580m to complete over 2,500 new homes, next year we will build another 2,775
- L&Q is involved in 1 in 5 of all new homes in London
- L&Q have won more than 20 top design awards for our new homes and regeneration schemes
- L&Q invests in vital local infrastructure to create places where people want to live.
Energy Save
- Our award-winning EnergySave programme helps residents save energy and money and is the UK’s largest non-governmental energy scheme of its kind
- Over 21,500 L&Q residents have received an EnergySave visit since 2012
- Overall, the savings from the visit and ongoing support have saved residents over £200 per year, with total carbon savings so far totalling 27,391,00kg
Apprenticeships
- In 2014, we launched L&Q Apprenticeships, a structured talent management programme that provides candidates with pathways into employment across the housing sector. In the last two years, L&Q has directly placed over 40 apprentices into a variety of departments across the business.
- In addition to this, Quadrant Construction, our in-house construction arm, provides apprenticeship vacancies across all of its new development sites, with candidates selecting their chosen specialism from a list of building trades. Candidates leave the programme as qualified electricians, plumbers, painters and ground-workers, able to progress into a career in the construction industry.
Community Investment
- Last year, the L&Q Foundation supported 16,000 people in our local communities and invested £6.2 Million in local community development projects
- For financial exclusion our ‘Pound Advice’ project has a unique partnership with 17 CABs, which last year helped tenants get £8.1 million in extra income.
- JobReady is our employment and training service, which last year helped more than 430 people into work, through support writing CVs, interview preparation, job searching, and help gaining suitable qualifications.
- We foster social cohesion providing funding for local community events, as well as programmes to tackle social isolation, which some older people can suffer from.
- We also provide one of the largest free holiday activities programmes in the country, with over 8,000 young people and children taking part last year, which helps low paid working families in our communities.