Companies and council members came together to set out their plans for regeneration and community initiatives in the coming year at the Hackney Wick Business Forum on 4 March.
The meeting took place in the futuristic Here East Building in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park – a campus set up to house the innovators of East London after it was used as the media centre for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Hackney Wick is an area brimming with creatives and entrepreneurs. Last December the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, recognised this by making Hackney Wick and Fish Island a Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ).
The CEZ initiative aims to provide investment and support for creative businesses in the capital, ensuring that London remains one of the most innovative business centres in the world.
CEO Stephanie Thomas gave a presentation about her organisation Peace In The Streets (PITS). The organisation offers help and support to the forgotten victims of knife crime – those who have witnessed violence, but walked away unharmed.
As she says in a moving BBC documentary: “I know of school kids, even a three-year-old, who have witnessed stabbings. I can’t calculate how disturbing that could be, or potentially traumatising.”
With the help of her colleagues, Thomas works with local businesses to connect young people with mentoring, employability and entrepreneurial development. She told those present that their businesses could help through providing mentorship or apprenticeships.
Tanya Sawyers, operations manager of PITS, told Hackney Post that they are hoping to tap into the borough’s potential: “It’s thriving. We have a lot of talent in Hackney. We also have a lot of crime, but what we want to do is take a negative and turn it into a positive instead of just focusing on the bad things in the area.”
An organisation at the forum that works with PITS is Make Shift, an enterprise platform that transforms empty buildings into communal spaces. These will offer “lasting opportunities to small businesses and local people”.
Nick Vergara, community growth manager at Make Shift, told the forum how their successful Pop Brixton and Peckham Levels projects have provided space for independent businesses and creators. He explained that they offer reduced rates or free passes for community organisations, providing an affordable hub for social enterprises like PITS.
Make Shift are currently exploring how they can turn the vacant site at Clarnico Quay near Hackney Wick into a public space. They hope the project will offer new facilities and services, and connect members with their communities.
“Hackney has that entrepreneurial thirst,” said Vergara. “But there is also a demographic population of Hackney that we can help provide real social impact for.”
Looking ahead to the coming year, the forum has shown that there is a lot of potential around the outskirts of the Olympic park. All it takes is for these enterprises to take their ideas and run with them.
