ITV London News item on gentrification

12-16 Blenheim Grove

http://www.itv.com/news/london/update/2014-02-03/peckham-redevelopment-could-destroy-area/ – “Residents in Peckham say the capital’s growing need for housing could soon destroy their local area. Currently there are plans for a multi-million pound redevelopment project around Peckham Rye Station, which will include blocks of flats. But locals are worried the regeneration could have a huge impact on the creative communities who live there.”

18th Feb – Latest News: Harriet Harman MP backs local community and Southwark Council in call for extension of time for real engagement with local people to design station area development that benefits Peckham. http://www.peckhamvision.org/wiki/Peckham_Rye_Station_Gateway

BBC TV London News 24 September 2013

Warren Nettleford BBC reporter in Rye Lane talking with Eileen Conn from Peckham Vision

“Gentrification ‘distorting’ Peckham” : Effects of rising property prices on Peckham were reported on BBC TV London News on 24 September 2013  Http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24229352 The news item raised the questions whether this was gentrification and was it good or bad for Peckham. Peckham Vision was amongst those interviewed.

Hush House Supermarket 24 August 2013

Hundreds of people thronged to Hush House Supermarket at the Bussey on Saturday, on three floors. In the courtyard all day, delicious enterprising savoury and sweet food was cooked on the spot. There were four packed out talks on key topics for small creative enterprises, alongside a wide variety of stalls with the output of many creative small businesses. Pop up opportunities like this are what Peckham micro enterprises need, as well as providing a good new shopping experience in Rye Lane.

Peckham Vision at the V&A

V&A sculpture foyer

Glass sculpture V&A foyer

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Fantastic V&A Peckham Takeover Friday Late, last week – the original contemporary late night event: Live performances, cutting-edge fashion, debates, one-off displays and installations, special guests, bar and food, guest DJs, late-night exhibition opening. In the midst, Peckham Vision held a standing room only community session about Peckham’s parallel economies.

Copeland Cultural Quarter full of life


book fair in Bussey Passage

Royal Court’s Theatre Local is having a very successful second season at the Bussey building. It is wonderful that the building and the Copeland site, saved from demolition by Peckham Vision’s campaign, are now the home to so many creative activities and enterprises – theatre, art, music, dance, studios, workshops, community meetings and more – with further potential. The Copeland Cultural Quarter, now organically materialising, must be nurtured and not destroyed by property development plans. This is a key for the town centre future. Read more…

Peckham community celebrates town centre achievements

Peckham Town Centre Forum

Peckham Town Centre Forum

This was a fantastic community meeting celebrating recent achievements for Peckham town centre. Over 200 locals from Peckham’s diverse social, economic and ethnic communities crowded in to the CLF Art Café in the Bussey building, to hear the latest news from Peckham Vision and the Council. Senior figures from Network Rail, Southern Railway and the Railway Heritage Trust voiced their support for community initiatives at Peckham Rye station in Peckham town centre; see video clip. Read more

Royal Court at the Bussey building, Peckham


From Sep to Nov 2011 the Royal Court theatre, based in Sloane Sq, brought its Theatre Local to the Bussey building in Peckham with two plays Truth and Reconciliation and The Westbridge . The two month run was so successful it caught the BBC News on 15th Nov 2011:

* BBC1 6.30pm TV News

* BBC Breakfast Show – Radio with Paul Ross + Gabby Roslin

See also Guardian.co.uk

The plays were very topical, and thought provoking. Advance tickets were sold out: the 30 tickets kept back for local sale at the door from 5.30pm each evening were in great demand. The Westbridge which premiered at the Bussey has now transferred to Sloane Square.

It is wonderful to see our very own Bussey building showing how adaptable it is. A great place for theatre as we always knew it could be. The space was provided by the CLF Art Café in the Bussey working in partnership with Peckham Vision to encourage the Royal Court to come. We hope it will lead to continued work in the future with the Royal Court.

Introducing the new Montmartre: it’s Delboys manor, Peckham SE15

It’s not as odd as it sounds – the deprived south London area is rebranding itself as the capital’s contemporary art hub, much like the Parisian district during the 19th and 20th centuries  By Simon Tait   27 March 2011

Scarred by tragedies like the murder of Damilola Taylor, and laughed at as the home of the Trotter family of TV’s Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em, Peckham, Southwark, is defying its image to become London’s new Montmartre.

Artists are the fulcrum of a ten-to-15-year plan to be launched in May for Peckham’s rebirth as the capital’s cultural heartbeat, perhaps an embodiment of the Big Society in which residents, businesses and the local authority have come together. “Peckham is the place” says gallerist Hannah Barry. “It’s where people are coming to find the best in international contemporary art”.  read more Continue reading “Introducing the new Montmartre: it’s Delboys manor, Peckham SE15”

Building with communities: the case of Peckham (UK)

From Cityness blog –  What Makes the Urban Tick?

Old Waiting Room – restoration.
Picture by Benedict O’Looney

It is an understatement to say that quite a few urban planners and architects would like to keep local communities at bay during the process of developing the urban. Main reasons? Fear of NIMBY-behavior, fear of delays, fear of less-than-progressive ideas about what should be done and, in some cases, fear of people who are not part of the cozy inner-circle of architects, planners and designers. … Sometimes a dialogue of the deaf is the only result. … The Peckham Vision (UK) is an example where things went differently but with favorable results, as even architects in the Architects’ Journal acknowledge. Peckham Vision is a communal gathering in order to generate new ideas about the future of the Peckham town centre and its buildings. Read more at cityness.wordpress.com.