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

* 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.

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”.

But if Sacre Coeur was the heart of Paris’s artistic quarter, Peckham’s may be a white elephant of a ten-storey car park.

Four years ago Barry held the first Bold Tendencies, a summer-long sculpture exhibition, on the top four floors of the car park, to which she has added Frank’s, a rooftop pop-up restaurant. That first year 300 visitors came to see the specially-commissioned pieces. Last summer there were 45,000, and after the fifth opens in June as many as 100,000 could be coming to sample the aesthetic delights of Del Boy’s home town.

Nearby in the Bussey Building, a former arms factory, 60 artists have created studios at affordable rents, while in another part of the massive Victorian pile one of London’s leading rave venues has been established, with recording studios, editing suites a theatre and community space to be added this year.

One of the oldest Bussey residents is Garudio Studiage, a co-operative of four artists who specialise in screen printing, jewellery and painting, that moved into the Bussey Building in 2003. The jeweller is Laura Cave.

“Peckham feels like it isn’t England, it’s so multi-cultural, and it’s a great inspiration for what we do,” she said, and for Christmas 2009 they were commissioned to mount an exhibition in Arhus, Denmark, called Peckham is a place on earth. “It was a collaboration of all four of us, an installation in which Peckham – complete with features like Khan’s Bargain Store on the High Street – rises on a cloud like a kind of heaven”.

Bussey is part of the seven acre Copeland Industrial Park that had been written off as derelict and on which Transport for London had intended to create a tram depot. Local fury behind a new consortium of local residents, artists and businesses called Peckham Vision insisted the site was perfect for the use of artists and cultural endeavour – “we saw it as Peckham’s Covent Garden” said founder Eileen Conn – and two years ago they triumphed and the tram scheme was scrapped.

Now, with the backing of Southwark Council, funding is being sought to transform it into the Copeland Cultural Quarter, a diverse public space with more art galleries, shops and cafes, an open market and events space and new-built residences, with the railway arches along its northern border converted for retail.

At the other end of Bussey from the artists, Michael Smith’s Chronic Love Foundation, a global health charity, has developed a reputation for its raves of music from dub to djemba. Its development through four floors – funded by music nights like the recent “Strictly Come Skanking” which brought ravers from as far afield as Cornwall and Newcastle – is under way. “The whole point of making a creative centre of arts here is that it allows you to do what you want, for professionals, amateurs, students, kids, without exorbitant charges,” Smith said. “You can have comedy nights, a year of workshops on, say, reggae to drama, TV production. Edutainment, if you like.”  Read more

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

But if Sacre Coeur was the heart of Paris’s artistic quarter, Peckham’s may be a white elephant of a ten-storey car park.

Four years ago Barry held the first Bold Tendencies, a summer-long sculpture exhibition, on the top four floors of the car park, to which she has added Frank’s, a rooftop pop-up restaurant. That first year 300 visitors came to see the specially-commissioned pieces. Last summer there were 45,000, and after the fifth opens in June as many as 100,000 could be coming to sample the aesthetic delights of Del Boy’s home town.

Nearby in the Bussey Building, a former arms factory, 60 artists have created studios at affordable rents, while in another part of the massive Victorian pile one of London’s leading rave venues has been established, with recording studios, editing suites a theatre and community space to be added this year.

One of the oldest Bussey residents is Garudio Studiage, a co-operative of four artists who specialise in screen printing, jewellery and painting, that moved into the Bussey Building in 2003. The jeweller is Laura Cave.

“Peckham febels like it isn’t England, it’s so multi-cultural, and it’s a great inspiration for what we do,” she said, and for Christmas 2009 they were commissioned to mount an exhibition in Arhus, Denmark, called Peckham is a place on earth. “It was a collaboration of all four of us, an installation in which Peckham – complete with features like Khan’s Bargain Store on the High Street – rises on a cloud like a kind of heaven”.

Bussey is part of the seven acre Copeland Industrial Park that had been written off as derelict and on which Transport for London had intended to create a tram depot. Local fury behind a new consortium of local residents, artists and businesses called Peckham Vision insisted the site was perfect for the use of artists and cultural endeavour – “we saw it as Peckham’s Covent Garden” said founder Eileen Conn – and two years ago they triumphed and the tram scheme was scrapped.

Now, with the backing of Southwark Council, funding is being sought to transform it into the Copeland Cultural Quarter, a diverse public space with more art galleries, shops and cafes, an open market and events space and new-built residences, with the railway arches along its northern border converted for retail.

At the other end of Bussey from the artists, Michael Smith’s Chronic Love Foundation, a global health charity, has developed a reputation for its raves of music from dub to djemba. Its development through four floors – funded by music nights like the recent “Strictly Come Skanking” which brought ravers from as far afield as Cornwall and Newcastle – is under way. “The whole point of making a creative centre of arts here is that it allows you to do what you want, for professionals, amateurs, students, kids, without exorbitant charges,” Smith said. “You can have comedy nights, a year of workshops on, say, reggae to drama, TV production. Edutainment, if you like.”  Read more

This is the restored Old Waiting Room at the station.  What kind of use would be well used?  What would make Peckham town centre an attractive place to visit? What would make the area more attractive for other commercial investment? What would be a good business proposal?  Would you like to see:

• Refreshments, & what kinds of refreshments?
• Art gallery exhibitions?
• Training workshops for young people?
• Community meetings?
• Theatre performances?
• Office & workshop spaces?
• Other ideas?

Everyone is asked to send their suggestions and comments to oldwaitingroom@gmail.com

further information: www.peckhamvision.org/wiki/Peckham_Rye_Station

This is the secret room above the ticket hall, brought back into life by a local community initiative funded by small grants, 2008 – 2011, from the Community Council CGS programme. The Community Council applauded at their 8th December 2010 meeting the latest reports and pictures, and started the discussion about suitable commercial uses to make the best of the wonderful space.

Further funds are being sought to continue the restoration to the external staircase, & to improve the station walkways. This would be the public entrance to the space and make it useable for public activities.

Local residents are developing a social enterprise project to bid for the lease from Network Rail for a multi purpose flexible venue. For more information, see brief  here,  and blog here  http://peckhamresidents.wordpress.com and  .

If you want to get involved in this exciting project  email  oldwaitingroom@gmail.com

A group of local residents, council people and others in the Peckham Town Centre Forum had a highly successful 2 hour walkabout of the town centre looking at urban design of the street scene, and also the large development sites and their potential. Discussion focused on:

* changes to the street scene design to improve the pedestrian experience – including widening pavements & removing street clutter;

* enhancing some historic buildings in prominent locations by cleaning and painting above ground floor level for some quick wins; funding to be secured through heritage sources once Conservation Area status granted;

* impact and potential for the major developments both sides of the High Street, and in central Rye Lane opposite the station.

This was followed by another enthusiastic energetic Forum in the afternoon. Open Space discussions focussed on:

• Feedback from the walk – street scene, major developments and the PNAAP
• Restoration of historic buildings and next steps following on from the walk feedback
• Central Rye Lane – especially the multi storey car park and Copeland Industrial site
• Food growing and mapping of sustainable initiatives
• Peckham Festival in autumn 2011.

As a result, following the walkabout and discussions, the Council has organised two preview events of the Preferred Options of the PNAAP to give the public a chance to give some early feedback. These are excellent chances to make a contribution and become better informed about the revitalisation of Peckham town centre.
- Saturday 27 November 2010, 12.30pm to 3.30pm
- Tuesday 30 November 2010, 6pm to 9pm
both at the Bussey building, 133 Rye Lane, SE15

The Council says: “These will be informal sessions. People may come for part of the time if they wish. There will be displays and information on the key emerging preferred options for the Peckham and Nunhead area action plan (PNAAP). As well as an early opportunity to find out what direction the preferred options are heading in, this is a chance to give initial thoughts and reactions as an input into finalising the preferred options that will be consulted on next year.”

Read more

  “Peckham … one of London’s best kept secrets with tremendous value waiting to be unlocked… a zone 2 town centre within easy reach of London’s main employment centres. … there are frequent services into Victoria, Blackfriars and London Bridge – the journey from Peckham Rye to London Bridge takes just 10 minutes. And from 2012 … Peckham will be on the Tube map when the second phase of the East London Line extension is completed…” Cllr Fiona Colley, Cabinet member for Regeneration, said  on 7 October, at Tate Modern. “Our vision for regeneration in Peckham is … to build on the best of what we have. For imaginative developments which bring fine historic buildings back to life and alongside this exciting high quality new buildings…”  

She was speaking at the  NLA conference ‘Investing in Southwark’  and went on to say: “… we’ll be introducing a conservation area for central Peckham, not to prevent development, which is something the community and the council really wants, but to ensure that the quality of design we call for in Peckham is no less than we demand in other parts of the borough…

Of course regeneration isn’t just about buildings, it’s also about communities and perceptions… we have active community groups like the … Peckham Society and Peckham Vision – groups of residents and businesses who actively want to work in partnership with the council and developers to improve their areas, to protect the historic qualities of the area and to see high quality new developments. I know we have some representatives from those groups here today.  They are helping us to change the perception of … Peckham…

Peckham [is] emerging as [a] go-to cultural destination… There are many opportunities for investment and development in … Peckham.”  

Click here for full speech, and here for the presentation slides.

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.

celebration of station Old Waiting Room restoration

The AJ article “…juxtaposes a top-down development in Elephant and Castle with ground-up localism in Peckham”. It says: Localism can, and does, improve the quality of the built environment by enabling professional skills and community ideas to coalesce. For example, Peckham Vision, a consortium of residents, artists, businesses and The Peckham Society, campaigns for a renewed Peckham town centre. The consortium is an important force for change… Read More ]]> http://www.peckhamvision.org/blog/?feed=rss2&p=463 0 http://www.peckhamvision.org/blog/?p=455 http://www.peckhamvision.org/blog/?p=455#comments Wed, 28 Jul 2010 00:28:56 +0000 eileen.conn http://www.peckhamvision.org/blog/?p=455 By Roger Williams | In Dulwich on View Photo: Benedict O’Looney

The Peckham Society and Southwark Council recently celebrated the beginning of the restoration of the Grand Waiting Room at Peckham Rye Station. Peckham Rye’s handsome Victorian station has been struggling to be seen since buildings were thrown up in the square in front of it in the 1930s. Stand and look at the station now, and you will see two extruding blocks, one on each side of the main entrance. The one on the south side contains a stone and iron spiral staircase, the timbers of its floors rotten, the plaster walls crumbling in chunks, and an arrow pointing upwards, graffitied in black, with the words “To the Billiard Hall”. The billiard hall operated here for 60 years until it closed in 1960, after which all was silence.

On Friday, July 16, after half a century in the dark, the “billiard hall” opened its doors to reveal the station’s Old Waiting Room, a magnificent space with a high vaulted ceiling and four open fire places that stretches the length of the building above the ticket office and is today accessed from Platform 3, on the Victoria line. Read more …