Futurecity was appointed to deliver placemaking strategy and broker new cultural occupiers for 72 Upper Ground a 2.5-acre site on London’s South Bank. Designed by Make Architects, the proposal will bring affordable workspace tailored to the needs of Lambeth’s emerging creative industries, cultural venues, cafes, and restaurants and transform 40% of the site into public realm, opening up site on the site to the South Bank. The design includes a new public rooftop restaurant and terrace, two new public squares, an active ground floor and several public walkways. A new arts and culture innovation hub will introduce new creative opportunities such as immersive gallery and performance spaces and presentation spaces looking directly onto the river. These opportunities will all provide new jobs and skills for the local economy while integrating and complementing the existing offering along the South Bank. It has been tailored to the needs of emerging creative industries through an on-site residency programme with Lambeth-based organisations including Black Cultural Archives, Iconic Steps and Young Creators UK.
Futurecity was commissioned to develop a strategy that responded to the present and historic context of the London Borough of Lambeth and the commercial and logistical challenges faced by the borough’s creative organisations, businesses, and individuals. The resulting strategy set out a vision that identified the growing demand for cultural consumption, cultural production, skills development, and training of creative technology for employment mobility.
Futurecity worked closely with MAKE Architects to set out an embedded cultural vision for the new building, the ground floors, and a new public realm. The placemaking ideas explored how to create an ambitious integrated Culture & Innovation Hub and informed the designs for cultural spaces that provided the specific capacities needed in the arts and commercial sectors.
Futurecity’s stakeholder engagement programme was multi-departmental and involved the artistic direction of the South Bank institutions and greater Lambeth cultural institutions to ensure the final offer was based on the need for a dynamic ground floor and public realm that would promote borough wide excellence in the context of the South Bank and its unique international reputation and profile. The final designs for the cultural spaces at 72 Upper Ground will be named ‘The London Studios’, continuing the legacy of the ITV Studios.
The strategy is respectful of the site’s history and status as a destination for world class culture, newly reinvented as a cutting-edge hub of culture and innovation, making a significant contribution to Lambeth’s creative infrastructure and ultimately London. Futurecity also developed a meanwhile programme “PREVIEW’ which encouraged the use of the LWT tower on the site offering subsidised space to Lambeth creatives (see below).
PREVIEW Programme, 2021
As part of the strategy, Futurecity developed PREVIEW, a 10 month long creative industry-focused meanwhile programme, which took over office space in the existing former ITV Tower. The programme supported Lambeth cultural organisations, showcased Lambeth based creative businesses and organisations and set out funded and income generating projects.
Futurecity brought Black Cultural Archives, Young Creators UK, and Iconic Steps into the building to develop their own practices and to join workshops with MAKE Architects and Grant Associates (landscape architects) to influence decision on cultural space, use of arts and crafts and cultural activity in the new building.
The ‘Living Lab’ idea behind PREVIEW explored creative industries, gallery and production space uses and occupiers for the new office building on London’s Southbank at 72 Upper Ground. PREVIEW provided cultural partners with studio, working and programming space, during the pandemic. As a result, one group Young Creatives UK (YCUK) grew from their previous single room office in Brixton, to create a multi-use facility that supported over 60 young people to create commercial work, develop skills, and gain confidence in the sector.
