Regeneration
Hackney is a very different place to 15 years ago. It now has better transport links, first-class schools and great public facilities, thanks to years of public and private investment.
Whether it’s supporting Tech City around the Old Street Roundabout, securing the legacy of the London 2012 Olympics in Hackney Wick, or identifying opportunities to improve the borough’s town centres, we play a key role in ensuring that residents and businesses feel the benefits of change and are able to take advantage of the opportunities it brings.
By delivering new affordable workspace and better public spaces, engaging and supporting businesses to grow and prosper, and working in partnership to maximise education and skills opportunities for residents, we aim to deliver inclusive economic growth in the borough that brings opportunities for all.
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Plans to bring Kings Hall Leisure Centre back to its former glory and a series of proposals to make Hackney Central town centre greener, safer and healthier have been submitted by the Council as part of bids totalling almost £40m to the Government’s £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund (Round 2).
The Levelling Up Fund is designed to invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, with local authorities invited to submit bids for projects that support:
- town centre and high street regeneration
- local transport projects
- cultural and heritage assets
The Government is expected to announce which bids to the Levelling Up Fund have been successful later this year.
Hackney Central
A £19m bid has been submitted for a series of proposals to support Council’s ambitions to create a safer, more accessible town centre in Hackney Central, building on engagement with thousands of local people through the Hackney Central conversation and consultation on the forthcoming Hackney Central Town Centre Strategy.
These include:
- Creating a healthier, safer and more welcoming town centre – By supporting sustainable travel, reducing traffic and introducing more public spaces and greenery. This includes improving the Pembury Circus junction for cyclists and pedestrians, improving the interchange at Hackney Central Station, and introducing new green public space for trees and seating along Amhurst Road.
- Improving the civic heart of Hackney Central – By creating a more attractive and inclusive public space at Hackney Town Hall Square and investing in Hackney Central Library.
- Supporting Hackney Central’s creative community – By improving public spaces and reactivating underused and unused spaces and buildings along Bohemia Place and Morning Lane, including providing more welcoming, accessible and inclusive public spaces and developing new creative workspace.
Kings Hall Leisure Centre
A £20m bid has been submitted to refurbish and improve Kings Hall Leisure Centre, building on funding agreed last year to develop plans for a potential long-term refurbishment.
The Grade II listed heritage asset is currently in poor condition, creating significant challenges maintaining the building.
The funding would ensure the much-loved but deteriorating heritage building and important social and historic landmark can continue as a functioning leisure facility while attracting more users.
Kings Hall Leisure Centre (KHLC) is an important social and historic landmark in Hackney, as well as a very popular functioning leisure centre.
Our borough has seen more rapid social and economic change than almost anywhere else in the UK over the last 15 years.
This has brought many new economic opportunities for local people and local residents, but many have told us that they feel not everyone is benefiting equally from these opportunities and they feel excluded from the prosperity that they see around them.
Coronavirus has damaged our economy, it has put residents out of work at no fault of their own and put the borough’s small businesses at risk.
Even with all this happening around us there are opportunities to grasp. Now is the moment to say that as we return to work it won’t be to business as usual, and there is an opportunity to rebuild a fairer economy led by our social values that taps into the entrepreneurial spirit that makes Hackney’s economy a place of commerce that generates prosperity for the many in our borough.
Last year, the Council adopted an inclusive economy strategy that sets out how we will work proactively with communities to shape local places, value and support local businesses and bring quality and fair employment opportunities to residents and tackle disadvantage in the labour market so that we can build a fairer, green and more inclusive economy for Hackney, that residents and businesses can feel a part of.
The inclusive Economy aims to:
- deliver a more balanced, sustainable economy with less inequalities between different neighbourhoods. The right urban and community infrastructure that meets local needs. A greater connection between the economic opportunities in the borough and our communities
- promote and support a diverse range of local businesses and enterprises to thrive and choose to remain in Hackney
- supporting smaller businesses and their place in Hackney’s economy, from start-up to scale up. Businesses become rooted in Hackney, investing, prospering and supporting the Council and communities create an inclusive economy
- ensure people are better placed to secure job and business opportunities regardless of their background and they feel positive about their prospects
We are working to create new affordable workspace across the borough to support the small businesses, start-ups and entrepreneurs that are key to Hackney’s local economy as prices rise and availability becomes more scarce. The Hackney Workspace Programme creates affordable workspace in redundant or underused Council assets.
We also produce an approved workspace provider list to ensure developers who are providing new commercial space work with a reputable organisation to operate workspace in new developments. This list is also available to small businesses trying to find premises in the borough.
The Council has launched a project to create affordable workspace in disused garages across the borough.
Clapton is a historic community and commercial area within Hackney and consists of Lower Clapton, Clapton Pond and Upper Clapton. At the centre of Clapton, Lea Bridge Roundabout serves as a critical transport juncture into the East area of London.
Through the adopted Local Plan, we are setting out the improvements we plan to make to ensure that we create a better environment around Lea Bridge Roundabout and to Hackney Downs and the Lee Valley Regional Park.
We will also look at issues and opportunities across the wider area so that any benefits from development are shared with local residents and businesses and should be shaped more by the ambitions of local people.
Find out more about regeneration in Clapton.
Dalston is Hackney’s largest town centre offering a mix of creative, cultural and community enterprises, shops and services located along Kingsland Road and Kingsland High Street and east-west routes.
The town centre has a strong cultural identity revolving around creative and third sector industries and organisations. Dalston’s special character is defined by the unique mix of high-quality architecture and built heritage, a good retail offer including Kingsland High Street and Ridley Road Market and its lively night-time economy focused around Gillett Square and Kingsland High Street.
Dalston has also undergone much change in recent years and whilst we can’t control all change, we don’t believe it should come at the expense of existing communities and the things they value.
That’s why we will always use every tool at our disposal to maximise the benefits of growth for local residents and achieve the objectives of Dalston’s communities – whether that’s having a say in what the town centre looks like in the future and what kind of buildings can be built, improving public spaces, or ensuring everyone has access to new workspace or job opportunities.
Find out more about regeneration in Dalston.
Hackney Central is the civic and cultural heart of Hackney, with the restored art deco Town Hall and Council chambers, Hackney Central is a growing creative and retail destination, with huge opportunities for new housing and jobs.
We aim to create 3,000 new jobs and 1,000 new homes, centred around investment in transport infrastructure, key sites and public spaces.
We will actively work to ensure any new development maximises benefits for the local area to create new retail and workspace, new jobs and a better town centre.
Find out more about regeneration in Hackney Central.
Hackney Wick is a vibrant and distinctive part of London with a long and rich history and has a world-class reputation for encompassing a creative quarter, which is now home to some 250 artist studios and around 100 creative businesses.
Whilst Hackney Wick has grown in popularity since the 2012 London Olympics, it is susceptible to change, which is a familiar story across the borough.
Whilst we can’t control all change, we are committed to ensuring that regeneration and development benefit local businesses and residents.
We will intervene proactively to build a fairer, greener and more inclusive economy for Hackney Wick, that everyone can feel part of.
We are doing this, in collaboration with partners, by putting planning rules in place to control what development can happen and ensure that genuinely affordable workspace for existing small businesses is provided in new buildings.
Find out more about regeneration in Hackney Wick.
Hoxton spans the wards Shoreditch and Hoxton East and Hoxton West and is bounded by the Regents Canal to the north and neighboured by the boroughs of Islington and Tower Hamlets.
Hoxton has a rich historic past and is known for its diversity and East End culture as well as its world-renowned creative industry credentials.
The area is physically dominated by housing with a high level of Council-owned estates and there is one main shopping street, Hoxton Street, which is made up of a number of small retailers and cafes and home to one of London’s oldest and largest street markets.
There is a small but growing cluster of workspace along the canal edge where industrial buildings are being redeveloped for high-end mixed-use or fully-commercial developments and in pockets of small and medium-sized enterprises across the area.
Find out more about regeneration in Hoxton.
Shoreditch has a well-established identity built on its diverse communities, cultural heritage and vibrant economy.
It is globally recognised for creativity as well as innovation, iconic street art, scores of independent shops, award-winning cafes and restaurants, boutique hotels and a lively night-time economy.
Shoreditch is an area of Hackney that has undergone a large amount of change in recent times. The distinct character of the area being creative, cultural and at one time commercially affordable attracted a wave of tech start-up companies to join the established media, art and night-time enterprises.
Shoreditch is now entering a new phase of change, large corporations that are developing their own technology are being attracted to the area due to the young talent pool.
Space is at a premium and landowners have taken advantage of the conditions to bring forward a lot of new developments, both mixed-use and wholly commercial on a large scale.
Find out more about regeneration in Shoreditch.