Local people creating projects that make Southwark fantastic place to live, work and relax.

Impact data and claims within this report are provided by the project creator and have not been independently verified by Spacehive.
We're taking knitting our high street & community together quite literally; bringing residents, businesses, community groups & schools together to create knitted signage celebrating our uniqueness.
Over a 12 month period, we will develop & deliver a community art & signage project, creating knitted signage panels for display in the windows of each of our high street businesses. Building on a style developed for our recently launched Shopping Guide, the panel designs will result from a competition for local schools/community groups and will be made into knitting patterns by our knitting shop. Courses, workshops and a range of events across the year will ensure everyone can get involved and will draw people into and connect them with the high street. Each panel will be knitted twice; once for the business windows and once for inclusion in a public art work for Emma Cons Gardens, highlighting the rich variety of our high street offering and unveiled during a community high street party. Concurrently, construction hoardings will display knitting themed signage and walks, worksheets, social media/press campaigns will ensure we raise the high street’s profile with a wider audience.
What we'll deliver:
Why it's a great idea:
Quirky and engaging, like our high street, this innovative, accessible, inclusive & cost effective project will:
• Re-unite a historic high street now split in two by Waterloo Road;
• Provide a critical signpost during a period when half of the high street will be visually cut off by building works at a key gateway;
• Celebrate and promote the rich & diverse offering of our high street;
• Re-engage & involve our community with the high street;
• Improve the physical appearance of our high street for all, making it more attractive to visit & spend time in;
• Create an additional reason to visit the high street, initially to participate in the creation of the artwork, then later to view it;
• Get people talking about us and provide a story which we can use to promote the high street to a wider audience through a dedicated marketing and communications plan;
• Re-invigorate the windows of empty premises, improving their appearance and displaying their potential to prospective tenants.
Steps to get it done:
This projects forms part of our wider 'High Street Plan', which has already seen us involved in delivering a range of projects, including the:
• regeneration of both halves of our high street;
• launch of our month long food festival;
• relaunch of our street market;
• launch of a new Saturday market;
• creation of marketing & market steering groups made up of local business owners & interested parties;
• creation of a property owners group;
• delivery of an innovative greening project;
• launch of our Waterloo Shopping Guide.
• With a range of projects still to come, including the:
• launch of a monthly themed Saturday market alongside our existing market;
• creation and delivery of a retail incubator space;
• development of a pocket park in an unused public space on the high street;
• delivery of a series of pop-up events in an unused public square on the high street;
• development of a digital media marketing strategy;
• negotiation of collective procurement initiatives.
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Local people creating projects that make Southwark fantastic place to live, work and relax.
How will the money be spent?Total £37,100
Costs Breakdown
This shows how money raised for the project will be spent. These costs have been confirmed by the project's Delivery Manager and verified.
Total £37,100
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