Kingston riverside
Delivering new creative spaces, affordable coworking areas and business support in the heart of Kingston.
The scheme will bring new opportunities for the borough’s entrepreneurs and young people, and will be delivered in partnership with business development experts Town Square Spaces Ltd, local arts charity Creative Youth and the John Lewis Partnership.
One part of the Kingston Riverside space will provide affordable workspaces for local entrepreneurs and start-ups. Town Square Ltd will deliver a programme of business support and expert advice sessions to drive entrepreneurship and support business growth. Over the next 10 years, we envisage the programme and space will enable the creation of at least 500 new jobs across the local economy.
Next to this, Creative Youth will manage a creative hub to inspire young people, emerging artists and the wider community to get involved in the arts. It will be a space for people from different artistic disciplines to learn from each other and showcase their ideas, and will be open to all the community to enjoy.
The scheme also includes improvements to the public space around the building. In conversations with the community about how the area could be improved, poor lighting and accessibility were highlighted as key issues.
Based on this feedback, new lighting is being installed along the front of the building and at the entrance to the old nightclub to make the area safer and more inviting. The raised brick platform in front of the building is being lowered and planters are being removed to make the area more accessible to everyone. Plug sockets are also being installed to enable the space to be used for public performances.
This is the first phase of improvements to the public realm, and lays the foundations for further work later subject to funding. The aim now is to make the space flexible enough to be used in a variety of different ways. The council will see how people use it and then adapt it further in future phases.
