The Building Workshop

At Stephen Taylor Architects investing in the local community is a fundamental component of how we work. This commitment to finding social value beyond the confines of a projects’ brief and boundary can be seen in our work at the De Beauvoir Estate where we relocated our office to a vacant building in the centre of the estate and formed The Building Workshop. Formerly an unused and unloved retail space, through our intervention it has become an active engaging community asset, providing positive benefits, beyond the scope of the project, to the estate and its residents.

This meanwhile space acted as a community hub during the early stage development of the estate’s proposed regeneration, playing host to both formal community engagement workshops and exhibitions, as well as more informal drop in sessions. During the Covid-19 Pandemic the studio’s frontage was transformed in to an expansive outward facing noticeboard, ensuring the community were kept regularly informed of the projects evolution.

We continue to strengthen our connection with the  local community through the exploration and instigation of wider social value initiatives, including providing workspace to nurture local creatives and professionals and the co-creation of a communal garden. This initiative, which will turn a underutilised surface in to a vibrant sustainable community asset, presents an opportunity to bring the community together, sharing skills and knowledge in the design and installation of a new bio-diverse productive garden.

 Photo Credits: “Fragile Brutalism” London Festival of Architecture 2023 – Sean Pollock