Futurecity was appointed by Unite Students to develop a Cultural Placemaking Strategy for 6–12 Kennington Lane, a mixed-use scheme combining student accommodation and light industrial space. Located between Elephant & Castle and Kennington Station, the site retained elements of its industrial heritage while creating 511 student rooms for King’s College London. At its heart, a 500 sqm ground-floor community space was planned to provide a valuable amenity for the neighbourhood.

The strategy positioned the development as a gateway between Kennington and Elephant & Castle, connecting new and existing communities through cultural programming, public art and a dedicated community hub. Futurecity’s role was to identify the site’s cultural narratives and propose uses for the community space alongside an integrated art strategy that reflected the area’s history of craft, making and industry.

Workshops with Unite Students, the design team and local stakeholders helped shape a vision for the space and tested early interest in cultural occupancy. Feedback confirmed demand for a flexible hub that could support health and wellbeing services or provide a creative learning centre for skills, cultural programming and intergenerational exchange.

The resulting vision – “Thriving place, thriving community” – combined student life with local participation, supported by a co-designed public art programme that embedded creativity and civic pride into the fabric of the development.