The strategy explored how culture could support the transformation of London Docks, a former News International site with a 200-year dockland history, into a new mixed-use district. Drawing on the site’s heritage and riverside location, the work set out how cultural activity could be embedded from the earliest stages of redevelopment.

The approach combined meanwhile and permanent cultural projects to build identity over time, using culture as a practical tool for placemaking rather than a standalone layer. Ten placemaking principles guided the strategy, shaping how heritage, public realm, creative industry and everyday use could be integrated across the site. These principles provided a framework for interpreting London Docks’ historic role in trade and exchange through contemporary forms of making and occupation.

A key early outcome of the strategy was the temporary use of the Grade II listed Pennington Street Warehouse as affordable creative workspace. The building was identified as a home for 90 artists’ studios, managed by Bow Arts, alongside an education programme offering artists employment opportunities and skills development.

The strategy also informed a major embedded public art commission within the new public realm. International artist Gordon Young was commissioned to create Trading Words, a typographic pavement trail that weaves historic language and references into six acres of new public space. Together, these projects demonstrate how culture can support both immediate activation and long-term identity, helping establish London Docks as a distinctive and lived-in part of the city.

Photography by Damon Cleary, Noah Da Costa and Odd Man Out Productions; images of Trading Words from Gordon Young studio