Docklands Archives - Page 5 of 30

January 24, 2024January 24, 2024

Isle Of Dogs: How Theatreship and Artship are set to carry cultural cargo

Vessels in the Canal And River Trust’s arts and heritage berth will bring new life to the water

Inigo Lapwood, project director of Theatreship and Artship – image Matt Grayson

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Boats are Inigo Lapwood’s thing.

He’s been living on them and repairing them since moving onto a sinking barge in Oxford when in need of a place to live.

That’s fortunate because, as project director of Theatreship, moored in the Millwall Cutting between West India South Dock and Millwall Inner Dock, there’s plenty to do.

“I’ve drifted further and further down the Thames and as the river has got bigger, so have the boats, said Inigo.

“Generally, my living space in them has got smaller, but the idea has very much remained the same.

“I first came to Canary Wharf about five years ago. That was for a boat that had sunk – a steam tug named Addie in Blackwall Basin.

“By the time I got there, the Fire Brigade had done the hard work of raising her.

“So I took that on as a repair project and found this part of London really fascinating. It seemed like a real opportunity.

Theatreship is moored in the Millwall Cutting

“You have these huge bodies of water that are deeply connected to east London and the communities that lived and live in the area.

“There’s the white working class community, of course, but also the British merchant navy was about 25% Bengali, and that’s reflected in Tower Hamlets today.

“I really believe in what the waterways do.

“They are one of the few truly democratic spaces left – you get all kinds of people living on the water on all kinds of boats.

“There are people who are one step up from homelessness and others on super yachts. But everyone is connected to the water – the river is the reason London exits.”

Inigo is at the heart of a team of volunteer creatives that is hoping to establish a new arts centre based on two historic craft in the dock.

Theatreship is already in place and set to host its first events from January 24 to February 2, 2024.

The former bulk dry cargo carrier is set to be joined by Artship – a diesel coaster currently in north Germany.

“We’ve been working very closely with the Canal And River Trust trying to increase the utilisation of the water here and to do so in a way that’s connected to the history of the place,” said Inigo.

“Theatreship and Artship occupy the arts and heritage berth – the idea is really to reopen the dock as a public space.

“Theatreship is now in place – it’s exactly the kind of boat that used to be here when the docks were working.

“She was a bulk dry cargo ship transporting things like grain and coal.

“We sailed her across from the Netherlands and in the harbour she feels like a very big vessel.

The boat will host performances on board

“As soon as you’re out onto the North Sea, she feels like a very small boat. We were really surprised how much she moved – how rocky she was on that crossing.

“When loaded there would have been 300 tonnes of cargo in here and, without that, she bobbed around all over the place.”

Fully converted, Theatreship boasts a 110-seat auditorium suitable for theatre performances or film screenings and a cafe-bar area, all housed amid the steel fins of her cargo hold.

“This is where we will host our more conventional performances – stuff that works with rows of people on seats,” said Inigo.

“When it comes to programming, our plan is to really heavily lean into being a mixed arts space.

“For example, our forthcoming film screenings are all combined with live performances.

“We want to avoid silos – especially because different artforms are richly in dialogue with each other – cinema and ballet, for instance.

“We’re screening The Red Shoes, which features one of the most extended and virtuosic ballet scenes on film, with live dance as a response to the film from West End performer Pàje Campbell.

“For us, its an opportunity to introduce audiences to one or the other through our events.”

The venue’s first series – Cinema Unbound: The Creative Worlds Of Powell + Pressburger – features six screenings of movies made by the filmmakers.

She has a 110-seat auditorium that can be used for theatre or film screenings

Hosted with the support of the BFI as part of a national celebration of the duo’s works, Theatreship’s events include the likes of opera, dance and music presented alongside the screenings.

“At present we’re focusing on these screenings,” said Inigo.

“And we will be hosting many events in the future. We’re really lucky.

“We’ve been overwhelmed with the support that people have shown for this project.

“We’ve been met with generosity at every level.

“That’s everything from people coming along and grabbing a paintbrush to the support of organisations like the Canal And River Trust and BFI.

“All the projection equipment we’re using, for example, has been lent to us by one of the world’s top projectionists.

“While Theatreship is run by a volunteer team, it’s still very much a professional organisation.

“Our head of film programming, for instance, is Natalie Hill who has 25 years experience as a TV executive, has won multiple BAFTAs and has produced The Apprentice, 24Hrs in A&E and Stacey Dooley Investigates.

“Our head of music programming is Karl Lutchmayer – a multi-award winning Steinway artist and former professor at Trinity Laban in Greenwich.

“He will be performing as part of our first season at our screening of Black Narcissus on January 26, 2024.

“One of the most amazing things about the project is how supportive people have been with their professional time.”

As for the heritage aspect of the project, when in place, Theatreship and Artship will be a visual and functional link to the history of the docks’ former life as part of what was once the busiest port in the world.

“Theatreship is from 1913 and Artship is from 1938,” said Inigo, who works as a data scientist and AI developer when he’s not crawling around on boats.

Theatreship boasts a bar space below decks, that will also be used as a cafe

“Artship is currently in north Germany, about an hour and half outside Hamburg.

“We’re basically just waiting for the weather. I spent most of last year rebuilding her engine.

“It’s largely in its original condition and you are not only unable to buy parts for it, you can’t buy the tools to take it apart to know what you need to get.

“So we had to make the tools to disassemble it, then make the parts necessary to get it working.

“But she’s now ready to come over.

“There’s a lot about sustainability in what we’re doing – it’s one of the cores that runs through the whole project.

“We’re reclaiming and reusing these ships rather than seeing them go to scrap, which is what’s happened to many of their colleagues.

“There were literally thousands of ships like Artship and they would have filled these docks. Now she’s one of the last ones left.

“It’s really nice to bring these boats back into use and to make them relevant to the docks today rather than building something new, with the associated environmental cost of that.

“When they are both here, it will be a collection of historic ships on the dock. We’ll have theatre and cinema on this one, installations and exhibitions on the other one but they will also both be pieces of living history.

“They will be used to present things that are contemporary and current in the arts.

“Our plan is to open through the day as a cafe and bar for as many hours as possible.

“We really want to be the nucleus around which other things can be built and we’ve seen this happen already with the covered market that’s arrived nearby on South Quay.

“Ultimately, we’d like it to be the best place to be in London, maybe even the UK.

“We genuinely believe in this project and are really excited about developing an arts programme to give opportunities to young artists here.

“Very much the long term goal is to make it something that is financially self sustaining. We’d love to become one of the Arts Council’s national portfolio organisations.

“We’d also like to develop a long term sustainable structure so that we can have paid staff members who can commit to being here all the time.

“Our strategy has been to demonstrate that we’re able to deliver the project.

“We’ve been lucky with the funding we’ve had already, especially in the current climate, and I think that’s a reflection of how exciting this project is.”

Wharf Life readers can get tickets to any of the forthcoming screenings for £9 plus a booking fee with code WHARFLIFE9 (normally £15).

Find more information about Theatreship and Artship via these links

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024

Leamouth: How the SS Robin has returned to within 150m of her London birthplace

Historic ship’s move is the start of the latest chapter as Trinity Buoy Wharf prepares her for opening

The SS Robin, moored at her new home at Trinity Buoy Wharf – image Harry Dwyer

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So there she sits, resplendent in her red and black livery, atop a specially constructed pontoon and ready for the next chapter of her life.

The SS Robin has, after some 133 years, returned to within 150m of the shipyard where the iron plates of her hull were first riveted together.

She might be smaller in size than the Cutty Sark and HMS Belfast – but make no mistake – as historic ships in London go, she’s deserving of attention.

And following her most recent relocation from Royal Victoria Dock to Trinity Buoy Wharf, the story of the only surviving Victorian steam ship in existence is a big step closer to getting appropriate prominence.

It’s a move that’s been a long time coming.

Having spent a chunk of her retirement (1991-2008) at West India Quay opposite Canary Wharf, the Crossrail project saw her moved to Suffolk, with funding secured for restoration.

That saw her lifted from the water and mounted on a pontoon in 2010, with the intention of returning her to Docklands for public exhibition.

But plans to open her as a museum ship in Royal Victoria Dock faltered so, while she has been moored near Millennium Mills since 2011, she’s remained mostly closed to the public and inaccessible.

Nearly there – passing the cable car over the Thames – image Simon Richards

Schemes were mooted, plans made and locations suggested, but in more than a decade, Robin failed to find a permanent home.

A site was not forthcoming in either the Royals or West India Docks, amid the ironically choppy administrative waters of the bodies managing these vast human-made lakes.

Eric Reynolds is founding director of Urban Space Management, which runs Trinity Buoy Wharf.

He is a man who makes things happen. London is strewn with projects he’s had a hand in – Camden Lock Market, Gabriel’s Wharf on the South Bank, Greenwich Market and Merton Abbey Mills, to name a few.

After becoming involved with the SS Robin and growing frustration at the failure to open her to the public as promised, he’s now overseen the relocation of the vessel to the mouth of the River Lea, where she will have a permanent home among the growing historic fleet at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

“The original intention was to keep going with the project and leave Robin where she was in Royal Docks,” said Eric.

“But eventually I gave up – I just couldn’t get any of the organisations to get off the fence.

“So instead we turned to the Port Of London Authority to get a licence to drive two piles into the riverbed at Trinity Buoy Wharf.

Heading through the Thames Barrier on her way to Trinity Buoy Wharf – image Simon Richards

“The ship and her pontoon probably have a combined weight of about 600tonnes, which is not something I’d want to moor directly against the listed river wall as it would pose some risk.

“So, instead, it’s held between two giant ‘knitting needles’, which weigh 17 tonnes each. There’s a seven-metre rise and fall of the tide, so Robin will demonstrate that every day.”

That change in level also presents the last significant stumbling block to opening the vessel to the public.

A 40m gangway is set to be installed over the next couple of months that will go up and down with the level of the water, providing access at a suitable gradient.

Then, members of the public will be able to tour the vessel and view a wealth of information about her past and why she’s been preserved in this way.

“The driving idea is to make that information and Robin herself available to people who live here and know the area, as well as newcomers to it,” said Eric.

“There’s a population the size of Swindon scheduled to move in – a whole new town is being created.

“Shipping is still the major way by which the world trades with itself and London is here because it was driven by this tidal river and the trade that took place on it.

“Robin is the very last complete trading vessel of the period in the world with its original method of propulsion still in place.

“She was sold reasonably early in her life to the Spanish who operated her on a bit of a shoestring, so they didn’t do what nearly everyone else did, which was to take out the steam engine and put in an easily operated diesel.

“When you look at the ship and see the small size of the rudder and the huge propeller, you realise she’s relying on torque rather than revs.

Urban Space Management’s Eric Reynolds – image Jon Massey

“I really take my hat off to her crew – operating her in a crowded dock. With modern vessels you have bow thrusters and they can turn on a sixpence whatever the weather.

“With Robin you’d have had to spend 12 hours just getting steam up – their lives were so hard. We have a lot of material about her working life so we’ll be able to tell people all about it – the crew on her maiden voyage, for example.

“What we won’t do is commercialise her in any way – the whole point about this ship is she looks and feels like one that would carry coals from Newcastle and salted herring from Aberdeen.

“That should be respected and the entire idea is to create a free access open museum, along the lines of Blists Hill in Shropshire, where people can come to learn.”

Trinity Buoy Wharf plans to work with a cross section of organisations including schools, artists and musicians to explore and illuminate the vessel’s heritage as a jumping off point for study, not least in the fields of science and technology.

It also intends to tell the story of the ship’s construction at the yard of Mackenzie, MacAlpine And Company in Blackwall.

“That’s really quite amazing,” said Eric.

“With health and safety now, we could never imagine a 14-year-old boy throwing lumps of red hot metal up for someone else to catch in a shovel.

“The majority of the ship is original, and when we cut some of the metal and sent it away, the people said that you couldn’t get iron like this any more.

“It was probably made by some process that you wouldn’t be allowed to do now.

“For young people it’s a window into a lost world – an educational asset rather than a tourist attraction.”

In time, Trinity Buoy Wharf plans to bring all the historic vessels in its collection together with row barge Diana and the tugs Knocker White and Suncrest connected to the SS Robin, so visitors can tour all of them.

Watch this space for an opening date for the historic vessel.

Find out more about the SS Robin at Trinity Buoy Wharf here

Read Wharf Life’s e-edition here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024

Woolwich: How Woolwich Works is looking to the future as 2024 gets underway

Recently appointed director Nick Williams talks vast spaces and dog shows at the expansive venue

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“I really want us to do a dog show – the Royal Arsenal is a very dog-friendly place and we are as a venue,” said Nick Williams, director at Woolwich Works.

“My own dog comes in regularly and she has very strong views on these things.”

It’s a new year and, having taken the helm at the venue only four months ago, there’s a sense of anticipation and possibility from the man at the top.

“It would be so easy to reel off lots of things I want to do, but actually part of the fun of this is finding out,” he said.

“I’m quite keen for us not to be just another arts centre.

vFor one thing, we’re too big for that – our main space is 1,500sq m and it can take 1,800 people.

“It’s enormous and that’s only one of seven spaces.

“That’s why I’m talking about Woolwich Works as an events space.

“If you take the word ‘arts’ out of it, the door is open to all sorts of things.

“There’s been an array of different sorts of stuff in its short life so far and I’m pushing us to experiment with more of that.”

He’s serious about the dog show, of course, with an ambition to build on last summer’s Woolwich Woofs event – but to do it at scale with exhibitors, stalls, events and categories that go far beyond the narrow pedigree world of The Kennel Club.

He says he wants it to be the antidote to Cruft’s, with space to celebrate waggy tails and grey muzzles.

But that’s very much the wet nose of the Great Dane, with plenty of plans and opportunity coming over the next 12 months.

DIARY DATES
Family Folk Show
Jan 28, 11am, £12.10
Folk duo Megson present a concert of ditties for those aged 0-8.



Ruby Rushton

Feb 9, 6.30pm, £15.50

The jazz quartet offer an anniversary performance of their album Two For Joy.



Rotations

Mar 7, 7.30pm, £13

An evening of classical accordion music and dance plus a Q+A.

“This year, I would like to be hosting profile events, where people will say the venue looks really great and that they’re going to come to us,” said Nick, whose career has taken in roles at Arts Council England as well as running venues in Notting Hill and Perth.

“It’s really easy to get to Woolwich on the Elizabeth Line – we’re six minutes from Canary Wharf, 15 minutes from Tottenham Court Road and an hour from Reading.

“I really want us to host stuff that couldn’t happen anywhere else because we have so much space and so much flexibility within it.

“We don’t have a single fixed seat anywhere – everything can all come out be moved around and put back in a different configuration.

“We started to experiment with a bit of that in the autumn and there’s a lot more of that to come in 2024, in various different guises.

“We have a fabulous courtyard at the centre of the venue and it’s our most underused space, even though it’s enormous.

“Last summer, we put a beach bar out there, which was nice, although the weather wasn’t that great and we’ve had a bandstand this Christmas with various different groups and performers, which has been great fun, and drew a lot of people with a bar and some mulled wine.

“This coming summer, we’re going to put something out there with a bit of shade – a bit more of a garden feel.

“We’ll have a stage for those months so we can programme a range of performances.

“People will just be able to drop in – it might be a DJ night or a community group.

“We’ll mix and match to connect with lots of different types of audiences.

“The idea is that people will just come by and hang out.

“Hopefully there’ll be lovely weather and we’ll have a wonderful time.”

While there are some big dates on the calendar but currently under wraps, Nick was keen to stress that staff at the venue were very much open to ideas – especially creative ones.

“There’s so much I can’t actually tell you at the moment,” he said.

“We have a very big wellness and fitness event coming up in early spring.

“We’re also going to have an all-day Eurovision festival at the beginning of May, before the main event, and that will be great fun, with some big-name performers.

“The beauty of this place is that we can do what we like with it.

“I had a festival director come down who really wanted to do a show with us because it suited the vibe to put in the round.

“He wanted it for about 450, but here he found he could get 650, which was brilliant. It’s that versatility that’s fantastic.

“One of my key aims is getting as many people as possible in to see what we can do here.

“My attitude is that, if you’ve got a project that might be worth doing with us, then approach us – we’ll have a wander round, a coffee and a chat and see where it leads.

“I’m really keen on exploring crossover events which mix food, performance, creativity and wellness.

“We can do that here – it doesn’t have to be one thing or another.

“But you can’t run a place like this in isolation – you have to be open, interested in other people’s ideas.

“We’ve got too much space to fill just to rely on our own thoughts.

“We need people to come forward with their ideas.

“Word is getting out and that is entirely what we’re after.

“More and more people are coming forward with all sorts of things, and it’s all really exciting.

“In many ways we’re still a startup – still evolving and working out what works at Woolwich Works.”

Visitors and local residents can expect this spirit of openness to continue in 2024 – Nick’s overriding message being one of welcome.

He said: “I think we want people to realise there’s something for everyone here, and it really is for them.

“We encourage people to wander into the building and say: ‘Hi’.

“One of the first things I did when I came was to change the cafe opening hours.

“It used not to open on Mondays and Tuesdays, and it would open at lunchtime from Wednesday onwards.

Woolwich Works boasts seven spaces that can be used together

“Every time I was in there in the morning, someone would try to get in – I thought there was clearly an untapped market here – so from October we started opening at 8am on Monday mornings.

“We noticed quite a few people came and worked from the cafe, so we launched the Workers Club, and people take advantage of that because it’s a good deal.”

For £6, people can work from the cafe from 8am-6pm on weekdays with unlimited tea, coffee or juice. Times vary at weekends

There are also options to upgrade to lunch for £12 per day or to lunch and an after work drink for £15 per day.

“There isn’t anywhere like it near here,” said Nick.

“These are people often running small independent businesses or sole traders who want to support us and we’re making it easy for them to do that.

“We’re also very keen for our resident creative companies to perform here.

“Chineke! and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra have both been in our Christmas programme and one of the things we’re talking about with all the organisations is how we can collaborate more effectively.

“It’s a great conversation to have because everyone’s up for it.

“The Acosta Dance Foundation is a relatively recent arrival and Carlos is full of ideas.

“He really loves the main space and wants to do stuff in it, which is an exciting prospect.

“Having a global superstar say that they want to do something in our space is thrilling, so we hope that will come this year.

“I’d like people to think Woolwich Works is a place where really great things happen – somewhere they have a great time when they come and that always has something interesting happening.

“I have a sort of mantra – I want everyone coming away from an event to say that they had a really amazing time here, that they felt comfortable in the venue, that they were really welcome and that it was an easy, fun experience for them.

“I’d like people to think fondly of us, so that they want to see what’s on next time.”

Woolwich Works offers a regular newsletter with full details of forthcoming shows and ways to help support the venue.

Find out more about Woolwich Works here

The events venue has no fixed seating and can be used in a wide range of configurations

Read Wharf Life’s e-edition here

Subscribe to our free Wharf Whispers newsletter here

- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

January 11, 2024January 11, 2024

Royal Docks: How NASSA’s match with the Met is more than just a game of basketball

Newham All Star Sports Academy contest with police marks 15 years of CABNAB partnership

Anthony Okereafor founded Carry A Basketball Not A Blade

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At 5.30pm a game of basketball will begin at UEL Sports Dock on January 25, 2024.

But the players will be doing more than making passes, shooting hoops and competing.

It’s not the first time that a team from Newham All Start Sports Academy (NASSA) has taken on a squad of serving Met Police officers.

But this year is the latest in a series of events marking the 15 years of partnership between the two organisations.

Son of NASSA founder Natasha Hart – Anthony Okereafor – founded Carry A Basketball Not A Blade (CABNAB) in 2008 following the fatal stabbing of two of his friends within weeks of each other.

Its programme reaches thousands of young people each year, alerting them to the dangers of knife crime and carrying knives through basketball coaching and question and answer sessions.

The annual game is held to show the strength of organisations working together in the community, but also to remember those who have died as a result of knife crime locally during the year – with a hoop shot for every life lost.

“We come together to play a game of basketball, but the most important part of it is remembering those lives,” said Anthony.

“The event allows people in the community to see Met officers as human beings.

“It helps to break down the barriers for young people – to show them police officers enjoy sport just as they do.

“Trying to build a safer community isn’t just about removing the knives.

“It’s about making sure the right relationships and structures are in place to try to reduce the number of people who fall through the gaps.

“The game is common ground, it changes the dynamic.

“One of the things NASSA and CABNAB participants say is that when they meet officers in these settings they talk and have conversations and that’s something to build on.”

NASSA engages with young people through sport to help tackle knife crime – image Ilyas Ayub

That’s also something the Met is looking forward to with Chief Superintendent, Simon Crick, set to take part in his first game against NASSA since taking over as borough commander for Newham and Waltham Forest.

“It’s the engagement with young people and the diversion away from anti-social behaviour that’s so important,” said Simon, who began his career as a police constable in Newham.

“This part of London has seen more than its fair share of homicides and violent incidents over recent years and I’m really supportive of what NASSA and CABNAB are trying to do.

“Having been down to Sports Dock and seen all of the things the charity has achieved, it’s really good for us to be a part of it and to try and do something positive with young people. It’s really empowering.

“As for the game itself, we’ll get annihilated, without a doubt – I’m sure.

“I’m really looking forward to the game – anything that we can do to show a willingness to engage with young people, work with them and have a bit of fun, is really positive.

“Building relationships is what it’s all about – there’s too much animosity, so we need to do more of that.

“Alongside me, some of my senior leadership team will be playing and they understand the need to engage with young people.

“There will also be some neighbourhood officers in there, whose purpose and role in life is to do that – to support young people and divert them away from crime and anti-social behaviour.

“I think it will be really empowering for our officers – it always helps build that trust, whenever something is fun for those taking part, and it will help make their jobs easier.

“The uniform can be seen as a barrier sometimes and, if people can see you’re human through playing sport, that’s really important.”

The charity plays its games at UEL’s Sports Dock – image Ilyas Ayub

For NASSA and the young people that participate in its programmes, the game is a chance to explore those relationships and find some parallels.

Anthony said: “When people put on a uniform, there’s a certain reputation they have to uphold.

“When we play basketball, we put on a uniform and we preach that to our young people – it’s the same with school uniforms.

“When wearing them, you have to represent certain things, to look at the bigger picture of what that means, how you carry yourself and the importance of that.

“There is a natural tension with the Met, but police officers are also the first responders – they are the people you call when you’re in trouble and they also go through traumas related to the work they do.

vWhen the officers are playing, you don’t see that tension with the young people and that’s a seed that can be planted to grow into something better.

“Who knows, one of our young people might end up saying they want to join the police themselves.

“I’ve never worked for the police, but I can imagine officers are always on high alert for themselves and those around them as they work to keep people safe.

“This game is an opportunity for them to let their hair down – a bit of a break in a safe place and a chance to communicate with young people.”

With a reduction in youth services locally, that’s a welcome prospect for Simon and his colleagues.

He said: “There’s a lack of youth engagement opportunities following austerity – we saw huge cuts to many of those services locally and what NASSA does is phenomenal – bringing young people together locally.

“It gives them the ability to work as a team, to enjoy themselves, to get fit and have fun.

“It gives them somewhere to go and a sense of purpose.

“Having young kids myself, I know how important sport can be when they’re growing and everything is changing in their lives.

NASSA is set to take on the Met in a symbolic game on January 25, 2024 – image Ilyas Ayub

“That continuous focus around sport can be crucial.

“NASSA also provides a sense of family – speaking to Natasha, you really understand it’s a close knit organisation and people coming into it will really feel that.

“That’s important because I think lots of young people feel very alienated in the modern world. What NASSA does is very powerful.

“Knife crime is an issue that goes far beyond the police.

“We deal with situations where people are on the street carrying knives or when they’ve been the victim of a homicide or serious assault.

“There are things we do – very well planned and coordinated partnership activities – to try and reduce offending.

“But tackling this issue starts a lot earlier than that. It often begins in the home with good parenting and at school with education.

“There are so many factors that play into it.

“Where we’ve seen success across the country and across the world, has been when a public health approach is taken.

“That’s where numerous partners including charities, police forces and other organisations, come together to look at all the different factors that feed into knife crime, such as deprivation

“This game is a good example of how we’re trying to reach out and encourage young people to be part of that.

“We’re a long way from solving the problem, but we’ve recognised as a service that only a partnership approach will address it.

“If you speak to young people and ask them why they carry knives, a lot of them would say they are for self defence or to make sure that they are safe.

“If I had a magic wand it would be used to make people not feel unsafe or at risk so they wouldn’t feel the need to carry a knife.

“That’s the ultimate aim – it’s difficult to achieve that because of all the factors that affect it.

“For a young person to say they need to carry a knife to feel safe speaks volumes and that’s that we need to address first.”

While the game on January 25, 2024, is not open to the general public, organisations or individuals who would like to support NASSA can get in touch with the charity and may be able to attend.

Support from businesses, either financial or through volunteering is welcomed so NASSA and CABNAB can continue their vital work.

Find out more about NASSA and CABNAB here

Read Wharf Life’s e-edition here

Subscribe to our free Wharf Whispers newsletter here

- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

January 10, 2024January 10, 2024

Canary Wharf: How Creative Virtual is taming large language model AI

Cabot Square-based global leader talks about conversational chatbot technology and ChatGPT

Chris Ezekiel of Canary Wharf-based Creative Virtual – image by Matt Grayson

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“Wharf Life newspaper was founded by Archant, a publishing company, to serve the area around Canary Wharf,” states ChatGPT 3.5, confidently, when asked who created this paper.

It sounds plausible, going on to say: “Archant is a well-established media company with a history of creating local newspapers and publications”.

This demonstrates one of the issues inherent with AI large language models. They are prone to making things up.

Wharf Life was founded by Massey Maddison Ltd in 2019 and has no connection to Archant – a business that used to run the East London And Docklands Advertiser before it collapsed into administration and was subsequently taken over by US-owned media firm Newsquest.

Imagine, for a minute, that my question had been about something much more important than the vanity of asking about this newspaper – that the answer given might have serious consequences for me or the organisation I’m contacting through a chatbot.

With AI finding its way into all sorts of areas of life – including Newsquest’s reporting, incidentally – trust becomes an issue that should be uppermost in the minds of those interacting with it, either as readers or customers.

It’s a topic that’s been on the mind of Chris Ezekiel and his team at Creative Virtual for some time.

He founded the conversational artificial intelligence company on the Isle Of Dogs 20 years ago, investing its profits to grow it into a global business that won the Queen’s Award For Enterprise in 2017.

Now based in Canary Wharf, the firm is considered a leader in its field, competing with the likes of Microsoft, IBM and Google in a sector that until 12 months ago was largely below the public radar.

That all changed in 2022 with the public release of ChatGPT – an event that sent the world giddy with the prospect of what large language models might be capable of.

“It’s been a seismic shift for our sector,” said Chris, who is based at 25 Cabot Square.

“We’d been looking at these models for about three years but everybody was surprised by the impact that this launch by OpenAI had.

“What’s been amazing has been the proliferation of other big companies coming out with their own competitive versions.

“One of the things about running an independent company in the way we do is that you have to keep making profit to invest.

“This makes the choices you make as founder and CEO more critical.

Chris’ business is always looking to the future of organisations’ interactions with customers and employees

“There are always ups and downs when running a company – my role is to make sure there are more highs than lows.

“However, our setup also means that we can take a longer term view when it comes to developing products, alongside the way we work with our customers and the commercial models we adopt.

“One of the things that’s been a massive success for us this year, strategically, is that we immediately offered all our customers completely free proof of concepts related to using this technology to serve their customers and employees – running large language models alongside our chatbot technology.

“It was about asking how they could be used and what the concerns might be.

“At launch, they were much more susceptible to getting stuff wrong and making things up with no way of telling where those errors came from.

“So it was about working with our clients to establish what the challenges were.

“Many had seen the models and thought they could save a fortune – writing stuff for them and answering their customers’ and employees’ questions.

“The business teams were focused on that but then they realised the risks associated with this technology and realised it would need to involve the legal and compliance teams.

“We literally saw companies developing solutions they wanted to deploy for real, while in parallel setting up ethical AI teams, who we were working with to address their concerns.”

Essentially, developing those proofs of concept meant Creative Virtual – which works with the likes of HSBC and Lloyds Banking Group – learnt a great deal about what it would take to make use of the things ChatGPT and other similar models were offering in large organisations.

“Three themes came out of this work – one is trust in the models and the content they create,” said Chris.

“The second is control – to use this technology, organisations need the ability to make sure they can override the models in certain cases.

“For example, if a customer wanted to replace a lost credit card, you need a very structured process that is compliant, trustworthy, accurate, reproducible and consistent – all of the things we’ve always provided as a company.

“There are ways to do this by training AI on the documents, policies, procedures and product information from a particular organisation.

“On top of that you can also create rules to override the model in certain circumstances.

“The Gluon release of our V-Person technology offers a blended approach – AI created content from large language models and human-curated content, which is perfect for organisations which are trying to create accurate, trustworthy interactions.

“The third theme that came up was experience. As a 20-year-old company, we know what it takes to act as AI consultants.

“We’ve had to change our company to be aware of all the different models that are out there.

“Some of these large language models are good at some things, but not so good at others so it’s our experience that allows us to help these large organisations, who want to understand how they can be used and the benefits.

“We’re focused on delivering the control and trust they need through our products and the expertise of our people, to take full advantage of this technology.”

The emergence of large language models has also broadened Creative Virtual’s approach as it explores different sectors and applications for its products.

“It’s changed the company a lot,” said Chris.

“We worked with an accounting company in Australia – MYOB – to use generative AI to create content with a human in control to sign it off.

“They’ve just won a major customer experience award having followed through on a proof of concept with us to create a project.

“That’s the joy we get from this kind of innovation – working very closely with customers who realise the benefits of what this tech can offer.

“This type of AI can provide lots of solutions for sectors such as healthcare and government too – any organisation that has lots of documents.

“Historically we’ve mostly been focused on customer services and resources for employees but we’re now starting to deploy solutions in sales.

“A classic case is what we’re doing on the travel side.

“Currently, if you walk into a travel agent, the person there helping to advise on a trip might sometimes refer to their own or a colleague’s experience.

“There’s no reason a chatbot couldn’t be used to do something similar – using content to show what other customers’ experiences of a destination have been like – an advocate that’s scaleable.”

Chris says companies are developing architecture to make interacting with multiple devices and services through AI possible – image by Matt Grayson

As for the future, Chris is excited by the prospect of further leaps forward too.

“I think the physical form of AI is going to be an interesting one, like having your own robot butler which interacts with the devices in your home, such as your fridge, to keep an eye on supplies, or your smart watch to monitor vitamin intake,” said Chris.

“I think that the future is joining up the AI to connected devices.

“People use the term hyper-personalisation, where organisations know lots of things about you.

“Even with issues of privacy, people often don’t mind revealing personal details if it improves their experience.

“In the future, you won’t even have to think about how you interact with the AI.

“People are already using their voices more to control devices.

“Organisations will know the context of the conversation you’re having and will switch to different channels, so you can start off on the phone, then move to the web, with everything seamlessly connected together.

“We’re starting to develop architecture that will make this really easy to do.

“The big companies we work with talk about the composable enterprise, where we can slot all these different systems together.

“Organisations then don’t have to worry what’s coming from this company or that firm – they can select the technology that’s best of breed, and platforms which create an overall digital customer experience.”

Find out more about Creative Virtual and its products and services here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

December 15, 2023December 15, 2023

Royal Docks: How UEL has unveiled the Royal Docks Centre For Sustainability

Mayors of London and Newham attend the launch of the facility aimed at supporting innovation

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The University Of East London has officially launched the Royal Docks Centre For Sustainability (RDCS) at its Docklands campus.

The mayors of London and Newham joined UEL’s vice-chancellor to unveil a wooden plaque to mark the December 6, 2024 opening, hailing the move as the “dawn of a new era in innovation and sustainability

“The opening of this centre is an incredibly special milestone for UEL and for the future of our city,” said Mayor Of London, Sadiq Khan.

“I believe this centre is best seen as symbolising two of the most profound changes happening in London right now – our shift eastwards and our shift to net zero.

“The RDCS embodies London’s direction of travel.

“City Hall moved to this area because I believe great things will be done in the Royal Docks.

“This centre is now integral to one of the most significant regeneration projects in Britain and will help drive the entire venture forward over the coming decades – delivering good, inclusive growth as well as well-paid, high-skilled, meaningful jobs for east Londoners.

“The work that will be done here presents an opportunity to demonstrate how we can achieve both economic progress and environmental protection.

“There’s also the chance to accelerate the sustainability aspects of existing work in the community – the list of possibilities is long, but the time in which we have to act is short.”

The RDCS is billed as a “regional hatchery for innovation, skills and enterprise” offering local people, companies and UEL students access to affordable workspace as well as academic research and expertise.

Headed by director Robert De Jong, it will also run programmes aimed at launching and growing businesses or boosting east Londoners’ skills.

“As a centre we have to be an enabler and bring people in,” said Robert.

“We’re not starting from ground zero.

“We already have some amazing initiatives – the talent is here. RDCS will be a platform for us to connect, collaborate, form new partnerships and also strengthen existing ones.”

The RDCS itself is arranged over three floors of a building at UEL’s Royal Albert Dock campus.

Part-funded by the Royal Docks Team’s Good Growth Fund, it’s intended to be a hub for innovation and creativity, forming part of the university’s plans to become carbon neutral by 2030.

Alongside other facilities it will house UEL’s Living Lab, a partnership with Siemens that aims to offer students, researchers and local businesses a place to test, research and adapt technology to real-world environments.

“The RDCS is not just a building, it is a vision brought to life,” said Professor Amanda Broderick, vice-chancellor at UEL.

“It is a space where researchers, students, alumni, businesses, and local residents converge to create ideas, goals, and ambitions.

“It breaks down the barriers that often separate academia from its neighbours, offering a space where fresh perspectives and the cross-pollination of ideas flourish.

Professor Amanda Broderick, vice-chancellor at UEL

“And recognising that the success of any enterprise rests on the calibre of its workforce, the centre is poised to supply the region’s businesses with a skilled, green workforce ready to tackle the challenges of a rapidly evolving world.

“Aligned with the objectives of London’s only Enterprise Zone and building on UEL’s lead in business incubation and acceleration, this is a ground-breaking investment into our communities’ growth and development within east London and in our gateway to the world.”

Aligned with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals, the centre has ambitious goals to contribute to the local economy, address challenges here and across the planet and to help foster a cleaner, safer world.

“The RDSC brings together entrepreneurial ingredients from across Newham to support the development of future skills while driving needed collaboration between industry, academia and our people,” said Rokhsana Fiaz, Mayor Of Newham.

“Partnerships and collaboration resulting from the launch of the new centre will help to implement the borough’s Just Transition Plan, upskilling residents and providing opportunities to deliver new solutions that will be essential for adapting to climate change and transitioning towards a green economy.

“This new space allows Newham and broader east London to convene with partners from various sectors to help collectively solve all the interconnected challenges that the climate emergency presents us.

“While the challenges may be known, the solutions will look different in every sector, in every neighbourhood, so it’s critical to have a centre like this helping solve global challenges in a local way.”

The launch of the centre was also a platform for UEL to launch its Year Of Science, which is set to culminate with hosting the British Science Festival – a gathering of scientists, innovators, inventors, researchers and artists keen to show their work to the public.

Next year will see the 193rd iteration of the festival and mark the first time it has been held in London for more than 20 years.

Find out more about the RDCS here

Read Wharf Life’s e-edition here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

December 15, 2023December 15, 2023

Wapping: How Tower Bridge Studios and The Nest are looking to the future

Cherryduck in Sampson Street is set to return to its original name as co-working space seeks clients

Co-founder of Tower Bridge Studios and The Nest, James Vellacott

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All businesses evolve and change as the market moves and demand shifts.

So wanderers through Wapping may notice over the coming weeks that Cherryduck Studios in Sampson Street has returned to its original name.

“It was a fun name, but ‘Tower Bridge Studios’ says where we are and what we are,” said co-founder James Vellacott. “It’s time for a change.”

The move is very much a return to focusing on the company’s core operation – hiring out five studio spaces and a plethora of equipment for photographic and video shoots.

“We’ve seen a big push now for higher end shoots coming back to the studio,” said James.

“During Covid people were using their mobile phones for user generated content and the apps like TikTok and Instagram are great for that.

“But bigger organisations are back using the studios for press days, shoots, photography and video.

“This week we’ve had two studios hired for a rugby team with a photographer and camera crew on site.

“We’ve also had a live streaming company that likes to broadcast to its clients.

“Then a national newspaper has taken one of our studios full time, as of next year.

“They shoot a lot of fashion for a weekly magazine with lots of celebrities and they’ve moved here because of our video capability.

“They want to create in-house content but didn’t have the set up that we do and we have all the equipment they need, ready to hire off the shelf.

“We’re seeing the studios really pick up which is brilliant as 2023 has been tough.

Five spaces are available at Tower Bridge Studios

“The writers’ strike in the US has meant that places like Pinewood and Shepperton, which would normally be producing film and television, were empty – so commercial clients could hire them at a much reduced rate.

“This may have been an urban myth, but the lull has certainly picked up now and we’re busy up until Christmas.

“We generally run at around 65% or 70% occupancy although clients typically want to shoot on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

“We are in central London, but we have parking right outside so the convenience factor is there. It’s even possible to drive vehicles into two of the studios.

“We’ve tightened things up here and we’re confident we’re ready for whatever 2024 brings us.”

The business was set up in 2008 by husband and wife team James and Michelle, who own the studio spaces they rent out together.

In 2016, the pair invested further in Wapping, buying a neighbouring property and converting it into shared office space and launching it as The Nest in 2018.

The Nest co-working space boasts an interior designed by Gensler

“It took a couple of years to refit,” said James.

“It had been run as residential housing by an old-fashioned family who used a rent book and took cash.

“It definitely wasn’t compliant with building regulations. When we got in, we found the gas meter had been bypassed – that sort of thing.

“We got it running and initially it was a place for creative businesses.

“We were really busy and then Covid came and nobody wanted office space.”

This has meant a change of approach, with The Nest now changed into a co-working space for companies and locals.

It boasts interiors by Gensler – known for working with major corporations and Silicon Valley giants – and includes a fresh air system, a screening cinema, breakout spaces and plenty of walls made from rope. That’s a nod to the building’s history on the site of a former hemp warehouse.

There’s also a full barista set-up for those who prefer their coffee frothy, superfast wi-fi and lots of exposed reclaimed timber to lounge against.

“My personal opinion is that some home working can be good for some businesses – especially for more senior people,” said James.

“But to make a company succeed you have to have drive.

“People who come here, typically want a more collaborative element in their work.

A wide range of spaces are available at The Nest

“It’s not about trusting people to work remotely, it’s about communication – getting people around a table and asking what we’re going to do next, how we’re going to push things forward.

“We can accommodate businesses of various sizes, including people who just want to work on their own and fancy a change of scene.

“Working from home can be a bit laborious, especially if you’re sharing the space with a partner. People coming here get free tea and coffee and they can swipe in and out to come and go as they please.

“We’ve started to get a lot of locals in and we have various firms that use the space – some for three days a week and others more.

“We’d love the space to be a bit busier and currently offer a daily rate of £25 for people who just want to come and work for a day.”

Those doing so might well bump into actor and local resident Dame Helen Mirren, who regularly uses The Nest’s sound recording facilities for her projects.

But even without an A-list appearance there are plenty of attractions, including a firefighters’ pole to slide down and themed meeting rooms that are available on a flexible basis.

“We’re currently re-strategising as a business to ensure we’re nimble and able to go after growth,” said James.

“I’m massively enjoying the hands-on side of the businesses.

“Drive is what we need right now. We’re in every day, meeting clients and helping them with their set-ups in the studios.

“This might be helping to build a set, arrange lighting or sorting out lunch.

“Then, at the end of the shoot, we’ll help them pack down, check the equipment back in and help them out to the cars.

“Then we’ll repaint the white shooting area if needed.

“With The Nest, it’s a great space to be. I love being in there and making the coffees – talking to people and finding out what kind of business they’re in.

“It’s great when it’s buzzing – it has a really nice atmosphere and we’d love more people to come down and check it out.”

Desk rates at The Nest start at £25+VAT with various packages available including full time permanent seats.

Find out more about the studios here and The Nest here

Facilities at The Nest include a screening room

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

December 15, 2023December 15, 2023

Canary Wharf: How Marcus Lyall is set to illuminate a Wood Wharf tower block for 2024’s Winter Lights festival

Festival is set to return to the estate from January 17-27 with 12 temporary installations for all to see

Marcus Lyall’s Idle Time is set to be shown at Wood Wharf’s Union Square in January 2024

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I first met Marcus Lyall beneath a flyover in Royal Docks.

It was December 2020, the wind was biting and various restrictions were in place thanks to the pandemic’s Christmas-cancelling second wave.

As a result, his epic installation Presence was attracting the attention of only a few, shifty passers-by.

Nevertheless, the piece remained the most impactful work of that year’s Join The Docks festival – with viewers performing short messages into a microphone then seeing them echo between the concrete pillars of the roadway, with visualisation courtesy of an urgent laser and plenty of smoke machines.

Had the times been normal, it would have been a blockbuster – recalling the success the artist had at Canary Wharf’s Winter Lights festival in 2017.

Then, On Your Wavelength – a series of 32 square LED-lit portals drew visitors in droves to Crossrail Place’s once empty shopping level.

This year, the Homerton resident is set to return to the estate for Winter Lights 2024 – with something much bigger than either of these creations.

Idle Time will be projected onto a 50sq m canvas formed by white-wrapped scaffolding behind Wood Wharf’s Union Square.

“The idea for it came from our lives today and how we’re encouraged very much to think about optimisation and efficiency – what we can fit into a day,” said Marcus, who works from studios at Fish Island near Hackney Wick.

“There have been various anthropological studies of pre-industrial societies and one of the things the scientists noticed when they went to hunter-gatherer cultures was the amount of time that people spent not doing anything.

“It feels right now, when everything is being optimised, that there is very little time for not doing anything, despite the fact that everything has apparently been made more efficient so we all have more leisure time.

Marcus Lyall’s On Your Wavelength from Winter Lights 2017

“To me, it doesn’t feel like that.

“The question now is: ‘Are you spending your free time productively?’.

“With Idle Time, there are three elements connected to efficiency and productivity.

“Firstly there’s the backdrop – Canary Wharf – a global centre of hyper-capitalism, where companies dedicate every moment to trying to extract capital from labour.

“Secondly I’m using lasers, which are a hyper-efficient light source.

“You can use them in lots of ways, but here I’m using them like a big pen to draw and animate an image.

“With lasers you have the beam and a couple of mirrors that move at something like 30,000 times a second.

“Projecting 50 or 60 drawings per second lets the eye perceive the image as though it’s moving.

Artist Marcus Lyall – image by Matt Grayson

“Thirdly, I’m also working with motion capture technology where we have people act out various movements and use the data captured to drive the image.

“Normally this is done with dancers, acrobats, stunt people or physical theatre performers – subjects that are incredibly good at moving, so the data can be used to create animation sequences.

“It tends to be about capturing stuff that’s exceptional – actors performing the most amazing moves they can.

“What I’m doing with Idle Time is deliberately using people who aren’t terribly good at movement as my subjects – they’re mostly artists from the building I share in east London and they are doing things that are not terribly productive.

“One of the real pleasures of being an artist is that it’s not all about the effort you put in.

“A lot of it is about talking and thinking – stuff that’s difficult to quantify or capture.

“What I’m trying to do is celebrate the more mundane bits of life, the fact that most of our experience comes through incredibly subtle movement.

“Our experience of other people isn’t necessarily about them doing cartwheels.

“What’s interesting is that, when we’ve done tests on this work, people find these characters we’ve captured quite intriguing.

“Viewers immediately try to work out what they’re doing and then project characters onto them. It’s leaving a bit of a gap for the audience.”

Idle Time is one of 12 temporary installations that will pop up across the estate for Winter Lights 2024. The festival is set to run daily from 5pm-10pm and is free to visit.

Having seen around 1million visitors come to the estate for 2023, new one-way systems have been implemented to help manage numbers, with larger, more crowd-friendly pieces commissioned.

Alongside the visiting works, six permanent artworks will be illuminated for the show, including an LED twist on Shine Your Colours at Canary Riverside.

Marcus said: “It’s great that Canary Wharf Group is commissioning work and nice that they’re valuing art – it makes a difference.

“Idle Time is a bit more of a slow burn rather than a five-minute spectacular.

“Part of it is getting people to look at how they spend their time, getting people to question whether this constant drive for productivity is the best way to live their lives.

“I’m also hoping they feel some sort of empathy with the people they’re seeing, that there’s a connection with them, that they put themselves in those characters’ places.

“It’s very much about reflection and contemplation.

“There’s something nice about the fact that it’s projected onto a building that’s not in use yet – something that’s still going up.

“It also feels a little bit subversive to be doing a bit of graffiti with lasers in a part of the estate where people actually live.

“Sometimes this kind of work can be more for show, but this has been designed as something people can live with for a while.

“It’s ironic – I’m creating something in a hyper-efficient location with hyper-efficient projection technology and hyper-efficient motion capture, where my subjects are actually doing very little.”

The perfect antidote, perhaps, to the hustle and bustle of the Wharf – especially during the festival.

You can find out more about Winter Lights 2024 here

Read Wharf Life’s e-edition here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

December 13, 2023December 15, 2023

Isle Of Dogs: How the Elizabeth School Of London is growing to serve more students

The institution offers a wide range of courses and has taken space at Harbour Exchange to host them

Professor Ian Luke of the Elizabeth School Of London

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The Elizabeth School Of London (ESL) is enjoying something of a boom.

A higher education provider, which delivers a range of courses on behalf of various institutions, it’s expanded to seven sites across the country supporting some 9,500 students.

Its operation includes campuses in Birmingham, Leeds, Leicester, Manchester and Northampton as well as two in London.

Alongside its Holborn site, ESL recently moved into Harbour Exchange on the Isle Of Dogs with a second floor of the building already in the pipeline.

For the institution’s provost, Professor Ian Luke, himself a recent arrival, it’s a time of great opportunity for the organisation.

“The exciting part of ESL is that it’s in its infancy, so what I would like to see is it pushing the boundaries of teaching and giving students authentic experiences so they can immediately use what they’ve learnt in their careers or even during their time with us,” he said.

“Canary Wharf is an inspiring place, especially if you’re working in the sectors covered by our courses.

“The fact that students are working around multi-million pound companies, and we are creating links with those firms, is very special.”

ESL has a growing campus at Harbour Exchange on the Isle Of Dogs

ESL provides teaching and facilities on behalf of a number of organisations that act as awarding bodies on its courses.

These include Bath Spa University, St Mary’s University in Twickenham, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University Of Bolton and Newcastle College Group.

It offers courses in the areas of business and management; finance and accounting; health and social care; construction and computing, attracting many students seeking a change of direction.

“We currently have about 9,500 students,” said Ian.

“Many are mature students who are looking to make a career change or who higher education may have passed by.

“For ESL, it’s all about providing access to opportunity.

“The joy of our system is that we haven’t got the infrastructural arrangements of a university.

“Most universities engage in research. But generally they will only receive at best 75% funding for those activities.

“We’re not a research institution, although we’re very much about scholarly research-informed teaching.

“That means all our resources can be focused on the students themselves rather than anything else – hence the investment in campuses such as Harbour Exchange.

The campus is arranged over one floor, with a second in the pipeline

“While many universities have fixed locations, ESL has the flexibility to go where its services are needed.

“The benefit to the student experience is incredibly positive and, for the partners we work with, it means they don’t have to invest in a new campus themselves in these locations.”

Part of Planet Education Networks, a collection of institutions based at Marsh Wall, ESL’s expansion has seen a whole floor of Harbour Exchange’s main building fully refurbished.

“There are IT suites, media rooms, lecture rooms, a canteen, break-out areas and even a Dragons’ Den-style pitching area,” said Ian.

“The whole place has been designed for the students to have fluidity in physical and digital resources.

“Because we’re not trapped in campus buildings, we’ve been able to design this new facility for the way we want to teach students.

“One of the key things for us is that we’ve designed the actual timetable to support people.

“We understand that there’s a cost of living crisis and that many students have to work while they’re studying – we understand that they’re got care responsibilities.

“That’s why we operate over six days.

“Students get very focused work so they can manage their parental and other commitments.

“We also deliver evening and weekend sessions, so we try to make the timetable as bespoke for them as possible.

“What we’re delivering in terms of pedagogy is different to a university, in that we’re trying to tailor everything to an understanding of students’ lives, and more importantly, to their careers and employability afterwards.

“We know our students very, very well – who they are – and when that’s the case, you can cater for their needs.

“ESL is really about people who want to change their lives, and we’ve got the flexibility to help them do that.

“It’s crucial for us to be able to move with our students so we can offer something bespoke.”

This is all very much in Ian’s wheelhouse.

“With an academic and professional background in education, it’s no surprise he’s decided to join an institution where the importance of teaching is stated as a core value.

“I was deputy vice-chancellor at Plymouth Marjon University, a very small organisation down in the south-west, and I looked after everything there, apart from research – the academic schools, the quality of the teaching and the digital development,” he said.

“London is a complete shift for me, but I was a teacher and my PhD and professorial were in learning and teaching so I’m hoping to bring that to ESL.

“I have an understanding of quality systems and how they work, and how to make them more robust.

“There’s something incredible happening here with ESL – there’s a very big demand for what it’s doing – and it’s very successful.

ESL boasts extensive facilities close to Canary Wharf

“The focus is heavily on the students – they want to come – so it’s up to us to manage that growth well for them.

“The joy of multiple institution awarding is that you get the best practice from everyone, and you can make sure that we represent the programmes.

“In doing so, we try to serve the community, individuals and their careers.

“We get a whole range of people coming to study with us – they are multicultural, often older and may be returning to higher education.

“ESL is rigorous in terms of the students it accepts to ensure we are recruiting people we think we can support appropriately.

“Because the students are more mature, there is an engagement level here that not all universities experience.

“The staff are very passionate and the students really want to make the most of these opportunities.

“It’s very inspiring for me in my role to see how they are working to grasp those at ESL.”

Typical yearly fees at ESL are £9,250.

Find more information about the Elizabeth School Of London here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com

December 1, 2023December 6, 2023

St Katharine Docks: How Dockside Vaults delivers premium event space underground

Former Medieval banqueting experience has been reimagined as a blank canvas for all kinds of uses

Dockside Vaults is located at Ivory House in St Katharine Docks

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The legacy of global trade has left its mark across east London in vast spaces created to handle the wealth of cargo that once flowed up the Thames.

There were huge docks to safely berth the ships, wharves to unload them and warehouses to store and protect the goods and commodities.

The ongoing regeneration of Docklands has seen this infrastructure repurposed in myriad ways – as housing, accommodation for yachts, bars, hotels, restaurants, watersports centres and many more.

With many of the spaces being of a significant size and well connected to the rest of London, several have been reimagined as events venues.

The latest of these to launch is Dockside Vaults, a 10,000sq ft underground space beneath Ivory House in St Katharine Docks.

Built in 1852, the building is the only original warehouse still standing in the area and is today filled with residential apartments and restaurants at ground level.

Apt, perhaps, that its brick vaulted basement, which was once used to store imported barrels of wine is once again being used for hospitality and entertaining, having been the site of a Henry VIII-themed Medieval banqueting experience for decades.

“Funnily enough they were doing an immersive show long before the likes of Secret Cinema and those theatre concepts,” said Ben Gamble.

“The banqueting started in the 1970s with a fine dining, silver service dinner – but by the time it closed it certainly wasn’t that.

“It had become a tourist trap – all you could eat and drink for £30.”

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The space, however, was what interested Ben.

Having initially locked on to a career as a fighter pilot with the RAF, a shortage of training places prompted a rethink and he fell into the events industry after landing a job with the London Film Museum, having hawked his CV around the capital in search of gainful employment.

After establishing it as a venue for corporate shindigs at County Hall on the banks of the Thames, he left to start his own events business shortly after its relocation to Covent Garden.

“Having been involved with the owners to launch that and at a point I was just about to be earning good money, I handed in my resignation to start by own business,” he said.

“During my time at the museum I’d met a lot of events companies and had realised they were the ones with the big clients, big budgets.

“It seemed, as venue finders, all they would do is come round with the client and talk about the blooming obvious, which of course is not how it is at all.

“But I’d built up enough contacts, spoken to a few of them and told them I was thinking of doing my own thing.

“I asked them if they would trust me to find their venues.

“So that was the initial idea – it seemed like there was a gap in the market.

“I realised that everyone had been everywhere, so there was a need for a company that specialised in finding venues that had never been used before.

“So that’s what I did for seven years and then the pandemic shut down the industry.”

His company, Shout About London, worked across the capital often as a pioneer at venues such as Southwark Cathedral, the Archbishop Of Canterbury’s private library and at the Leadenhall Building, making a point of aiming to be the first company to bring clients into a space.

Gradually the business shifted to representing venues for longer periods of time and working with well-known institutions such as the V&A to create events around new exhibitions or attractions.

The evolution continued as Ben’s firm shifted into creative production and wound up managing several venues exclusively in the run-up to Covid.

“I actually signed a lease with a nightclub in January 2020 in London Fields, which was bad timing for me – it’s no longer there,” he said.

“Then the pandemic happened, so I went to UCL and did an MBA for two years.

“With hindsight, it was a perfect use of my time as I’ve been able to employ that knowledge in my new events and venue consultancy Nylon Pie, and now Dockside.”

The 450-capacity venue opened in September and features 10 alcoves all joined by an expansive central concourse, which can be used for events with 50 guests or more.

The venue is a blank canvas for clients to use

“I first saw the venue when I started Nylon Pie and I really liked the space,” said Ben.

“It was still full of mediaeval gear for the banquets so it needed emptying and modernising. Now it’s 10,000sq ft of premium event space with 150-year-old exposed brickwork.

“Tower Hill is synonymous with the old and the new – you have the Tower Of London and Tower Bridge with The Shard in the background.

“We’re from the same period as Tobacco Dock but we’ve got large TVs at the end of each of our alcoves and lighting where the colours can be changed at the touch of a button.

“Having great audio and visual tech is important and we have in-house microphones if people want to do speeches, too.

“The idea is that everything is plug-in and play.

“Of course, if you’ve got a big budget, we can do projection mapping on the brickwork and go all out – but if you don’t, we can operate on a minimum spend basis at the bar.

“We’re a cashless venue, but we’re also the largest venue in London to take payment in Bitcoin.

“So far we’ve done about 20 events including screenings of things like the Rugby World Cup – we had 450 South Africans here for the final.

“First and foremost we’re a corporate events space, however, and we’ve worked with Identify – one of the best events management companies in the UK – on a two-day conference.

“That showed a good use of the space, for smaller immersive events with 150 to 200 people.

“The alcoves can be used as breakout spaces and can easily be given a personal touch with branding, signs or logos.

“We’re also keen to be a part of the local community – not a closed door – and we’d love people to get in touch.”

Find out more about Dockside Vaults here

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- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com