Rising Green

Date: 2021

Pioneering conversion of a high-street retail unit into a new youth provision

Concept for Rising Green competition entry led by Freehaus

AJ 40 under 40 talents JA Projects and Freehaus were appointed together to develop the retrofit and transformation of an existing high street retail unit into an interim youth space in the centre of Wood Green.

The site, situated off of Wood Green High Road, comprises a single aspect, vacant retail unit with generous floor to ceiling heights and a ‘barbican-esque’ concrete waffle slab soffit, all of which were previously concealed by multiple suspended lay-in ceiling grids across the space. The adaptive reuse of the unit will not only celebrate the hidden structural detail but also provide essential uplifts to finishes and services, in order to safeguard future uses and the interim provision of youth services for the local community in the space.

The project's central location looks to challenge the outdated high-street model, dominated by retail and recognising the need for diversification due to changing patterns of use made explicit by the Covid-19 pandemic.  The project looks to add to the diversity of the high street’s non-retail offers to help its recovery in the long term - making it an attractive and vital place to work and live.

With 90% of Londoners living within 10 minutes of their local high street, the proposal will provide essential youth provisions right in the centre of Wood Green, whilst offering a gesture of invitation to young people and better dynamism to the public realm through an active frontage. 

Co-design workshops led by JA Projects focusing on the entrance to the youth space.

Young people use our built environments and use the city as much as any other demographic, yet public spaces and our buildings do not actively offer invitations to them. As a response to this, JA Projects and Freehaus led a series of co-design exercises with a group of local young people known as the 'Wood Green Young Voices' to help embed their ambitions within the design for the youth hub.

JA Projects led the co-design of the youth hub’s main entrance, a threshold that can often be a barrier to entry for young people. Over the course of three months, they worked alongside the Wood Green Young Voices, to capture lived experiences, define barriers and opportunities, and explore the look and feel of the youth hub. Delivered under pandemic restrictions, the online sessions culminated in a ‘broadcast’ where young people presented their ideas to other stakeholders including regeneration officers and local councillors. The output of these workshops has also directly influenced the architectural design, led by Freehaus, who led a second wave co-design programme to shape the hub’s identity, name and logo.  

Working within these collaborative design principles from the outset the project seeks to represent the personality and ambition of Wood Green's youth, by putting conversation at the forefront to give young people ownership over their communities.

In January, Haringey Council awarded a £1.1m contract to commence construction of the youth hub, which is due to be completed in time for the summer holidays. Over the coming months, Freehaus will be providing student placements for local young people, to provide insight into the project and pathways into the profession.