JA Projects wins contest to rethink historic Shoreditch street

The east London firm – founded by AJ 40 under 40 winner Jayden Ali – topped a shortlist that included East and Studio Weave to win the commission for local Community Interest Company onRedchurch.

JA Projects will now work with key stakeholders and the Redchurch community to develop an inclusive place-making vision which could help to revitalise the historic shopping street close to Shoreditch High Street station supporting inclusion, access and powerful, productive and new self-identification of local people with the street.

The commission is part of wider plans to future-proof the road, which has seen big changes in recent decades and is now a hub for boutique fashion stores.

JA Projects founder Jayden Ali said: ‘Leading the development of the place-making strategy for Redchurch Street is a project I am deeply committed to. I know Redchurch Street well from having lived and worked in the area for the best part of 30 years.

‘It is very rare that one gets the opportunity to contribute to a place they are so invested in and which they call home. As a practice, we take an embedded approach to working with places we love and with people that care about, and we seek to produce projects that deliver lasting relationships and real social value.’

The project is part of the Mayor of London’s High Streets for All Challenge, aiming to create "thriving, inclusive and resilient high streets and town centres, within easy reach of all Londoners. Promoting local employment and near home working, protecting existing community and cultural spaces and introducing new types of businesses and civic organisations.”

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Read the full article by Merlin Fulcher in the Architects’ Journal