Workspace Strategy & Delivery for LB Barking & Dagenham

The London Borough of Barking & Dagenham commissioned WorkWild with Paul Augarde and Alex Russell to reimagine uses for Roycraft House, a municipal office building in Barking town centre, and present the property to market.

The team worked closely with anchor organisations, local workspace operators, community, cultural organisations and businesses to develop a deep understanding of the community, local economy and demand for space in the area. With Be First (Barking & Dagenham’s housing development arm) and architects Fluid, we developed a new vision for the space using local insight. This informed the brief for the space, which included the business model needed to deliver the space and the social impact KPIs required.

The vision and business model developed by the team helped Be First retain the building for workspace use. We marketed the proposal to operators, stimulating demand and soliciting operators known to deliver these types of spaces. We worked with operators to develop their proposals for Be First decision-makers. The team supported the successful application - Make It - and helped Be First to agree terms and move the project to the delivery phase. 

As a workspace, Roycraft House has an active street frontage and five storeys housing event, bar, and community space in addition to workspace for local creative and technology enterprises. The operator team has linked with local organisations like Participatory City and enables young people in Barking to lead and curate parts of the space.