Staff and graduates unite to create co-working hub

Stemming from a dynamic initiative aimed at providing recent graduates with real work experience and professional development, there is now a space within our Greencoat Building for Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon and CCI graduates to grow their creative practices.

What’s the story?

Having worked closely with recent graduates on their Graduate Incubation and UAL Incubator: Launch programmes, Camberwell, Chelsea and Wimbledon’s Graduate Futures Team were aware of the lack of flexible, affordable workspace in South London. The recently vacated spaces in the Greencoat Building presented a perfect opportunity to offer creative practitioners and entrepreneurs a collaborative, low-cost solution. As part of this, the team enlisted help from the Camberwell’s graduate community to uplift the spaces and put them to better use. Alyssa Becht, Incubation Hub Manager, and Bridget Johnson, Incubation Hub Coordinator, reached out to Shibboleth Shechter, Course Leader BA Interior and Spatial Design at Camberwell, to better understand how to approach the graduate designer community and for support in sourcing the right people for the job.

The team wanted the rooms to be converted into co-working spaces that recent graduates could rent out at an affordable rate. With studio space pricing within London more competitive than ever, it was an idea that made perfect sense for our creative community, many of whom may struggle to find a space separate from their own home to kick off their creative career.

Thu Nguyen, a graduate of BA Interior and Spatial Design 2023, was recruited to carry out a feasibility study of how the rooms could be refurbished to become multi-purpose areas to be used for:

• practical work
• co-working
• meetings, quiet time and informal discussions.

With a modest budget, Thu mapped out their creative proposal for the rooms to ensure they would feel welcoming, practical andencourage collaboration whilst retaining privacy for users. What they delivered was an in-depth feasibility survey that clearly set out how to improve the rooms in a way that would be cost effective. Mapping out dedicated breakout spaces, private working areas and sufficient storage, Thu delivered a design that met every point of the brief.

The next stage was putting Thu’s plan into action, with the group turning to Gab Brambilla, Lecturer in Digital Practices BA Interior and Spatial Design and graduate from MA Designer Maker at Camberwell, for a key element of Thu’s plan; fabricated dividers. In a move that would save money whilst also providing tangible experience for another UAL graduate, Thu suggested that mobile dividers be fabricated in-house to be used in the larger room. These dividers would double as pinboards, allowing users of the space to utilise them in ideation and brainstorming work.

Gab worked on the divider fabrication with his colleague Lucy Eccles, with both designers passionate about re-using materials. The pair made use of unwanted desks found at Greencoat, using the recovered wood to form the frame of the dividers. The remainder of the wood has been used in other projects carried out by the pair as part of their design collective, Colla.