V22 at Louise House

 By Tara Cranswick, Director of V22
In 2013, V22 was proud to have won the tender for a long leasehold of Louise House from the London Borough of Lewisham. Occupation of the premises in Forest Hill commenced in 2014 after extensive repair works were undertaken, after which the main building has been fully let to artists ever since. We have been very pleased with the feedback we have received about how helpful it is to have such provision in the neighbourhood for local artists, and our tenants who have moved to the area have reported how welcoming the community has been and how much they have grown to like the area. As envisioned, we have artists at a variety of stages in their careers, from Turner Prize nominees to those just starting out.

V22 has engaged with the local community extensively since moving to the area. We have made contact with traders, businesses, organisations and individuals. Past, current and proposed future works have been informed by this community engagement, which has generated a fantastic response to our ideas and plans which have come about as a result.

In 2015, in partnership with SEE3, V22 was successful in applying for funding from the Mayor of London’s High Street Fund. We were also successful in our application to the Arts Council England’s Small Capital Grants programme for the redevelopment of Louise House.

With this funding V22 have been able to:
Renovate the ground floor of the rear building of Louise House (the Laundry) as an exhibition space, community studio, small café and events space and start the development of a community garden
Redesign and build the front garden of Louise House to form a single space with the adjacent library

V22 were very pleased to open these new spaces at Louise House at a Community Open Day in July. It was wonderful to get positive feedback from the community and to celebrate with those who have contributed to making these works possible. The Open Day was followed by a six-week Summer Club hosting a variety of screenings, talks, workshops and family events. The Summer Club will become an annual event.

Part of our aim for the Summer Club was to engage with future partners for the Community Studio. This is a space in the old Laundry building at the rear of Louise House, which will be used to host a variety of community-focused events throughout the year. One of our largest partners will be the Forest Hill Library and its anchor tenant, The Philosophy Foundation — but we are also in discussions with a local art teacher who wants to run regular children’s classes, a yoga teacher who wants to host her sessions there, and a storyteller who is interested in hosting regular events.

We really want to engage with the local community about how the Community Studio and garden are used going forward and are looking for people interested in running events or workshops in the space. It might be coffee mornings, language classes, adult learning sessions of all kinds, pilates, crafts… the list is a long one. The space could accommodate a variety of events or activities from purely commercial ones — like product previews, a Christmas party venue for local businesses or a location for filming (which would all contribute to the costs of running the space) — to entirely not-for-profit initiatives. So, whatever your budget or idea, whatever your interest, we would love to hear from you; please email katherine [at] v22london.com.

One of the great things about knowing we will be in Louise House until the year 2141 is the ability to plan long-term partnerships with our neighbours. Thank you all for your support thus far!

A New Building for the Devonshire Road Nature Reserve

By Hilary Satchwell (Planning Committee)

As anyone who has been to the Devonshire Road Nature Reserve in SE23 will know, their current 1970s portacabin building is not in the best of shape and for several years the Friends of Devonshire Road Nature Reserve have been talking about a replacement. Ideally this would be a project that could be largely built by volunteers, and would allow the reserve to expand its educational programmes and improve access for all.

In May 2016 the Forest Hill Society and the Nature Reserve worked together to organise a design charrette (or workshop) to look at designs for this new building and to gauge what it might be possible to achieve on the site. This was organised by Hilary Satchwell from the Forest Hill Society and Richard Robinson and Jake Twyford from the reserve.

Based on the model that Forest Hill Society used for the 2014 Forest Hill town centre charrette, we invited a group of local architects and other built environment professionals to give up their time over one weekend in May to help the reserve develop its brief for the building, to determine what could be accommodated on the site, and to come up with design ideas.

We had a great response and about a dozen local people got involved and,  over a weekend in late May, gathered together in the existing portacabin. We spent Saturday morning measuring and understanding the site’s levels — which slope down towards the railway line — and understanding the way the building fits in with the houses along Devonshire Road. We developed the project brief to account for the timber-building skills the reserves' volunteers had gained from their earlier green oak building projects (part funded by the Forest Hill Ward Assembly). We then worked in two groups to test different ideas: the first was for a larger, single-storey building to replace the existing one; while the second group investigated whether a two-storey option with a terrace overlooking the reserve would be possible. This included drawing up plans, sections and sketches of the different options.

Over a lovely lunch cooked by Jake, we presented our schemes. As a group, we concluded that the single-storey option would be the best approach — in order to make sure the project would be as 'buildable' as possible, and that it would be accessible without the expense of a lift across two floors.

The single-storey timber-framed approach was then developed by the group over the afternoon. This work included looking at the design merits of: an internal ramp that would allow wheelchair users access through the building; a large room for groups and a second room that would allow two school classes to visit the reserve at the same time; a small separate kitchen; and improved toilet facilities including a disabled WC.

The design ideas for the building focused on a simple grid construction that would allow the main structural sections to be built in advance as a 'kit of parts', for later assembly. The proposed design includes lots of glass, timber cladding and a raised roof pointing into the reserve itself. The spaces are designed to be flexible, with sliding partitions between rooms so that they can be used in a number of different ways.

On the Sunday, when some of the group were able to return, we concentrated on refining the single-storey scheme and looking at its buildability and detailing.

Although we made good progress there is still much to do. The next steps for the project will include building a model, drawing up the plans more accurately in CAD, and meeting again with the volunteers in the autumn for further project development. Professional quality plans will be needed for a future planning application, and also for funding applications to get the project off the ground and into construction. The Nature Reserve would like to get going on this project soon and, ideally, see it built during 2017!

The Forest Hill Society and Devonshire Road Nature Reserve would like to thank those who took part in the weekend’s design charrette: Thom, Jason, Helen, Brendan, Andy, George, Rupert, Nigel, James, Wendy, Jorge, Jonny, Jake, Hilary, Richard, Quetta and Rupert.

How you can get involved: Devonshire Road Nature Reserve will be looking specifically for volunteers to help during site preparation work and construction. We plan to create a database of local volunteers, skills and tradespeople who may be able to assist. Once we know more precisely what is needed it would be really great to be able to receive donated materials for the build.

To volunteer or donate materials, please email hilary [at] fhsoc.com.

Photo of draft sketches courtesy of Richard Robinson

Forest Hill Fashion Week

22nd-25th September is Forest Hill Fashion Week. FHFW showcases local talent in a festival of fashion, design and craft.
Featuring established and up-and-coming designers, the fashion week is organised by Forest Hill Arts — a group of volunteers. Along with local shops, cafés, bars, and other venues and community interest groups, everyone joins forces to fund and host an exciting line-up of fashion-themed events. FHFW illustrates Forest Hill’s community spirit, creativity, love of sharing and commitment to high street regeneration. Find out more at http://fhfw.co.uk/

Coming Soon: Forest Hill Community Library

October 2016 will see a new start for Forest Hill library as a Community Library. We have made no secret of the fact that the shift from direct council management to community management was something that concerned us, but once Lewisham Council made the decision to turn this into a community library, we wanted to make sure it would be the best community library possible.

In Forest Hill we are fortunate to have a number of local traders (particularly Pauline Wright and Simon Higgs) who are passionate about our community, and next door to the library we have V22 who have great experience in the management of heritage buildings, rental of studio space, and a real desire to be part of the community. Together with the Forest Hill Society and a few other individuals passionate about the library, we were able to submit a successful bid to the council, setting out our vision for its future — with book lending playing a critical role.

This October will see the transfer of management from Lewisham council to the Forest Hill Community Library team. It will be overseen by representatives of V22, Forest Hill Traders and Forest Hill Society. This is a major undertaking for all of us, but we are confident that we will be able to deliver a community library of which the community will be proud.

The upstairs space in the library has been under-utilised in the past and, in order to generate income for running the building, we are letting this space to tenants as offices and deskspace. There should be little or no impact on existing library services and the workspace will be managed and administered by the experienced team at V22.

This offers a unique opportunity to have workspace in this great location and to support our community library. Interested creatives, freelancers, social enterprises and entrepreneurs are invited to contact deskspace [at] v22london.com.

A major part of running the community library will fall to volunteers. We already have over 80 volunteers, but we need more to ensure the library stays open for 66 hours per week! People are needed to assist with book borrowing, book returns and many other aspects of running a library. Now is a great time to volunteer, even if you can only manage a few hours a week or even a month. Please complete the form below to join our list.

Volunteer for Forest Hill Library

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More information about the Library at:
Website: Foresthilllibrary.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ForestHillLibrary
Twitter: @LibrarySE23

Planters for Perry Vale

The railway wall on Perry Vale is not the most attractive part of Forest Hill. So the Forest Hill Society decided to do something about it and work with Rockbourne Youth Club and AeroArts to create new planters out of old tyres (kindly donated by A A Tyres & Wheels of Standstead Road).  Huge thanks to all those involved in the preparation work and setting them up just as the rain came down.

We hope you enjoy these colourful additions to the streetscape and if you see rubbish in them it would be great it you could help by removing it!

Community Library a step closer in Forest Hill

The Forest Hill Society have been working with V22 and Forest Hill Traders Association to bid to manage Forest Hill Library. We have now been recommended as the preferred partner group to take on management of the library.

Lewisham Council's Safer Stronger Communities Select Committee will meet on Monday 4th July to discuss library services. Documents online show that council officers are preparing a report to Mayor and Cabinet will recommend that:
 
"V22 is approved as the preferred partner for Forest Hill and that the Executive Director for Regeneration is delegated to negotiate a lease for the Forest Hill Library building for a minimum term of 25 years to enable the provision of a community library in partnership with Lewisham Council."

One other organisation had submitted a bid for Forest Hill library, however their bid stated that they would require ongoing revenue support from the council and that proposal was therefore not taken forward by the council.

There will still be a number of contractual and technical issues to sort out before the transition occurs, but we are confident that we can work with the council to create a good community library for Forest Hill.

In the last few months more than 80 people have got in contact to offer their help volunteering in the library once it becomes a community run library. Thank you to all our members who have been in contact to tell us the importance of the library in the community, and who are willing to put their time and energy into ensuring a successful future for this important asset in Forest Hill.

However, the library is currently open for 66 hours per week, so we will still need more volunteers to help staff the library properly and safely. Whether you are available during the day or in the evenings for a few hours per week, it would be great to hear from you.

If you would be interested in volunteering for a few hours per week at the library we would like to hear from you so that we have a great volunteer list ready for the transition in the autumn. At this stage we don’t know what your duties would be, but an interest in books and internet research would be a big advantage. If you would be interested, please contact michael@fhsoc.com

Festival in the Forest

Festival in the Forest is an unforgettable summer's day filled with great music, food and drink. Listen to the best Jazz, Folk, Country Rock, Indie and Blues on two stages in a hidden paradise, right in the heart of Forest Hill.

Shakespeare in Forest Hill

A short video from when Shakespeare came to Forest Hill in April 2016

Planning Application: 41a Dartmouth Road

An application has been made for the conversion of part of this site to residential.

You can read the planning application on Lewisham's planning website.

The Forest Hill Society has written to object to this development:
"We believe that dividing the ground floor retail unit to provide access to the upper floors is detrimental to the retail unit because of the reduction of its size and the poor design quality of the frontage. This will affect the future viability of the retail unit at a time when Dartmouth Road is at last coming back to life as a retail area, with promised street development and many small businesses starting up. We do not want to see any of the retail units suffering a reduction in their viability."

Full letter of objection can be read here. 

Transport Update

Some good news ... The new platforms 8 and 9 will open at London Bridge station on August 30th, which will allow us to travel to Waterloo East and Charing Cross again without having to use the Tube.

Part of the new underground concourse will open beneath Southern Rail’s platforms. Passengers will be able to alight from their trains and then use the new escalators, stairs or lifts — which are currently boarded up on each platform — to reach the new concourse, which connects with the new platforms for Charing Cross.

However, work will then start on rebuilding the Cannon Street platforms. This means there will be no interchange at London Bridge with Southeastern rail services to Cannon Street from late August until 2018. As with the Charing Cross services, National Rail tickets will be valid on London Underground to complete your journey.

Once the work is completed, London Bridge should have all of its services restored (we will be keeping an eye out for the return of the 08:32 from Forest Hill), as well as a much-increased and improved Thameslink rail service, giving us more rail connections than before.

On the Buses

Route 185 has been re-awarded to Go-Ahead London  with new battery-hybrid buses. This new contract will begin in October, so we should start to see new quieter, less-polluting buses appearing on this route.

The peak-hour vehicle requirement on this busy route is going up from 24 to 25, which would suggest a slight increase in peak-hour buses, possibly to one every 7 minutes towards Victoria in the morning and towards Lewisham in the evening.

The 363, which runs along Wood Vale and Sydenham Hill, is also going hybrid from October this year.