Rather than treat this solely as a problem, we’ve looked for opportunities, and we can already report on two positive responses to the challenge of incorporating culture in residential developments.

First, with support from our founding funders the Mayor of London, Arts Council England and Bloomberg Philanthropies, we’ve bought the first Creative Land Trust building.  Stone Studios in Hackney Wick will accommodate as many as 180 studio spaces for artists, helping to sustain Europe’s largest cluster of creatives, and giving us the chance to prove the concept behind our foundation and to enhance the new flats that Telford Homes are building above the workspace.

We’ve also announced what will become our second location, working in partnership with LB Newham to restore and repurpose a set of disused firefighters’ dormitories in Stratford High Street to kick off the culture-led regeneration of the neighbourhood, starting with our creation of around 30 new studios.

Second, we have set out to prove something that many of us instinctively know – that the presence of artists and makers adds financial value to developments, just like the presence of upmarket food retailers or green space.  There are, of course, plenty of non-financial reasons for incorporating creativity into residential developments; nothing works better to activate new spaces and make new places.  Culture has a proven, positive impact on wellbeing and community cohesion.

But we wanted to equip developers with hard evidence of financial benefits for their investors too.  With the help of our partners Creative Estuary and Get Living, we commissioned a team led by Hawkins\Brown to research the subject and establish the impact that creative workspace has on long term property values; the assistance of ULI was invaluable in carrying out the project.  Having looked at both creative clusters (such as Hackney Wick and Margate) and individual studios, the researchers established that the presence of studios delivers a 4.4% annual uplift in resi values in London, and 3.3% in the Thames Estuary.

The report, Creative Places Create Value, is available to all via the Creative Land Trust website.

We hope it will be widely read; it has never been more challenging to activate ground floor spaces, but we’ve shown that it is possible to do that while increasing the value of associated resi property, whether for sale or rent.  That’s good news for us as we work to acquire space to preserve London’s traditional strengths in the arts, crafts and creativity in general, but it’s also good news for developers and investors looking to build the best possible neighbourhoods while improving their financial returns.”

Our thanks to all the speakers for taking part in the event and thanks to Gordon Seabright for sharing his expertise here.

Following the success of the product council day, the ULI UK Residential Product Council has decided to focus on the theme of “The benefits of creating great places to live through culture and community” for the coming months.

Stephanie McMahon, ULI UK Residential Council Chair