Meeting with council officer responsible for extensive market regeneration project to discuss sustainability outcomes

Towards the end of July we met with the Green Street Programme Manager, Clive Kershaw who is responsible for the development and delivery of the £5.3M Queens Market ‘Good Growth programme’, jointly funded by Newham Council and the Mayor of London.

This programme was set up by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. It is being implemented in Newham as a borough-wide initiative working on supporting economic development and community well-being. As part of this, significant funds have been allocated to support the regeneration and redesign of a well-loved but rather run-down undercover market. The market currently has 164 trading pitches, 62 small shops and 20 kiosks. It has a mock-Brutalist exterior which has seen better days.

The project aims to improve the look, feel and function of the market, with improvements to the adjoining outside space, Queen’s Square and the construction of an affordable workspace building within the generous-sized parking space to the back of the site. There will also be restoration of Hamara Ghar, a large, sheltered housing block for elderly residents, which will help the council meet their climate emergency obligations. A community creative workspace is planned for the ground floor of Hamara Ghar, as is potentially a new library.

Clive is working with various stakeholders, council colleagues and architects to deliver a market redesign which works for as many interested parties as possible.

We were involved early on with co-design where we shared a number of ideas for how to ensure sustainability within the overall finished redevelopment. We had subsequent contact with the council and one of the commissioned architects before being invited to meet with Clive to discuss climate change mitigatory initiatives.

ClimateYouChange members Jyotsna, Henrietta and Celia attended with Sameer Kassam from Refill Abell in Oxhey Village in Hertfordshire, just north of London. We invited Sameer to attend after contacting him to see whether he might like to express an interest in having a refill store within the finished market redesign, or at the very least join us to provide a commercial perspective on integrating zero waste practices within the market.

We covered a lot of ground during the meeting, warranting the need for a fairly in-depth follow up document being sent by us to Clive, to provide him with a written record of our suggestions for the many areas we discussed.

In this document we came up with proposals for promotion and signage to encourage conscious consumption, buying locally grown etc. We detailed ideas for zoned areas within the market, to create powerful messaging around climate-friendly buying choices, from zero waste and sustainable ingredients/materials to circular economy goods and services. We gave suggestions for how to zone, cleanly with easy to understand, appealing wording, alongside ideas for how to increase the attractiveness of these sustainable product offerings and services.

We put forward suggestions for climate-friendly food practices and food waste minimisation, woven into the positive sustainability themes and signage proposed for the market. We suggested themed days and events to further promote community lifestyle changes, celebrating the proposed enhanced, sustainable Queens Market product and service offering. We also offered sustainability workshop/event ideas for the creative wellbeing space and suggested green initiatives for the workspace.

For the Hamara Ghar, sheltered housing block and what will be new build workspaces, we offered a number of suggestions on materials, water management, green electricity storage, thermal mas improvements and reuse ideas.

Finally, we touched on active travel before covering greening solutions, including how these could engage the community. Where things go from here, we are as yet uncertain, given that the regeneration planning involves many stakeholders and is an ever-changing, dynamic process. Only time will tell what can come from the meeting and follow-up document.