Beer Here: Lockwood Way

18 November 2022

Transforming an industrial area from hostile, car-focused environment to a sustainable, welcoming, and inclusive space.

We Made That has completed works to improve the Lockwood Way industrial estate in Blackhorse Lane, transforming the area into a social hub for local businesses and expanding much-loved tap rooms on the Walthamstow Beer Mile. The project includes a canopy structure, movable ‘forklift furniture’ and building frontage improvements to provide a series of safe, sustainable, welcoming, and inclusive spaces to gather and enjoy the surrounding breweries, fabricators and makers.

The £600,000 project is funded by the Council and seeks to support tenants on the estate by delivering improvements to both the units and the public realm on the estate to create a more welcoming and accessible space – whilst maintaining the existing ‘working yard’ servicing and loading requirements of the businesses. We Made That worked with Europa (graphic designers), Stockdale (quantity surveyors), ABA (civils and highways) for the London Borough of Waltham Forest.

The Council-owned estate is home to both Wild Card Brewery and Hackney Brewery, who have on-site tap rooms and host outdoor markets on the estate at weekends. They are also involved in setting up the Walthamstow Beer Mile initiative in the local area, with its cluster of emerging breweries. You can also pick up your daily bread from Wild Grains bakery, get some local wine at Renegade Urban Winery and event get your classic scooter tuned-up at Retrospective Scooters.

“The improvements to the Lockwood Way Estate will not only support the growing collection of enterprising businesses already located there, but importantly also provide the local community with a welcoming environment in which to interact with and support those businesses. This keeps investment in the heart of the borough and instils confidence for its future amongst our residents.”

Councillor Simon Miller, Portfolio Lead for Economic Growth at Waltham Forest

Proposals were developed in conversation with the business owners through group workshops and one-to-one conversations over the course of the last year. Industrial units have received new glazed frontages, wayfinding signage and re-painted facades; while public realm improvements include widening and resurfacing the footways to create an ‘amenity strip’ with space for new sustainable urban drainage, trees and street furniture. A communal canopy structure will provide a covered space for events, plus the addition of pop-up power points in the external yard spaces, an illuminated ‘totem’ sign and an outdoor table and bar structure to support events.

Other improvements to the streetscape include painted flank wall artwork, new playful road markings, new estate wayfinding signage, improvements to fencing and boundaries on the estate – and a new connection to the adjacent Walthamstow Wetlands. A series of movable ‘forklift furniture’ items – including planters and seating that re-use offcuts of stone from another tenant on the estate, Capital Granite – have been introduced to support public-facing activity on the estate by allowing tenants to rearrange their external yard spaces to suit their programming.

The new elements to the estate are made of robust, industrial materials that celebrate the area’s industrial heritage, and are complemented by a new graphic identity developed by Europa that highlights the flip between the industrial daytime and public evening and beer-led out-of-hours activity.