​Hounslow Council has been awarded a £180,000 sustainability grant from the Mayor of London to help fund an exciting new sustainable creative space at Chiswick House and Gardens. 

The grant will support the creation of an energy-efficient creative campus – providing a workspace for up to 100 artists and makers at Chiswick House and Gardens. The Mayor’s £1.2m Creative Enterprise Zone Sustainability Capital Grant Fund was allocated to nine projects across the Creative Enterprise Zones, including Hounslow’s Creative Enterprise West (CREW). 

Creative Enterprise West is home to nearly half of London’s television broadcasting jobs, and the project aims to drive the global image of West London as a screen capital. Meanwhile, Brentford town centre also concentrates an array of small-scale makers, artists, and media specialists, so initiatives are in place to build the creative SME community while promoting careers in creativity for job seekers.

One of the CREW projects is the Cedar Yards programme will develop a collection of projects to provide spaces for community, creativity, and learning. The new spaces include a Creative Campus, Community Garden and Volunteer Welfare, and Learning Hub. 

The grant will help make key energy efficiency improvements to some of the historic heritage buildings at Chiswick House and Gardens, allowing them to be returned to community use. The green improvement works will provide new roof insulation to reduce heat losses and gains, minimising the demand for energy use. It will also include the creation of active travel infrastructure, such as cycle storage and showers for users.  

The grant award was announced at the Mayor’s recent London Made Me event, which revealed the capital’s newest Creative Enterprise Zones and the exciting opportunity for small creative businesses in Hounslow to sell their products from a prestigious central London venue in the run-up to Christmas, through the London Made Me Pop-Up Shop and Retail Training programme. 

Councillor Shantanu Rajawat, leader of Hounslow Council, said:  

“This grant is a fantastic opportunity for us to bring historic buildings at a local heritage site back into community use. The Creative Campus will help us to continue to expand our network of creative workspaces and provide more support to residents wanting to build up their skills in this exciting and expanding industry.  

“Expanding access to sustainable and affordable workspaces is an integral part of our support for businesses to start, grow and thrive in the borough. Through these spaces, the Council can continue to deliver and commission enterprise support that helps businesses overcome the ever-increasing challenges due to rising costs and inflation. 

“We are committed to supporting residents by improving access to good quality local jobs, in particular, our young people, through our Youth Skills and Employment Guarantee (YSEG), and this is another mechanism for us to achieve this ambitious goal.” 

Xanthe Arvanitakis, director of Chiswick House & Gardens Trust, said:  

“As well as caring for our Grade-I listed 18th-century buildings and keeping our 65-acre gardens free to visit 365 days a year, we’re passionate about supporting our Hounslow community through skills development and by creating employment opportunities. 

“Thanks to this Creative Enterprise Zone Sustainability Capital Grant Funding from the Mayor of London, we’re taking bold steps to repurpose unused and underused historic buildings and solving some of the environmental challenges to establish an ambitious new Creative Campus for up to 100 local artists, makers and artisans.” 

The Deputy Mayor for Culture and the Creative Industries, Justine Simons OBE, added: 

“Creative Enterprise Zones have been a game changer for culture in London, enabling artists and creatives to put down roots and grow with access to affordable creative workspaces.

“I am delighted that we are providing funding to Hounslow to support an energy-efficient creative campus and provide workspaces for up to 100 artists and creatives at Chiswick House and Gardens.

“It is vital that we continue to invest in our creative future and provide opportunities for young and emerging talent to thrive as we build a better and fairer London for everyone.”

The Creative Campus will link with other creative spaces within CREW: the Council’s first-ever affordable co-workspace Digital Dock Brentford, the creative arts market under the M4 at Boston Manor, Boston Manor House Jimmy Choo London Fashion Academy, and artists at Johnson’s Island. It will also neighbour future projects in the borough, including the expansion of the Gillette Factory into nine studios, Sky campus, and global media companies based at Chiswick Business Park. 

 

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