Revived Battersea Arts Centre's £1m Incubator For Creative Industries

Grant of over half a million pounds secured from Mayor's fund

Support for start-up and early-stage creative businesses will be built into the newly restored Battersea Art Centre (BAC) after a £538,000 grant was secured from the Mayor’s London Regeneration Fund.

The grant will be match funded by BAC which is currently preparing to rebuild the Grand Hall of its Lavender Hill building after a major fire last year.

Designed by Stirling Prize winning architects, Haworth Tompkins, the new hub - which opens in 2018 - will be dedicated to nurturing the borough’s many creative business start-ups. 

New Government figures reveal the creative industries grew by 8.9 per cent during 2014, making it the second fastest growing sector in the UK economy behind construction. 

The new creative industries hub will provide flexible work space and host a range of professional advice services, including business support programmes run in partnership with Wandsworth Council.

It will be based across spaces on the lower ground floor towards the back of the arts centre and will include an open studio for flexible working, a private office suite and a workshop.

Each small enterprise or freelancer using the facility will be required to offer two hours of their time and skills per month to support the growth and development of other hub members. They will also be asked to contribute to other local initiatives designed to boost the borough’s thriving creative sector.

Battersea Arts Centre on Lavender Hill. Picture credit Morley Von Sternberg

The BAC announcement comes shortly after the Royal College of Art revealed plans to build for creative sector postgraduate students and entrepreneurs in north Battersea. 

Other big names in the area’s growing creative cluster include Pump House Gallery, Vivienne Westwood Studio, Foster and Partners, the Royal Academy of Dance, Theatre 503 and Will Alsop All Design.

Battersea Arts Centre Artistic Director and CEO David Jubb said, "The London Regeneration Fund will enable Battersea Arts Centre to build on existing programmes such as The Agency and Agents of Creativity to develop an exciting new hub for the creative industries in Wandsworth. Cultural spaces such as Battersea Arts Centre, which are shared by artists, entrepreneurs and freelancers, are the ideal environment for innovation to thrive. We will curate the hub so that it has a direct benefit to local young people living around Clapham Junction to kick-start their own ideas with BAC's support.”

Find out more about BAC at bac.org.uk or follow @battersea_arts.