The story An alternative approach to retail revitalisation has succeeded where previous regeneration attempts by the council and landowners had failed. Space Makers Agency, a social enterprise, used an extensive personal network, a clear sense of direction and a savvy social media approach to create a buzz of activity and a pathway to a reborn, sociable market place. In December 2008, with a fifth of the 100 units in Brixton Village standing vacant, the owners of this 1930s indoor market in South London proposed a major redevelopment of the site. This was resisted by local people who set up ‘Friends of Brixton Market’ to campaign for the conservation of the market. The owners withdrew their proposal in March 2009 and asked the local authority, Lambeth Council, for advice. Realising the need for an alternative to demolition, council regeneration officers suggested contacting Space Makers Agency, then recently founded.
projects. After a month of minimal refurbishment work, the first of these units opened on 17 December 2009. The new ventures included vintage fashion boutiques, food stores, lantern-makers, furniture restorers, photographers, a children’s magazine, a recycling workshop and a community shop run by groups such as Transition Town Brixton. In some cases up to three new businesses share as little as 10 sq m. Space Makers facilitated weekly events to attract footfall and build a strong sense of direction, collective belonging and sociability. They also worked closely with community groups and with the established shopkeepers to increase local participation and feedback, and create a collaborative atmosphere. The gradual build-up of trust overcame some of the suspicion generated in the years before. This was crucial: Space Makers’ intention was always to be a catalyst rather than a permanent manager of the market. After six months, shopkeepers and traders were encouraged to take over events and projects, and thus maintain the market as a sociable place in the town centre.
A collective of highly motivated individuals with a track record as social entrepreneurs, Space Makers obtained a moderate sum of seed funding from the owners and invested a huge amount of personal time and energy into the project. With the explicit ambition of revitalising the market through small businesses and community initiative, the collective launched a social media drive to attract a wide range of people and ideas to what they termed ‘the UK’s biggest slack space project’. Prompted by a blog, Twitter, Facebook and word of mouth, more than 350 people turned up to the initial ‘Space Exploration’ event in November 2009 to discuss new possibilities for the site. Space Makers gave interested people a week to come up with proposals for taking over a unit on an initial three-month rent-free lease. Within that week, Space Makers received 98 proposals, and selected 30, of which half were for short-term Compendium for the Civic Economy
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