CAFE/KITCHEN/CRECHE EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS GARDENS
SPATIAL BRIEF OPTIONS COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE OFFER CORE SERVICE OFFER
RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT
OPERATIONS
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BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT CAMPAIGNS
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BY BEAUTY OUT OF ASHES
In 1972 during opposition to the rebuilding of the Victorian Holloway Prison, the campaign group Radical Alternatives to Prison published a document titled Alternatives to Holloway. Despite being over 50 years old its guidance and recommendations are as timely as ever.
In line with Alternatives to Holloway and landmark publications such as the 2007 Corston Report on women in the criminal justice system, Beauty out of Ashes proposes to create a home for women’s services in London – a Women’s Building – as a living legacy of HMP Holloway and the women who were imprisoned there. The building would bring together the organisations that support and empower women, whatever their journey through life, to work in a connected, sustainable and holistic way.
Though pragmatic and evidence-based, the vision is a radical one, a break with current practice. As Angela Davis argues in her book Are Prisons Obsolete?, we do not hope for prison-like substitutes for the prison. Rather, Davis (2003: 107) calls for “a constellation of alternative strategies and institutions, with the ultimate aim of removing the prison from the social and ideological landscapes of our society’.
This feasibility study is a step along the road from inspirational vision to bricks-and-mortar reality. It builds on the campaigns carried out since the closure of Holloway Prison in 2016 by organisations such as Community Plan for Holloway, Sisters Uncut, and Reclaim Holloway; it also incorporates the work of researchers and organisations around the country that have been developing alternatives to prisons for decades.
In November 2021 Peabody submitted their planning application for the prison site which included 985 homes and 1489 square metres for a “Women’s Building” - which has since been referred to as the Women’s Floor as it sits at the base of two residential blocks. The application was greeted with disappointment by service organisations connected to the prison, local community groups and women’s groups, which found it limited in size and conception, and lacking connection to HMP Holloway’s past.
INTRODUCTION
In response, we insist that a visionary Women’s Building is still possible - and necessary.
With support from the Disrupt Foundation, Beauty out of Ashes has worked with Unit 38 to prepare this feasibility study. It is grounded in ongoing engagement with a variety of organisations, and informed by conversations and creative workshops with women’s organisations during the ‘Transformative Justice for Women’ conference held in July 2023.
We hope this feasibility study will help launch the “constellation of alternative strategies and institutions” called for by Angela Davis and so many other activists, women with lived experience, professionals, and researchers over the years.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Building on the extensive research and engagement work already undertaken, Unit 38 worked collaboratively with BOOA to collate the needs and desires of the community into a cohesive spatial brief. Regular meetings between April and December 2023 have set out and refined the brief. This brief was then tested to demonstrate the economic viability of the project, outlining the requirements for taking the project forwards.
The Women’s Building will establish long term, holistic solutions to social injustice, providing services as an alternative to current approaches which try (and fail) to address women’s needs through the criminal justice system. Services address five broad themes covering Mental Health, Responding to Gendered Violence, Rights and Advice, Family and Holistic.
A range of uses from public cafes, shared kitchens, workspaces and small-business units, art studios, a gallery and event space, space for young women and a creche will complement the services. This will reduce the stigma associated with accessing certain services. A trauma-informed design approach will develop bespoke, non-institutional spaces where there is space for everyone to feel safe.
Given the lack of a defined site, these scenarios are speculative in nature. However this evidence base will allow BOOA to approach funders, property owners and councils to acquire a suitable building. By demonstrating a plausible business and use case alongside a compelling community-led vision for the project, this report aims to take a step towards making the Women’s Building a reality.
THE VISION
The Women’s Building will establish long term, holistic solutions to social injustice, providing services as an alternative to current approaches which try (and fail) to address women’s needs through the Criminal Justice System.
Safe, relaxed spaces will be provided where women can drop in, socialise and talk without needing an appointment to see a service provider.
A range of uses from public cafes to womenonly art studios will complement the service providers to reduce the stigma associated with accessing certain services.
The Women’s Building will be inclusive of all women.
It will provide space for women of all ages, with dedicated space for young women.
The building is to be self-sustaining financially, through a mix of fundraising and revenuegenerating activities. It will not be dependent on or an extension of the criminal justice system.
A trauma-informed design approach, working with survivors, previously imprisoned women and service providers will develop bespoke, non-institutional spaces where there is space for everyone to feel safe.
STRATEGIC BRIEF
This strategic brief has been developed over several months through workshops with BOOA. It has been developed through research into Women’s Centres and Women’s Buildings, the history of the Holloway site, the history of the campaign for a Women’s Building and the following framing questions that have helped shape further engagement between BOOA and women’s organisations around the country.
FRAMING QUESTIONS
Key Questions:
1) What is the catchment area of the Women’s Building?
– Will this just be for Islington, or Greater London, or have a wider catchment area?
– How far would service users be willing/able to travel to attend?
– How many women who would use the services are within the catchment area?
– What evidence is available showing demand within the catchment area?
2) Who are the end users of the Women’s Building?
– At what point(s) in the criminal justice system pathway does the building intervene?
– What is the relationship to the CJS?
– What information/evidence is available on demographics of likely service users?
– What are the key issues facing women within the catchment area?
– What services are in high demand within the catchment area?
– What gaps in service provision exist within the catchment area?
3) Who are the service providers?
– Which former providers at HMP Holloway wish to re-establish / maintain a presence in the area?
– How many identified service providers are still
operating?
– How are services provided at similar precedent projects?
4) What is the wraparound service offer? Is it agreed this is focused on an interventionist approach towards prevention of/diversion from incarceration?
– What are the key areas of services to be provided: eg, education and skills, drugs and alcohol, rights and advice, etc?
– What is the balance between these elements, which are in the most demand and where are there gaps in existing provision?
– What is essential to the service provision offer and must be included in any building?
– Is housing a service offer, are there housing providers that could be partners?
– What evidence is available to support the proposed model?
– What models exist for the Women’s Building to emulate?
MISSION STATEMENT
The strategic brief builds from Beauty out of Ashes’ mission statement:
To create a home for women’s services in London, as a living legacy of HMP Holloway and the women who were imprisoned there. To bring together organisations that support and empower women, whatever their journey through life, to work in a connected, sustainable and holistic way. By creating this model for the provision of women’s services, we will empower women, their families and communities for generations to come.
RESPONSES TO THE CORSTON REPORT
Corston
report
CORSTON REPORT (2006)
Baroness Jean Corston’s report on women in the criminal justice system was published in 2006. Corston defines three types of vulnerability: (a) Domestic circumstances, including partner violence, child-care issues, being a single-parent; (b) Personal issues such as mental illness, low self-esteem, eating disorders, substance misuse; (c) Socio-economic factors such as poverty, isolation and unemployment.
These underlying vulnerabilities, which can ultimately result in a prison sentence, must be addressed by helping women develop resilience, life skills and emotional literacy. Corston called for a “a radical change in the way we treat women throughout the whole of the criminal justice system,” and added:
I have concluded that there needs to be a fundamental rethinking about the way in which services for this group of vulnerable women, particularly for mental health and substance misuse in the community are provided and accessed; there needs to be an extension of the network of women’s community centres to support women who offend or are at risk of offending and to direct young women out of pathways that lead into crime.
10 YEARS ON (2016)
Women in Prison published a review 10 years after the Corston Report to assess the state of women’s services a decade later. The review found that the Corston Report had sparked numerous documents, initiatives, strategies, commissions and groups that had taken on a new understanding about women’s needs. “Sadly,” it concluded, “many of these initiatives have not been sustained and it would be fair to say we have seen a stagnation and loss of momentum in fully implementing the Corston Report’s recommendations in recent years, even though the policy rhetoric surrounding women in the criminal justice system has remained strong.”
The review noted that the women’s prison population remained stubbornly high, and that Corston’s core aim, that of radically reducing the use of custody for only the few women that pose a danger to others, had not been achieved.
WHY WOMEN’S CENTRES WORK (2019)
This report summarises the wealth of evidence showing the benefits of Women’s Centres. For example, an impact report by the Centre for Welfare Reform (Duffy and Hyde, 2011) found that:
– 80% of women showed substantial improvements in mental health.
– Almost all the women reported a significant improvement in their life as a whole (an average 66% improvement from when they first engaged).
– Re-offending among those accessing women centred support was cut to less than 5%.
A Social Return on Investment analysis conducted by the Women’s Resource Centre and the New Economics Foundation (WRC, 2011) found that for every pound invested into their services, women’s organisations can generate, over five years, between £5 and £11 worth of social value to women, their children, and the state. This figure was calculated based on data from a range of five frontline women’s organisations.
THE CASE FOR SUSTAINABLE FUNDING FOR WOMEN’S CENTRES (2020)
This report by the Women’s Budget Group sets out the difficulties of funding faced by Women’s Centres. Funding is often on a short-term basis and commissioners and funders are often unwilling to meet the full cost of services, including the necessary contribution to overheads and core costs. Managing multiple funding streams results in a massive duplication of management and admin costs.
The report states that a place at a Women’s Centre costs between £1,233 and £4,125, depending on the woman’s needs. The stark contrast between the costs of incarceration (£52,121 per prison place) and the costs of community-based Women’s Centres alone make a compelling argument for investment in these services.
WOMEN’S BUILDINGS
JAGONARI ASIAN WOMEN’S CENTRE, WHITECHAPEL
In the 1970s and 80s the Greater London Council established a Women’s Committee to establish and fund women-only space. Matrix, the feminist design collective, worked with many of these centres. One of the most significant was the Jagonari Asian Women’s Centre (1984 – 87), a new, four-storey, 700sqm main building with an enclosed courtyard and a two story creche building behind. The centre closed in 2015 due to financial problems but continues as a nursery.
THE WOMEN’S BUILDING, SAN FRANCISCO, USA
The Women’s Building is a women-led non-profit arts and education community centre located in San Francisco, California. The four-story building rents to multiple tenants and serves over 20,000 women a year. They have several large event spaces to rent out, they operate a food bank, offer work-related training and a host of other services for women.
HOPE STREET, SOUTHAMPTON
One Small Thing have recently completed Hope Street in Southampton, a pioneering residential community for women and their children. It will pilot a new approach to working with women in contact with the justice system. Hope Street is a safe, 24 hour staffed residential hub, purpose built and specifically designed to create a trauma-informed and traumaresponsive environment for women and their children. It hosts individually tailored programmes designed to enable women to address a wide range of issues in their lives that have resulted in them becoming involved with the justice system. It also provides eleven supported Hope Houses for women in preparation for return to their own home.
PRESTON ROAD WOMEN’S CENTRE, HULL
Winner, the Preston Road Women’s Centre provides information, support and advice to women in Hull. They offer a drop-in for relaxation and informal support, specialist domestic violence support and advocacy, accredited training in a variety of subjects, crafts groups and complementary therapies. They also house a registered nursery provision for 0-5 year olds, the Girlz Only young women’s project for 10-18 year olds and Rainbows Charity shop offering affordable, quality second hand goods.
WOMENCENTRE, CALDERDALE, KIRKLEES AND BRADFORD
WomenCentre operates three women’s centres and residential properties as a membership organisation (£15/year). The Calderdale Centre offers a range of accredited educational and skills development programmes including parent craft, arts and craft, basic computer skills, management skills in health and social care organisations, basic first aid and volunteer training with an on-site crèche. A drop-in advisory service can support and direct women to services in areas such as mental health, debt and domestic violence. There is also therapeutic support and a support group for Asian women.
CASA DE LAS MUJERES, PAMPLONA, SPAIN
The Casa de las Mujeres opened its doors in 2010. Services in which local, migrant (particularly Latin American) and Roma women participate include empowerment sessions, counselling on gender violence, and feminist self-defence courses. Also offered are legal and employment advice. The governance model is based on co-responsibility of the women and associations that work there, enabling active participation in decision-making over the management of the space. It has three sources of support: fundraising by Casa de las Mujeres Association; the City Council which provides the physical space; and the Provincial Council which finances much of the programming.
TRAUMA-INFORMED DESIGN
SERVICE DESIGN DEFINITION
Trauma-informed design (TID) is about integrating the principles of trauma-informed care, as originally established by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) an organisation in the USA leading on this research in service delivery over the last decade. They define trauma by the three “e’s”: event(s), experience of event(s), and effect. Trauma-informed design aims to reduce triggers that may generate strong emotions and reactions in survivors as well as establishing a safe environment to allow people to process their trauma.
SAMHSA’s Six Key Principles Of A Trauma-Informed Approach are:
1. Safety
2. Trustworthiness and transparency
3. Peer support
4. Collaboration and mutuality
5. Empowerment, voice, and choice
6. Cultural, historical, and gender issues
EMERGING PRINCIPLES
While there is a great amount of literature in TraumaInformed Design for service provision and therapeutic care, it is still a new and emerging field within architecture and spatial design.
The TID Society is a research organisation based in the USA. Their co-founder Christine Cowart puts it most simply as “designing as much choice as possible”. This means ensuring that as different people with different trauma responses move through a space, or as people’s desires change from hour to hour or day to day, there’s always a place for them to be.
TID starts with cataloguing sensory and spatial triggers to avoid — disruptive sounds, a lack of real or perceived security, visual noise, and unclear wayfinding, which can include blind turns, blocked
sightlines and indistinguishable corridors. Designers should avoid items common in institutional buildings that many people may associate with trauma, like drop-ceiling tiles and fluorescent lights.
Shopworks, an architecture studio based in Denver, specialises in TID and has published several reports on the process. They describe architecture as a medium for somatic processing. This can be through defining sensory boundaries to allow people to choose their exposure to potential triggers. Nested layers allow people to choose their own level of privacy or security and proximity to entrances and exits. Finally, identity anchors allow people to feel represented and heard in a space.
CO-DESIGN
One of the few examples of Trauma-Informed Design in the UK is Hope Street by One Small Thing, designed by Snug Architects.
As trauma-informed design is specific and intentional you must engage with who the building is for and understand their lived experience. What are the associations, traumas, triggers and perspectives they have and hold. Only from their perspective, fears and values, can you design in a way to replace negatives with positives such that the building is a tool in the work of healing from trauma. As a project team we had the opportunity, through a series of consultations with women involved in the justice system, to listen, to ask questions, pose suggestions and listen again. (Snug Architects n.d.)
To the right are sketches and diagrams developed with BOOA to explore what a TID approach could be in the Women’s Building. A range of spaces should be provided for women to allow them different environments to wait or space to re-centre after accessing services. Also, including public uses such as workspace, art studios and a cafe will reduce the stigma of accessing these services - ensuring the space does not feel institutional.
Any truly Trauma-Informed Design process needs to be developed in close collaboration with service providers, survivors and those with lived experience of the criminal justice system.
HOW MUCH SPACE?
WOMEN’S RESOURCE CENTRE (2009)
The Women’s Resource Centre (WRC) commissioned Sarah Boyd and Em Ekong to prepare a feasibility study to assess the premises needs of the women’s sector in London, which included the women’s voluntary and community sector and women’s social enterprises. The brief was to:
– Provide a home for WRC and other women’s organisations
– Enable WRC to be independent of government and funders’ agendas
– Promote cross pollination, growth and solidarity
– Develop and nourish women’s potential and leadership
The initial feasibility study set out a total area of 1,630sqm.
COMMUNITY PLAN FOR HOLLOWAY (2020)
In 2020 Community Plan for Holloway and Reclaim Holloway published their spatial analysis and vision for the Holloway Women’s Building - with a large focus on providing space for women’s services, creativity and skill development. It had a total area of 4,780sqm.
ISLINGTON AND PEABODY (2020)
The brief for the Women’s Building produced by Islington Council was developed in partnership with Peabody. The planning application submitted by Peabody closely aligns with this brief with a total area of 1,200sqm. The proposal does not include dedicated workspace and includes a greatly reduced area for services compared to CP4H’s brief.
COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE OFFERING
Shown here are the upper and lower limits of this feasibility study prepared in collaboration with Beauty out of Ashes (BOOA). The upper limit is the comprehensive service offer, providing the optimal spaces to provide the full range of services. Starting from first principles and the type of services that need to be provided within a Women’s Building, this study produced a significantly larger area than the Islington brief, as well as establishing the requirement for workspace not just for the staff of service providers but other women’s organisations.
CORE SERVICE OFFERING
The lower limit is the core service offer, which reduces the overall area by requiring some services to share spaces and removing some large spaces such as the dedicated multi-purpose hall. The following pages set out how these areas were calculated in more detail.
SPACE AND PURPOSE
MIX OF USES
The diagram to the right illustrates the initial brief from Beauty out of Ashes. Through regular workshops with BOOA the brief was developed to what is illustrated here.
The most significant change from the original brief is the removal of housing provision. This is due to the extra complexity and requirements of become a registered provider. There are other organisations better placed to provide housing.
The museum has been redefined as an exhibition space and event space. Additional space has been added for youth services and a separate kitchen to the cafe for private meetings/events.
SPATIAL QUALITIES
The need to make community spaces flexible often results in cold designs that are not welcoming or comforting. A room set up for therapy cannot easily be used for arts workshops, for example. Changing of use requires extra work from service providers and could cause potential safeguarding issues as there needs to be space to securely store important documents between sessions.
To develop a truly trauma-informed space will require a specific and dedicated approach to the variety and difference of each space to ensure that any woman regardless of her circumstance can find space with the building to feel safe.
POSSIBLE SERVICES
The Corston Report describes the range of services offered by day centres for women across the country, including:
– Information, advice, signposting and referrals regarding mental and physical health;
– Access to community psychiatric nurse services and community mental health teams;
– Access to drug and alcohol use support services and interventions;
– Family and parenting support;
– Housing advice and support;
– Education, training and employment;
– Finance, benefits and debt advice;
– Programmes to address attitudes, thinking and behaviour of women offenders and women at risk of offending;
– Assessment and interventions in regard to physical, sexual and emotional abuse;
– Assessment and interventions in regard to domestic violence;
– Legal advice;
– Counselling/therapy;
– Improving self esteem;
– Advocacy;
– Volunteering and mentoring training and opportunities;
– Crèche provision;
– Ante and Post Natal support; and
– The entire range of primary care services, dentistry and so on.
In addition, women’s day centres can offer open access, drop-in ‘clinics’ including midwives specialising in substance use and support for younger mothers, careers advice and job clinics provided by Job Centre Plus, legal advice clinics provided by local family law specialists, housing advice and mental health support. Centres such as Calderdale also hold ‘one off’ focus sessions on issues such as healthy eating, rights as a citizen, and budgeting, which are delivered by a range of statutory partners. This kind of approach has encouraged women who would not normally engage with mainstream services to access support and intervention early and is made possible by the strong relationships which exist between the women’s centres and local statutory health, social care and criminal justice agencies. The Women’s Building will be an explicitly non-punitive space. As a trauma-informed and decarceral space, the Women’s Building will reject the label of ‘offender’ and conceptions of women as ‘risky’.
SERVICE PROVISION
TYPES OF SERVICE
BOOA have compiled a large list of women’s organisations and service providers, which is signposted from their website. These services are categorised into 25 different specialisms. To calculate the spaces for service provision and the ratio of different services we have grouped similar services into five categories: Mental Health, Responding to Violence, Rights and Advice, Family and Holistic. These categories group services with similar requirements for privacy, types of space etc.
There is clearly a large amount of overlap between all these services and in fact they are all mutually reinforcing. Bringing them together will allow women to access multiple services in one space which they may otherwise not have known about or been reluctant to access.
MIX OF PROVISION
The initial groupings were refined to define a ratio of minimum service provision where each service has at least one service provider or member of staff and dedicated space for that service. We have also added services for young people which weren’t originally included.
This defines the upper limit of the spatial brief, as shown here. Initially this was based on the number of organisations BOOA signpost to, equating this with the demand for that particular service. However while some services need to be operated in person, others particularly rights and advice - can be provided on the phone and online as well as in person. This led to an adjustment in the mix of service provision as set out in the diagram to the right.
The most vulnerable users will require dedicated spaces with the most need for trauma-informed design. Less vulnerable service users can share spaces - some are accessed by the public, others are for referrals, drop-ins and service users with specific needs only.
SERVICE PROVISION
The mix and quantity of different spaces has been developed iteratively through workshops with Beauty out of Ashes. Broadly services are to be provided in three types of space and include:
– Small rooms for one-to-one therapy or counselling (8sqm)
– Group rooms for sessions involving up to 15 people or for individual activities that may require more space (30sqm)
– Large rooms to be used as classrooms, workshops, treatment rooms or art studios (55sqm)
The areas of the therapy rooms are based on similar organisations providing similar services as described on the opposite page. Some rooms will be equipped for talking therapies, others for physical therapies and at least one room is to be specifically designed for neurodiverse therapy. The larger rooms are based on guidance for classrooms of up to 30 people produced by the Department for Education. The specific design will require further engagement with service providers and users to ensure a genuinely trauma-informed design process.
MENTAL HEALTH
The services addressing mental health include: Substance Use, Mental Health, Self-harm, Bereavement, Therapeutic Support, and Rape and Sexual Violence. The majority of these services involve one-to-one therapy and counselling, however there should be sufficient space for group sessions.
RESPONDING TO GENDERED VIOLENCE
These services respond to Bullying/Harassment Stalking, Debt and Economic Abuse, Domestic Violence/Exploitation. They are mostly provided through one-to-one support and advice, alongside individual and group counselling and support sessions.
RIGHTS/ADVICE/SUPPORT
These services include: Discrimination/Rights/ Advocacy, Advice and Signposting/Support, Criminal Justice Services, Housing, Legal Advice, Refugee and Asylum Support. Most support is through one-to-one sessions, but group sessions are required for mutual support and education.
MENTAL HEALTH
9 STAFF
9 ONE-TO-ONE ROOMS
1 GROUP ROOM
REVOKE, LONDON
Revoke is a grassroots organisation advocating for the rights and welfare of displaced young people, and those in the care system, living without advocates, families, power, or a voice. They give young people agency by engaging them with culture, society, and politics, and co-designing activities that restore dignity and give a sense of fulfilment. They operate from Pelican House in Bethnal Green, London and provide a range of one-to-one counselling and therapy services in rooms between 5 and 10sqm. Revoke also believe in the power of collective joy and regularly run group music, movement and art sessions in the common room at Pelican House, which is approximately 30sqm.
NO5, READING
RESPONDING TO GENDERED VIOLENCE
7 STAFF
7 ONE-TO-ONE ROOMS
1 GROUP ROOM
RIGHTS/ADVICE/SUPPORT
6 STAFF
6 ONE-TO-ONE ROOMS
1 GROUP ROOM
No5 is a community based organisation in Reading offering counselling and support to young people and those around them. Their counselling sessions are provided by 65 counsellors offering sessions five days a week. They provide tailored counselling sessions to all young people accessing their service. They operate from a historic building in Reading with converted rooms for counselling which vary in size from 6 - 12sqm.
SERVICE PROVISION
FAMILY
These services include Sexual Health, Relationship Counselling and Family Support that are mostly one-to-one sessions, or a service-user along with their partner, children or others. Pregnancy/Maternity Advice and Support/Practical Parenting can be provided in one-to-one sessions but are often held in group settings to allow parents to meet and learn from each other.
YOUNG PEOPLE
Services for young people have been included within the Family category but require a different type of space to many of the other services. Many women lack support and care as young people which can lead to increasing vulnerabilities as they grow older. Beauty out of Ashes aims to provide preventative services, to stop women entering the criminal justice system, so providing support for young women is critical to their strategic brief.
These services for young people could include, peersupport, creative workshops in art, dance and music as well as more therapeutic services. It is important they have a space they can call their own, not shared with other users or adults, other than specific youth workers. Young people would also have access to other uses in the Women’s Building particularly the art studios and kitchens.
9 STAFF
5 ONE-TO-ONE ROOMS
1 GROUP ROOM
1 LARGE ROOM FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
KIDS OF COLOUR, MANCHESTER
Kids of Colour is a project for young people of colour aged 25 and under to explore ‘race’, identity and culture. They create spaces to challenge the racism that affects young people and their communities; building collective resistance and solidarity. They work across the communities of Greater Manchester, and are led by a small, part-time team. They host regular activity for young people to engage in creative activities, run summer activities and provide advocacy, pastoral support and 1-1 sessions.
DOLLIS DOLLIS NAIL BAR NAIL BAR, LONDON
Art Against Knives intervene early to prevent young people from becoming victims or perpetrators of violent crime. They embed creative spaces in London’s most isolated communities, co-designed with young people. These include a music studio and multiple nail bars, all open 48 weeks of the year.
Dollis Dolls Nail Bar was co-created with a group of young women from Dollis Valley estate in Barnet, North London in 2012. They suggested running a nail bar that would ‘put Dollis Valley estate on the map for something positive, not just negative things like stabbings’. 5 years later they’ve done just that: the weekly nail bar has gone onto support over 280 local young women.
Open every Tuesday, the nail bar provides a free nail service, skills training and a wide range of creative activities, delivered by specialist staff such as their Young Persons Violence Advisor, who are also trained nail technicians. The act of painting young women’s nails allows them to build trusted relationships, and through regular conversation they raise aspirations and explore issues like healthy relationships and personal safety, as well as responding to high-risk disclosures in the moment.
SERVICE PROVISION
HOLISTIC
Wellbeing and physical activities are as critical to health and healing of individuals as talking therapies. The Women’s Building should provide holistic services that support those receiving counselling as well as other women looking to make new connections.
WELLBEING
Taking care of your body is important to help with both emotional and physical recovery. A groupsized room is provided to allow for a range of complementary therapies which could include Reiki, Holistic Massage and Reflexology amongst others. A larger room allows for storage of equipment as well as space to change in private.
CREATIVE SERVICES
The provision of art studios provides a space of respite, connection and creativity for all women, not just those accessing the other services within the building. They can provide a route into accessing services for women who might otherwise not have the confidence to go in directly, and build trust and support networks among different users. The art studios are split in to three types of space:
– A ceramics room, with small kiln, wheels and stores
– A wet room for painting and print-making with sinks
– A dry room for other crafts such as textiles and for use in art-therapy sessions
EMPLOYMENT, TRAINING AND SKILLS
Helping women find work, develop new skills and train for new careers can take many forms including mentoring, CV workshops, IT skills training, language classes, gaining new qualifications and much more. A classroom with IT equipment for up to 30 people is provided for these workshops to take place.
HOLISTIC
8 STAFF
1 WELLBEING ROOM
3 ART STUDIOS
1 CLASSROOM
WALWORTH LIVING ROOM, SOUTHWARK
Walworth Living Room is a project of the Pembroke House in South London that is open to the community Wednesday to Friday 9am-3pm. The Community Cafe serves hot food and drinks at affordable prices.
Parents and children can participate in events like Hot Meals and Games on a Friday afternoon or the Music for Babies and Toddlers class. They also host creative activities such as Craft Club, Collage Club or Social Knitters Club to express their artistic side and learn new skills.
QUEENS PARK ARTS CENTRE, AYLESBURY
QPAC operates as a venue offering workshops, performances, exhibitions and events. The Centre is also a creative hub working in partnership with local and national organisations on many different projects and initiatives, including an extensive roster of outreach work aiming to bring the arts to a diverse range of community settings. Their workshop programme covers a wide range of artistic disciplines, including pottery, painting and drawing, textiles, woodwork, dance, drama, music and mixed crafts. They also offer an eclectic mix of live theatre, music and comedy at their Limelight Theatre, as well as freeto-view exhibitions from local and national artists, and popular community events.
MAYA CENTRE, ISLINGTON
Established in 1984, The Maya Centre is a community-based charity in Islington providing free mental health and wellbeing services to women on low incomes. Their mission is to build a safe and inclusive women-for-women community in which they support recovery from depression, trauma and Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) with a focus on building trust, resilience and voice. They meet women’s different needs by offering therapy, as individuals, in groups, face-to-face or remotely. They prioritise intercultural and intersectional approaches via tailored and targeted support in community languages and for specific, minoritised cultural groups.
WORKSPACE
SERVICE PROVIDERS
The service provision set out above requires a minimum of 39 staff. Through our regular workshops developing the brief it is clear that service providers require their own workspace away from the counselling rooms. This is needed to handle paperwork and administrative tasks, take phone calls and online meetings, store private documents and share knowledge and best practice with other service providers.
The British Council of Offices recommends 10sqm per person when planning new office space. This area allows for an individual at a desk, shared meeting rooms, break-out spaces and tea-points. There will also need to be staff changing rooms, lockers and storage.
An additional 20% area has been allowed for circulation, toilets and a changing places toilet. This is slightly above average for circulation to avoid long narrow corridors in favour of more open and flexible circulation space with views to the outside.
WOMEN’S ORGANISATIONS
The Women’s Resource Centre in London carried out feasibility studies for shared workspace for women’s organisations between 2007 and 2011 and established a basis for a 1630sqm building. While the Women’s Building for Holloway is much more than workspace there are many benefits of other organisations being in the same space. This could be provided as co-working space where individuals rent desks, self-contained offices for different organisations or - most likely - a mix of the two. It allows for 30 desks at 10sqm per person.
SMALL BUSINESS SPACE
Another element of the brief is to provide small individual business units for women-led enterprises which could be integrated with skills and training programmes. They could be provided in satellite commercial units, but operated by the same umbrella organisation.
CORE STAFF WORKSPACE
MEETING ROOMS TOILETS
PELICAN HOUSE, TOWER HAMLETS
Pelican House is a collectively run workspace for progressive organisations in Bethnal Green, London. Over 40 organisations rent offices within the building, with shared meeting rooms, common rooms and a large event space and garden. The organisations’ collective rent covers all the running costs of the building, allowing the communal spaces to be used by local groups and grassroots organisations on a pay-as-they-can basis.
THE FOUNDRY, VAUXHALL
The Foundry in Vauxhall, London offers office, meeting, conference and exhibition space to social justice and human rights focused organisations. It is home to more than 25 tenant organisations and discounted rates for conference and meeting space are available to registered charities, Community Interest Companies and social enterprises.
WORKSPACE FOR EXTERNAL ORGS
SPACE4, ISLINGTON
SPACE4 is a coworking, meeting and events space located in Finsbury Park, London. They are supported by Islington Council as part of it’s Affordable Workspace programme. SPACE4 is dedicated to digital activists, social innovators, and the generation of progressive ideas. They support their members and network to grow and prosper and host a regular programme of events and workshops to do so. SPACE4 was set up by a tech-for-good workercooperative called Outlandish.
INSIDE THE WOMEN’S BUILDING
This view illustrates the spaces between different services - waiting areas in between art studios, space for young people and counselling rooms - all with views out onto the gardens. Long corridors, blind corners and dark spaces are avoided to provide a calming and safe space. Textiles, colours and plants create an inviting and domestic interior - avoiding institutional characteristics towards a trauma-informed design of all spaces.
CAFE/KITCHEN/CRECHE
PUBLIC CAFE
The cafe will be open to the public of all genders and is likely to be the most public aspect of the Women’s Building. 120sqm are allowed for which could provide approximately 30sqm for prep and service area, allowing space for up to 60 seated customers, with additional seating to be provided outside depending on the site. The cafe can function as an informal reception for first-time visitors as well as a relaxed space to wait before accessing services within the building.
KITCHEN
Early engagement with users and service providers has made clear the importance of a space where women can cook and eat together. Therefore a separate kitchen with space for around 15 people to sit and eat is to be provided. This can also be used for cooking workshops and hired out for private events. This kitchen is to be separate to the cafe and its preparation spaces to allow the cafe and kitchen to function independently.
CRECHE
105qsm of creche space allows for approximately 30 children. This is based on the following guidance: Children under two years: 3.5sqm per child, Twoyear-olds: 2.5sqm per child, Children aged three to five years: 2.3sqm per child. At least one member of staff for every three children under two. At least one member of staff for every four children aged two. At least one member of staff for every thirteen children aged three and over. Additional 56sqm of space for staff and storage based on 7 members of staff.
MULTI-FAITH ROOM
20qsm floor space for a faith room. Due to Muslim prayer happening at specific times the room needs to be able to accommodate all Muslim staff and visitors. The space can accommodate approximately 20 Muslim women to perform Salat, provision will also be made for a washing area to perform ritual ablution prior to Salat (wudu). It is assumed this space is for women only.
INFANT FEEDING ROOM
20sqm private quiet space with comfy feeding chairs, bottle warming facilities and changing space for infant feeding.
FEEDING ROOM
HACKNEY SCHOOL OF FOOD, LONDON
The Hackney School of Food in London is made up of a state-of-the-art teaching kitchen and a garden that supplies many of their fresh ingredients. Through teaching a ‘seed to spoon’ approach to food production and preparation, they provide people with the knowledge, confidence and cooking skills to prepare inexpensive, tasty and nutritious meals. With ten fully equipped, height-adjustable workstations, plus a teaching station, it’s a highly adaptable space that can be moved around to suit lessons and events for people of all ages.
MAGGIE’S CENTRES, UK
Maggie’s centres provide support for people living with cancer. Opening first in Edinburgh in 1996, there are now Maggie’s centres across the UK. The design of each centre is focused around a kitchen, a deliberately domestic space in which to host difficult and painful conversations - or to provide relief from the otherwise institutional spaces of a hospital.
WEST GREEN PLAYGROUP, HARINGEY
A new-build nursery in London with a set of generous canopies providing a range of different outdoor spaces for the children. The building is constructed from cross-laminated timber, creating a low-carbon and natural environment for its users.
PUBLIC CAFE AND KITCHEN
CRECHE
MULTI-FAITH ROOM
INFANT
EXHIBITIONS AND EVENTS
MULTI-PURPOSE HALL
Within HMP Holloway was a large and well-used sports hall. To make a multi-purpose hall suitable for a range of sports Sports England has defined certain space standards, based on the dimensions of a badminton court as the smallest possible size. Four badminton courts equals one basketball court.
EXHIBITION SPACE
The history and legacy of the prison and those women imprisoned there needs to be honoured. However, through discussion with BOOA it has been deemed that a museum, with the complexity of running an archive, employing a curator and the strict design criteria of display space for historic artefacts is not the best way to honour this legacy. Instead a permanent display, a mixture of art and permanent interpretation materials, can be spread throughout the Women’s Building and across the wider site.
However, there is still need for an events space within the Women’s Building to be hired out for events, workshops, larger public meetings and spill-out seating for the cafe. It could overlap with circulation space in the building allowing visitors to pass freely through it. This space could also host temporary or visiting exhibitions - with its own dedicated entrance to allow it to be publicly accessible and operate independently from the rest of the building.
MULTI-PURPOSE HALL
BRICKWORK HALL, ISLINGTON
Brickwork is a 1,000sqm community centre in Crouch Hill, Islington with a 150sqm multi-purpose hall. The large main hall is suitable for parties, wedding receptions and celebrations, as well as seminars, performances and conferences. It has capacity for 150 people standing and 120 seated. It can also can be partitioned to be changed into 2 smaller halls to suit different needs.
ST GEORGE’S, TUFNELL PARK
St George’s Church in Tufnell Park is located close to HMP Holloway. The main hall can be booked for large events and public meetings.
EXHIBITION SPACE
EAST END WOMEN’S MUSEUM, LONDON
This museum is to be the only dedicated women’s museum in England. It will play host to exhibitions, events, schools sessions and community group workshops; recording, sharing and celebrating women’s stories and voices from East London’s history. In early 2023, difficulties finalising the lease, beyond the museum’s control, meant it was unable to accept some of the funding grants it had been awarded, making the project unviable. The team is currently searching for a new space.
GARDENS
PUBLIC SPACE
The importance of outdoor space connected to the Women’s Building can’t be understated. However, we haven’t defined areas within this feasibility study as it will vary greatly between different sites and the quality and aspect of the outdoor space is as critical as the amount of area provided.
On the public-facing side of the Women’s Building there should be outdoor seating for cafe which can also be used to host public events.
PRIVATE GARDENS
A private garden only accessible for women within the building and those that work there is essential to the Women’s Building. There are vast amounts of evidence showing the therapeutic benefits of being in green space and being involved in nurturing and caring for a garden.
The garden should be safe and secure, not overlooked by other buildings or busy public routes. There should be space to sit and eat together outside, and it should be used all year round. To the right here are some successful examples of community gardens in London with specific therapeutic gardening courses run within them.
ROOM TO HEAL, ISLINGTON
Room to Heal offers support and refuge to people who have had to flee persecution, torture and indefinite detention. The cultivation of a healing community through which people can overcome the legacy of trauma sits alongside an integrated programme of therapeutic and casework assistance. These services are based out of a local community garden, where people can sit, talk, eat together and work on the allotment.
CULPEPER COMMUNITY GARDEN, ISLINGTON
Culpeper is a public open space in Islington that contains a lawn, ponds, rose pergolas, ornamental beds, vegetable plots, seating and a wildlife area. It contains 50 plots including 2 raised beds for disabled gardeners: these small gardens are for community groups, children, and for people living nearby who do not have gardens. Tending the garden is a communal effort by garden members and volunteers.
WALWORTH GARDEN, SOUTHWARK
Walworth Garden was founded in 1987, in South London, to create a community growing space. They provide training and skills workshops in gardening and horticulture particularly for those facing barriers to employment. They provide a free social and therapeutic horticulture programme, Growing to Grow, fighting the isolation and emotional difficulties of local people with weekly gardening sessions. Much of this work is funded by their plant centre which is open 7 days a week, selling plants, pots and tools for people’s homes.
ENTRANCE TO THE WOMEN’S BUILDING
This view illustrates the entrance to the Women’s Building. The exhibition space as well as hosting permanent, free-to-access exhibitions could be used for workshops, meetings and events or additional seating space for the cafe. The communal kitchen and nursery are easily accessible from this central entrance. Different colours and materials softly indicate the different uses of each space, with large windows looking over gardens filling the space with natural light.
Collaged in to these images are photographs from the occupation of the HMP Holloway Visitor’s Centre which demonstrated the variety of uses that could take place if the building were freely accessible. The entrance to the Women’s Building could offer this same space for community groups to organise, support groups to meet, or individuals to come and find solace.
SPATIAL BRIEF: OPTIONS
COMPREHENSIVE SERVICE OFFER
The areas shown here are all net internal areas (NIA), which means they exclude areas such as lifts and staircases if the building was to be on multiple floors, plant and equipment rooms for heating, hot water and air conditioning, bike stores and bin stores. The gross internal area (GIA) includes all of these additional spaces.
These areas are calculated assuming taking space in an existing building - if the gross internal area was required an estimated additional 20% area would be required - but this would be subject to more detailed design work.
MENTAL HEALTH RESPONDING TO GENDERED VIOLENCE
WORKSPACE
STAFF AREAS CIRCULATION, WAITING, WCS CAFE
RIGHTS/ADVICE/ SUPPORT HOLISTIC MULTI-FAITH ROOM INFANT FEEDING ROOM
TOTAL AREA
2,957 SQM 31,837 SQFT
HALL
KITCHEN CRECHE
SPATIAL BRIEF: OPTIONS
CORE SERVICE OFFER
The reduced areas have been arrived at by assessing several elements of the brief to reduce them to a satisfactory level of service provision without losing any of the services listed above. These changes are as follows:
– Particular services require their own spaces to allow users to drop in if in crisis and ensure safe and secure environments. Other services can more easily share space, particularly group rooms that are less likely to be in constant use. This timesharing of rooms has reduced the Rights/Advice/ Support provision most significantly, whereas Mental Health and Responding to Gendered Violence maintain more space.
– Reduction of art studios to one room for wet activities, as other creative workshops could happen in other public spaces.
– This reduction in service provision space then reduces the amount of workspace required assuming that not all staff will be in full-time.
– Removal of the large multi-purpose hall, with the exhibition space to be used as an event space due to potential high operating costs and limited use of the multi-purpose hall for sports.
NON-NEGOTIABLE ELEMENTS
The remaining elements of the brief are to be refined further as the operations and business case work is undertaken. Throughout the workshops with Beauty out of Ashes it has been made clear that these uses which could be seen as additional to the core women’s centre services are in fact essential to reducing the stigma of accessing these services and ensuring the building is a place for all women. It is also likely these more public uses will help with the operational costs of the building, providing stability in the provision of other services where funding can be difficult to maintain.
MENTAL HEALTH STAFF AREAS
RESPONDING TO GENDERED VIOLENCE
1,731 SQM 18,637 SQFT FAMILY RIGHTS/ADVICE/ SUPPORT HOLISTIC BUSINESS SPACE
WORKSPACE CIRCULATION, WAITING, WCS
MULTI-FAITH ROOM INFANT FEEDING ROOM
THE WOMEN’S BUILDING
The diagram here illustrates the total areas of the women’s floor as proposed in Peabody’s planning application in comparison with the areas established for a suitable Women’s Building in this feasibility study. It shows that the women’s floor is unsuitable for even the core service offer, and considerably more space would be required for the comprehensive service to offer a meaningful Women’s Building.
Opposite is an illustration indicating a possible layout for the Women’s Building based on the findings of this report. The public facing services at the bottom are most accessible to the public. The core services sit at the centre of the building, accessed off open spaces with views out over gardens. The workspace sits at the back with its own dedicated entrance as well as allowing easy connections between offices and therapy spaces.
RESEARCH AND ENGAGEMENT
TRANSFORMATIVE JUSTICE FOR WOMEN CONFERENCE
On 13th July 2023 BOOA hosted the Transformative Justice for Women conference, attended by nine attendees from six Women’s Organisations operating across the UK and six members of BOOA. The conference was funded by an Independent Social Research Foundation Flexible Grant and supported by University of Kent, Northumbria University and Westminster University. The guiding questions for the conference were:
– How do women’s organisations across the UK create truly transformative, effective and sustainable spaces that support women, their families and communities?
– What can we learn from existing models to support the realisation of the Holloway Women’s Building?
The conference findings are shown in the graphics here. The group discussion focused on governance, fundraising and key areas of provision, shown here. The attendees then created collages visualising their ideal women’s building and articulating how principles shape the space. The main themes from the collages are shown on this page and in the collages shared in the following pages.
In discussing funding many raised the difficulty of getting unrestricted funds, particularly when staff running services also have to write funding applications or external fundraisers brought in don’t have the experience of the specific services they offer. Some organisations have set up commercial arms to fund their services. All were clear that spaces need to have the versatility to change, depending on changing funding landscapes and how local communities had shifted over time.
QUESTIONNAIRE
A questionnaire to develop a more granular understanding of the operations of different women’s buildings and centres around the country has been prepared by BOOA with input from Unit 38. This is to be distributed by BOOA through the network established at the Transformative Justice for Women Conference.
KEY AREAS OF SUPPORT
DV + SV
free from harm haven - support groups
HEALTH + WELLBEING chronic illness
menopause group MS support foodbanks
COMMUNITY
+ SOCIAL cooking together holidays singing and crafts nursery - low cost breakfast/lunch club
WOMEN LED trust collaboration women’s ideas responsive diverse empowering younger generations
BUILDING DESIGN safe signage (or not) communal spaces private spaces kitchen art spaces trauma informed
SKILLS + EMPLOYMENT
money management
con dence building language resource information employability skills courses and activities
1:1 support, mock interviews, IT skills
THERAPEUTIC
1:1 counselling meditation anxiety, self-esteem art therapy drop-in
ATMOSPHERE supportive caring unconditional love peaceful soothing
ART+CRAFTS displaying art framing work images of women art and craft space inviting discussion
INTERIOR DESIGN not hospital colours nice things quality products toiletries cosy comfortable home
Garden space within the empty Holloway Prison, photographed in 2018
OPERATIONS
GRANT FUNDING
This operational model has been developed through workshops with Beauty out of Ashes from October to December 2023. It focuses on the yearly operational costs of running a building and explores different options for meeting those costs through renting out spaces within the building. The model developed is based on a building operator taking responsibility for the space and day-to-day operations. Individual service providers and external organisations run services within the building funded through their own contracts or grant funding. This model is to try and separate the women’s building from the precarity of contracts and grant-funding, allow the operational model to be flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances in the funding landscape and ensure a more stable umbrella organisation can provide space for those organisations providing the services. This does not mean grant funding is not available and should be pursued to provide additional services such as further community outreach, training, education, activities for young women etc. If the core costs of running the space can be provided through letting out spaces and membership this reduces the burden on those providing services.
Costs throughout are yearly and exclusive of VAT. BOOA as a charity can reclaim VAT, however further advice on VAT should be sought from a qualified accountant or tax advisor.
COMPREHENSIVE OFFER
The comprehensive service offer has a total area of 2957sqm (31,837sqft). There are two models set out here which ensure that the income generated from the hire of spaces is higher than the operating costs of running the building. One maximises social value and therefore requires a peppercorn rent. The second makes the operational model viable while paying rent and business rates.
UTILITIES
The utility costs are based on actual costs from 2023 of running Pelican House (a 1040sqm building with an EPC rating C) with additional market data from
utilities brokers and EPC data. Utilities includes: Electricity, Gas, Water, Telephone, Internet, Cleaning, Waste Disposal, Security, CCTV. Based on an EPC rating of C, utilities and services are estimated at £282,611.
A better insulated building with modern heating and hot water systems could significantly reduce running costs. A building with an EPC rating of A uses approximately two thirds the energy of an EPC C. This could reduce utility costs by £76,884.
OPERATING COSTS
Other operating costs include insurance (employers, public and products liability as well as property damage, theft etc.), accountancy and communications (website, mailing lists, social media).
A budget line is also included for cost of sales which includes: redecoration and fixtures/furniture for general upkeep and if a new tenant moves in. General maintenance and repair includes regular scheduled servicing such as: Fire Extinguisher Service, Lift Service, Fire Alarm Service, CCTV, Intercoms etc. A budget of £50,000 is reserved for General Maintenance & Repair for responsive repairs.
STAFFING COSTS
A nearly 3,000sqm building requires significant operational work to ensure it is effectively managed by a team of dedicated staff. This is estimated as one full-time Facilities Manager with a salary of £40,000p.a. who is responsible for routine servicing, maintenance and managing contractors for more major repairs. A full-time Operations Manager (£40,000p.a.), to oversee all the service providers, manage relationships with members and volunteers and provide strategic oversight. And finally a full-time Admin Assistant (£30,000p.a.) to manage day-today admin including bookings, invoicing etc. An additional 13% is added to each salary for National Insurance and pension contributions.
SUB-TOTAL COSTS £565,984
OPERATING COSTS
RENT
Market rent for commercial space around Holloway Road, North London varies between £30-50/sqft. Many local authorities rent out publicly owned buildings at community rates that can be as low as £15/sqft. For the comprehensive service offer this could result in an annual rent from:
£477,555 (community-rent level £15/sqft) to
£1,273,480 (market rent £40/sqft).
Due to the social value of the Women’s Building, some building owners or developers may offer a space on a peppercorn rent (a nominal £1). Normally this requires the leasee to cover the operating costs including utility bills on this space - so while the building owner doesn’t make money they aren’t spending anything to ensure the space is maintained and secure.
BUSINESS RATES
Business rates vary significantly based on the rateable value of a property. Here they are estimated at 20% of the rent. Charitable rate relief can provide up to 80% off your business rates bill, dependent on the local authority.
OTHER COSTS
Fit out costs are difficult to estimate without a specific site and design to cost against. Estimates can be made on a rate per area cost. £120/sqm would include redecorating and building partitions and doors. £450/sqm could include more significant alterations to the building. A comprehensive retrofit of an existing building would cost considerably more. The fit out could cost anywhere between:
£354,000 (decorating and partitions) to
£1,330,00 (signifacnt alterations)
On top of this are the costs of loose furniture, lighting, decorations (art, soft furnishings etc.) as well as plants and landscaping.
There is often more funding for capital works than ongoing running costs. These costs could either be met by grant funding, crowdfunding or other donations. It could also be financed through a commercial loan repayable over 5 or 10 years.
£441,684
COSTS
£124,300 RENT/RATES
£573,066
- £95,511 OPERATING COSTS
- £477,555
TOTAL COSTS £1,139,050
COSTS
INCOME
WORKSPACE
Within the spatial brief there are three types of worspace. Deskspace for service providers, office space for external organisations and small business space. Market rent for workspace in the local area is £40/sqft or higher - for this model a rate of £35/ sqft has been assumed to ensure it is affordable for service providers and small businesses. A hotdesking/co-working arrangement was explored where desks could be rented for £220/month but at the current density of desks this reduced the overall income and would require increased management.
When calculating income from renting out spaces it is typical to assume a certain void period, when the space is empty and no income is being generated. For the workspace a void of 20% has been assumed.
The workspace could generate an income of £253,166.
THERAPY ROOMS
A large specialist provision of space within the Women’s Building is space for therapy - from individial counselling, to physical therapies to group art therapy. Renting out these spaces at dedicated times to private practitioners could be a significant source of income. There are three types of therapy room and different rates for each are based on other local examples: the small rooms charged at £9/hour, the medium rooms £15/hour and the large rooms £20/hour. It has been assumed that each room is available for private hire 10 hours a week.
A void of 40% has been assumed for these spaces, which is higher than the workspace due to the ad-hoc nature of booking these spaces and from research on other therapy room spaces for hire in the local area, some of which are highlighted opposite.
The therapy rooms could generate an income of £128,100.
EVENT SPACES
There are two main spaces that could be hired out for private events and exhibitions - the smaller exhibition space and the larger multi-purpose hall.
The exhibition space could be privately rented out for exhibitions, and also hired out for meetings, workshops and events in the evenings and weekends. Based on local examples including the neighbouring Islington Arts Factory, the exhibition space is priced at £400 per week for exhibitions and £40/hour for private events assuming it is booked out at minimum 8 hours a week. The larger multi-purpose hall is priced at £60/hour and booked for 28 hours per week.
CAFE AND KITCHEN
The cafe could be operated by BOOA in the future, if specific outcomes (such as pay-as-you-feel meals or training for service users) were required that were not being fulfilled by an external operator - however this would require specific business planning and market research. Cafe’s along Holloway Road are available to rent for anywhere between £20-35/sqft. The cafe within the women’s building could be rented to an external operator at a discounted rate, with certain conditions attached in terms of affordable offering or training being provded. At a rate of £20/sqft the cafe could generate an income of £25,833.
The kitchen has been provided to allow service users, providers and staff to have a space to cook together and share meals, that can be closed off from the publicly accessible parts of the building. The space will have modern appliances and equipment and could be rented out for private events. At a rate of £20/hour and booked for 10 hours a week it could generate an income of £10,000.
CRECHE
The creche is to provide ad-hoc childcare for people visiting the women’s building and accessing the service providers. This would be ideally provided for free or at very low cost to parents. The costs of providing these services could be offset by providing regular childcare, paid for privately or through government support.
If the creche was rented out to a private operator at the same discounted rate as the cafe (£20/sqft) it could generate an income of £22,604.
RESOURCE FOR LONDON, HOLLOWAY
Resource for London located at 356 Holloway Road, half a mile from the former HMP Holloway site, is the largest voluntary sector centre in the capital. Prices range from £150/hour (£85 for voluntary sector organisations) for the Conference Hall with a capacity of 250 seated, to £30-50/hour for smaller seminar rooms with a capacity of 28 and £17-30/ hour for meeting rooms with a capacity of 12. They also provide in-house catering and a full range of audio-visual equipment. Through their Enhance programme, funded through grant funding, they provide free deskspace, training and conferences to support the voluntary centre.
SELBY CENTRE, TOTTENHAM
The Selby Centre brings together a mix of individuals and organisations, primarily from BME, refugee and other historically excluded communities in Tottenham, Haringey, North London. As well as providing meeting rooms, event spaces and a sports hall at affordable rates they run many community initiatives including a community garden, youth work and a food bank. The sports hall is £35/hour to hire at peak times, £15/ hour off-peak. For meetings rooms £12-15/hour for the Pavilion room (capacity 16), £18-29/hour for the Board room (capacity 60) and just £2/hour for the 1-2-1 room.
BRIGHTER SPACES, UK
Brighter Spaces operate three buildings for therapy across the UK. As well as consultant rooms with sofas they also provide specialist rooms for physical therapies including massage tables. Prices vary from £21-27/hour.
CITY ROAD THERAPY, ANGEL
Located next to Angel tube station, City Road Therapy was co-founded by experienced psychotherapists and provides eleven rooms in a converted Georgian townhouse. The rooms are suitable for all types of therapy including arts, drama and hypnotherapists. Prices for an ad-hoc booking begin at £14.50/hour.
MEMBERSHIP
Many women’s buildings and organisations across the country work on a membership model - providing services, events and training exclusively for members. Often the cost of membership is on a sliding scale so as not to exclude anyone from being able to afford a membership. However, having studied many examples, membership is rarely a significant source of income. Most memberships are under £20 a year, with lower-cost options available for those on low-incomes. These are mostly ways of building a support base and a community rather than a way of generating any significant income.
Impact100 is a membership based model for philanthropy where at least 100 women come together and each donate £1,000. £100,000 is then granted to a local organisation or charity. The model has been highly effective in delivering significant grants.
Memberships for the Women’s Building could provide regular ongoing funding rather than oneoff donations or fundraising events which require significant work. Due to the significance of a Women’s Building in London there is potential to offer higher tiers of membership, where members who can afford it can help support the running of the building. For example just 10 members paying £200/month would raise £24,00 a year or 50 members paying £50/ month could raise £30,000. Alongside the higher rates, a regular membership price of £5/month with 250 members could raise £15,000. A nominal membership of £1 could be offered to service users or those unwaged or on low incomes.
In total this could raise £69,000 each year. This figure could be raised with successful outreach and campaigning work, but may require additional staffing costs to manage.
Most membership schemes offer benefits to members, which may extend beyond accessing the services within the building. They could also provide access to training and specific member-only events. However, members paying higher fees should not be able to access different services to those on the lower rates - it is important not to create a hierarchy in accessing the building or the services within.
CROSSROADS WOMEN’S CENTRE, KENTISH TOWN
Crossroads Womens Centre provides a place of safety and a diversity of self-help services and activities in one place. Annually they raise up to £10,000 in donations.
NOTTINGHAM WOMEN’S CENTRE
Nottingham Women’s Centre is a free, safe community space offering training, low-cost counselling, educational courses and guidance. There are three tiers of annual membership fees depending on your circumstances: Unwaged (£2), Students and OAPs (£5), Waged (£10). As a member you can borrow books from the Nottingham Women’s Library collection, vote at the AGM, including voting in new Trustees and receive monthly news and updates from the Centre.
WEST HAMPSTEAD WOMEN’S CENTRE
WHWC provides advocacy, intervention, help and support to women in difficult situations. Membership costs £10 annually (then £7). £2,911 was raised in donations in 2022: if raised from membership that equates to 415 members or 290 new members.
CALDERDALE AND KIRKLEES WOMEN’S CENTRE
Membership is £15-20/year or £2.50 for those on low incomes. £3,937 was raised from approx. 200 Members in 2022.
WOMEN’S RESOURCE CENTRE, ISLINGTON
Standard membership is £80/year, £20/year for concessions. Organisations can become members on a sliding scale from £75 - 500/year. As a member you have full access to the WRC library, monthly newsletters and 10% discount on events and training sessions.
COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS
PEPPERCORN RENT
With the services being provided within the building, and the social value they would provide, a peppercorn rent (a nominal figure of £1) could be negotiated with a building owner. However, the costs of utilities, services and staff are to be covered by BOOA and come to over half a million pounds each year. Business rates would likely still need to be paid but assuming 80% business rate relief could also be agreed with the local authority, they would be approximately £19,000 a year.
This operating model generates a surplus of £35,617, that could be held in reserves or used to pay off any fit-out costs. This surplus could be supplemented with further donations or grant funding.
COMPREHENSIVE OPERATIONS
£15/SQFT RENT
At a rent of £15/sqft including business rates, the operating costs increase by £573,066. This additional cost could be met by increasing the cost of renting out spaces within the building and increasing the amount of time service provision space is available for private hire.
Increasing the rate workspace is rented out to £50/ sqft from £35/sqft could raise an additional £108,501. This is equivalent to many other serviced office spaces within the local area, but could be a significant barrier to some service providers using the building.
Increasing the availability of the therapy rooms for private hire from 10 hours a week to 20 hours doubles the income they could generate (£128,100). Increasing the rate the rooms are let to private hires could generate significant additional income. Raising the small rooms rate from £9 to £14/hour, medium rooms £15 to £20/hour and £20 to £30/hour for the largest rooms could generate an additional £257,100.
The event spaces could be rented out more regularly, but would require additional comms, outreach and marketing to ensure regular bookings. Increasing the amount from 8 hours a week to 20 hours, generates an additional £24,000.
The increased demand of this model may result in higher staffing costs and increased maintenance and repair costs. While the rates being charged are comparable to many other spaces available for hire locally it significantly reduces the social value of the building. Many service providers may not be able to afford ‘market rates’ and therefore be unable to move in to the Womens Building. The risk of more space being void increases with the increased price. More time and resource would need to be spent finding suitable partner organisations and potential tenants/ users.
With these increases there is a shortfall of £128,746 per year that would need to be made up through other income or additional donations/grant-funding.
CORE OPERATIONS
The diagrams here represent the operational model revised for the Core Service offer. There is a significant decrease in the total area of the building from 2957sqm to 1731sqm. This significantly reduces the utilities costs and attendant operating costs, as well as the rent and business rates. Staff costs would remain the same for a smaller building, but there would be a similar amount of management and admin.
In terms of income, the deskspace available for service operators is halved, while the workspace for external organisations and small businesses remains the same. The therapy space is significantly reduced to half the number of small therapy rooms, one fewer medium room, and two fewer large rooms. The reduction in these spaces may decrease the amount of time they could be rented out to private operators.
The other significant loss to the income is the exclusion of the multi-purpose hall, a reduction of £84,000 a year.
PEPPERCORN RENT
With a peppercorn rent and assuming 80% business rate relief could also be agreed, this operating model generates a surplus of £29,593, that could be held in reserves or used to pay off any fit-out costs.
At a rent of £15/sqft including business rates, the operating costs increase by £324,284. Increasing the rates of the workspace as with the core service offer - £50/sqft for workspace and increased rates for the therapy rooms - raises the income by £253,113. However, this still leaves a deficit of £41,578 that would need to be made up through other income or additional donations/grant-funding.
To demonstrate the social value of the proposed services within the building a social value model such as HACT can be used to ascribe a value to each service. A social value model could be used to justify a discounted or peppercorn rent for the use of the Women’s Building - particularly by showing how by paying increased ground rent the social value able to be provided by the Women’s Building would significantly decrease. Further funding will be required to develop this in more detail.
PILOT PROJECT
Running services requires any organisation to build trust with its service users. A pilot project located near HMP Holloway could help to establish some core services, as well as trying out different models of funding and operations on a smaller scale. These services and the social value they will generate could establish the case for further funding and support. The London LGBTQ+ Centre (opposite) began as a pilot project, but having been so successful has become a permanent space highlighting the demand and needs for these kinds of spaces. With more established users a meaningful co-design process could be carried out to co-produce a trauma-informed design for the Women’s Building.
LONDON LGBTQ+ CENTRE, PILOT PROJECT (2021)
The Centre initially came about as a pop-up Centre in response to the severe isolation and loneliness the LGBTQ+ community felt during lockdown, and they aim to provide some comfort and solace for LGBTQ+ Londoners and their friends and allies. After an initial 5 month lease they are now a permanent space. The centre works with some of the capital’s LGBTQ+ service providers, offering a holistic programme of services, events, talks and workshops, combined with a cafe space that invites visitors to simply just be. Open to the public Wednesday to Sundays 11am - 8pm, the remaining time is reserved for community bookings.
Designed by Martha Summers, the space needed to be flexible, to be able to work well in a number of event modes, but also needed to feel flexible in terms of not feeling too fixed or “designed”. It was designed to not feel too precious or pretentious, but also not so DIY that the community doesn’t feel safe and cosy. Crucially it was about creating an apparatus for a space, that the community feels they can immediately take ownership of, make changes to, and make completely their own.
The ‘crinkle crankle’ wall that surrounded part of the Holloway Prison perimeter, One of the few modern examples of this construction technique, it was demolished with the rest of the prison in 2023.
TIMELINE BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
THE HISTORY OF HMP HOLLOWAY
A prison has existed in Holloway for over 150 years. Its history is set out in the timeline opposite. With its sudden closure in 2016 there have been continued calls for a Women’s Building on the site. This is to honour the legacy of the prison, western Europe’s largest women’s prison when it closed, and all the women imprisoned there, and also to reprovide a space for many of the services that were based at the prison. Organisations such as PACT (Prison Advice and Care Trust), Women in Prison, Phoenix Futures and Spurgeons were based at the prison.
HMP Holloway in the last few decades became “a national hub for services to help women tackle the complex root causes of offending including mental ill health and experience of trauma” (Seoighe 2021). Women in HMP Holloway could access comprehensive and progressive psychotherapy practices, art therapy, and an educational department with extensive facilities in arts, crafts, textiles, cookery, ceramics, music and IT. The closure of HMP Holloway has led to a substantial reduction in specialist services for women affected by the criminal justice system and many of these organisations have had to find alternative locations to offer their services.
ALTERNATIVES TO HOLLOWAY
When the prison was completely rebuilt in the 1970s, the group Alternatives to Prison published Alternatives to Holloway. There is much still to be learned from their calls for community level support that aims for self-dependency and self-determination and avoids the stigmatisation that comes with the concept of criminality. They argued that the long term aims of this alternative approach would “help bring about social changes in inequalities of opportunity, power (over decisions affecting one’s life) and wealth and in discrimination in education, housing, work and leisure, that are related not only to ‘crime’, but more fundamentally to the ever present and perhaps ever increasing tension that a hierarchical society like ours inevitably produces.”
1852
Holloway Prison was opened, holding 400 inmates. An imposing Victorian building, it was known as the Castle, with two large Griffins flanking the main entrance gate. An inscription on the gateway read, ‘May God preserve the City of London and make this place a terror to evil doers’.
1903
Holloway became a women’s only prison and a creche was added. From 1906 the inmates included hundreds of suffragettes, many going on hunger strike to demand their rights as political prisoners.
1985
Between 1971 and 1985 the prison was rebuilt to move away from the punitive Victorian design towards a space for rehabilitation, with larger green space. It was Western Europe’s largest women’s prison with up to 500 inmates.
1990
The Hub (later the Visitors Centre) was constructed to provide women with a safe place immediately after release. The centre was run by volunteers, women on release on temporary licence, and staff from the major resettlement agencies working in the prison. There was access to the internet and calls, showers, donated clothes and space to meet up with throughthe-gate workers. The centre was built through funding from private charities.
2016
HMP Holloway closed in June 2016, as part of the Ministry of Justice’s plans to close London’s Victorian Prisons, sell the land and fund new prisons elsewhere. Today, HMP Holloway remains the only prison sold. The move prompted a variety of community and activist campaigns.
2018
Peabody buys the site for £82 million with a £39 million Grant for Social Housing as well as a £42 million loan from the Mayor’s Land Fund.
2021
Peabody submits a planning application for 985 homes, 1822sqm of commercial space and 1489sqm for a women’s floor.
Alternatives to Holloway. Radical Alternatives to Prison, 1972
CAMPAIGN
Since the prison’s closure, several groups and campaigns have formed to shape the future of the site. These include:
RECLAIM HOLLOWAY
Reclaim Holloway was founded in 2016 to campaign for a Women’s Building on the Holloway Prison site. They campaigned for social housing and green space on the land, and for an independent Women’s Building to house support and services for women which look outside the criminal justice system for long term, holistic solutions to social injustice.
SISTERS UNCUT
In May 2017 the feminist group Sisters Uncut occupied Holloway Prison Visitors Centre holding workshops on women’s well being, self-defence and legal rights. They set out to reclaim the former prison, a site of violence, to demand that public land was used for public good.
THE COMMUNITY PLAN FOR HOLLOWAY
The Community Plan for Holloway (CP4H) was established in 2018 to ensure the needs of the local community are at the heart of the prison site’s redevelopment. There are four Working Groups within the organisation: Women’s Building Working Group, Monitoring Working Group, Social Housing Working Group and Cohousing Working Group.
BEAUTY OUT OF ASHES
Beauty out of Ashes formed in Spring 2022 to ensure that the voices of women and women’s organisations are integral to the design, construction and management of the ‘Women’s Floor’ on the Holloway Prison site. They are also fundraising for a more expansive Women’s Building in the future.
Beauty out of Ashes’ roots reach into Reclaim Holloway, Treasures, Holloway United Therapies, and the Community Plan for Holloway, particularly the Women’s Building Working Group.
Placards from demonstration organized by Reclaim Holloway, the Community Plan for Holloway and Islington Homes for All - 19 September, 2020
SPACE FOR WOMEN
WOMEN’S BUILDING
In November 2020, the Community Plan for Holloway published their Spatial Analysis presentation for the Holloway Women’s Building. The building would provide services to reduce the number of women entering the Criminal Justice System, along with creative and educational services, a multi-purpose hall, museum, cafe and shop. The upper floors would provide emergency housing, resettlement housing and co-operative housing for women.
In June 2021, a series of four talks organised by Reclaim Holloway presented this brief to a wider public audience at the London Festival of Architecture, along with wide-ranging considerations such as therapeutic building design and structural inequality (gender, race, class) in the profession of architecture itself. The images shown here are from those presentations, and express not only the technical proposal but the lively discussions that followed each presentation.
Reclaim Holloway’s proposal emphasized that the building’s design would be created after a funded design competition open to women-led architectural firms.
PLANS, POLICIES AND BRIEFS
SUPPLEMENTARY PLANNING DOCUMENT (2017)
In 2017 Islington Council consulted residents and stakeholders on the future of the prison site and received around 800 responses. The Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) adopted in January 2018 did not create new planning policies, yet it is a material consideration for any future planning applications. Islington council’s SPD for the site, includes a requirement for the provision of the Womens Building; a key ask of the Reclaim Holloway campaign, which it describes as such:
The provision of a women’s building/centre that incorporates safe space to support women in the criminal justice system and services for women, affordable workspace to support local organisations and employment opportunities. Affordable workspace to support local enterprises and employment opportunities, particularly for young people. Provision of a range of well-being, therapeutic and family support services for the wider community.
DEVELOPMENT BRIEF (2020)
In June 2020 Islington Council published the Holloway Women’s Building Development Brief as a draft for consultation. In preparing the brief the Council consulted with CP4H, residents, women’s organisations, community groups, the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and Peabody. The council said it would work with Peabody and MOPAC to commission an organisation to deliver services from the building. The building should accommodate services to support women who are:
– in the criminal justice system;
– moving on from the criminal justice system; or
– who are at risk of entering the criminal justice system
The brief sets out certain key principles:
– A broader range of services for all women across North London. Such services could support local
women to escape domestic violence, participate in therapy or learn new skills
– A wider package of services such as art and exercise studios
– Outstanding architecture and a flagship building
– A main public entrance, and an additional discrete, anonymous and safe means of secondary access. It should not be apparent why service users are accessing the building
– The design to be trauma-informed to ensure a comfortable and comforting environment for vulnerable service users
– Future proof and flexible, to allow for time-sharing of rooms
– Well lit with natural light and not overlooked from the street or adjoining buildings.
– High quality outdoor spaces including a garden
– Honour the social history of the Women’s Prison
– Sustainable and affordable to run and maintain
Finally it sets out space requirements for the building, totalling 1200sqm. These include:
– A reception - 80sqm
– A large multi-purpose hall - 180-200sqm
– A range of multi-purpose smaller rooms between 8 and 70sqm - total 670sqm
– A kitchen - 25-35sqm
– WCs, showers, changing rooms and laundry
– Crèche, up to 25 children -100sqm
– Secure storage for prams, pushchairs, mobility scooters
– Staff only rooms/facilities/offices - 50-70sqm
– External garden and play space
The brief states that the Council will not be able to fund any of the activities in the building.
CONSULTATION (2021)
In July 2021 Islington Council published a Development Brief Production and Consulation Summary. The brief was immediately controversial: of 28 women’s groups consulted, only 4 supported the brief. A consistent concern was the involvement of MOPAC/the Home Office in the operation of the building and the lack of a business plan or feasibility study.
Peabody in 2023 commissioned an external consultant to prepare a feasibility study for the “Women’s Building” (i.e. women’s floor). This process is overseen by the Joint Steering Group set up by Peabody and Islington Council.
PLANNING APPLICATION
A FLOOR NOT A BUILDING
In November 2021, Peabody, working with lead architect AHMM, submitted a planning application for 985 homes, 1822sqm of commercial space and 1489sqm for what is referred to as the Women’s Building. The name of this space has been contested as it is not a stand-alone building but the split-level ground floor of two residential blocks. Through this report we refer to it as the Women’s Floor.
The planning application was approved in August 2022 but is subject to change due to new regulations for escape stairs from residential buildings. This will increase the core and reduce the amount of space for the Women’s Floor by an yet unknown amount. The application does not include a community centre for the site residents.
CONSULTATION
The Community Plan for Holloway’s Board responded to the consultation ahead of the planning application with the following comments:
– Not a building, but a split-level floor beneath residential blocks
– An overshadowed garden, that is overlooked and will suffer from downdrafts
– No evidence of trauma-informed design
– Some of the spaces have no daylight
– No evidence of exhibition or information space referring to the legacy of the space
The plans have been criticised as more appropriate to a generic community centre rather than specifically designed around women’s needs. The spaces are defined as flexible and sub-dividable meaning there is no dedicated art space or workspace. It is hard to see how flexible space can also meet the requirements of a trauma-informed approach to designing spaces.
REFERENCES
Alternatives to Holloway. Radical Alternatives to Prison, (1972) www.downsizingcriminaljustice. wordpress.com/2016/03/16/alternatives-to-holloway
Holloway Women’s Building – a local needs analysis, Rachel Seoighe (December 2021)
