Looking after Thamesmead
Our story of impact 2018-23
About Peabody
Peabody is committed to improving, growing and looking after Thamesmead for the long term. We’re taking a ‘whole place approach’ to the regeneration of the town. This means investing in Thamesmead’s buildings, outdoor spaces and communities. It involves working with local people and partners to create new opportunities and shape great places.
Design: Moyo Creative
Front cover illustration: Keith Hau
Photography: Phil Askew, Tom Chaplin, Danny Fitzpatrick, Andrew Hendry, Richard Heald, Emile Holba, Kilian O’Sullivan, Rosie Reed Gold and Paul Upward
Foreword
Ask people what they like about Thamesmead and you’re likely to get a range of answers. Beautiful landscape, refurbished buildings, community events, cultural activities and new opportunities will no doubt be among them.
Many of these things have either come about or improved considerably since Peabody became the town’s main landholder, and we began our work to improve, grow and look after the town for the long term. Our subsequent launch of a long-term regeneration plan in 2018 hailed a new beginning for Thamesmead, envisaged in the sixties as the ‘town of tomorrow’ but then hit by changes in governance, a lack of investment and wider socio-economic problems.
There’s a lot that’s been achieved in recent years and already a great deal to celebrate. We’re especially encouraged by a growing sense of optimism in the town
Our story of impact reflects on our first five years of delivering widescale regeneration. It’s full of purposeful projects, programmes and partnerships – all helping to improve Thamesmead for local communities.
It’s also a story that’s underpinned by a plan. One that details the key elements needed to create truly sustainable neighbourhoods –day to day care, quality homes and facilities, excellent outdoor spaces, arts and culture, and tailored community support. The delivery of this plan has been guided by detailed independent research by Arup and the Social Innovation Partnership, referenced throughout this report. Their annual findings have enabled us to monitor change across the town each year, and adapt our work when needed, so we can better respond to the wants and needs of the community.
There’s a lot that’s been achieved in recent years and already a great deal to celebrate. We’re especially encouraged by a growing sense of optimism in the town. But there is also plenty more to do. Our focus now is on maintaining momentum and tackling historic challenges. We want to attract more shops and spaces for people to meet, secure better transport links, and improve neighbourhoods which have previously lacked investment.
As we take forward the regeneration, we’ll continue to listen to and learn from Thamesmead’s residents and our many partners. We’ll also strengthen ongoing partnerships and develop new ones. And we’ll build on the many projects and programmes we have in place to make sure Thamesmead is a successful, sustainable place. If you’d like to collaborate with us, please contact us at thamesmeadnow@peabody.org.uk
John Lewis, Executive Director of Sustainable Places
Swimming at Birchmere Lake
Our vision To see Thamesmead’s potential realised
Our mission
To improve, grow and look after Thamesmead for the long-term
Our five goals
Creating a sustainable place
Improve people’s day to day experience of living in the town
Grow and regenerate the town
Make culture a part of everyday life
Improve the quality of the landscape and create more chances for people to use it
Support communities to be happier, healthier and wealthier
Tree planting in Southmere Park
The Parkview Estate, South Thamesmead
19 130+
Highlights environmental services colleagues trained in horticulture since 2021
54
3,000
£7m
40 tons of rubbish cleared each year tower blocks fitted with new windows bespoke wildlife-proof bins installed of fencing repaired/ replaced
3,000m+
invested in environmental services of people agree that the changes have made Thamesmead look and feel more attractive* 74% 75% place spaces in use
145
60+ tons of invasive pennywort removed from lakes and canals each year of people agree that the public spaces and parks look and feel cleaner and tidier* colleagues delivering day to day estate management
Our story
Our plan to look after Thamesmead starts with helping people enjoy day to day life in their neighbourhood. We’re making sure that the town feels well managed and cared for, the 5,600+ homes we own and look after are maintained, and that everyone can access and enjoy high quality shared spaces.
Over the last five years we’ve prioritised:
Delivering reliable and good management services
We’ve developed our caretaker plus scheme to improve our planned and responsive repairs of communal areas. This includes doubling the size
of the team – now a mix of 70 caretakers and multi-skilled trades people –who are responsible for jobs including replacing signage, repainting railings and managing drains. We’re now able to work more
efficiently, taking on many tasks previously carried out by contractors. The caretaker plus team now completes around 6,000 jobs each year, having delivered a safe, scaled-back service during the pandemic.
Caring for public spaces day after day
As well as maintaining 240 hectares of green spaces in Thamesmead, our environmental services team are playing an active role in enhancing them. Thanks to a partnership with Capel Manor College set up in 2021, we’re delivering green skills training to around 12 colleagues each year. Now their day to day roles are as much about gardening and horticulture as they are cutting and clearing. Meanwhile we’ve forged stronger relationships with horse owners, including settled Gypsy and Traveller communities, with the help of our equine officer. We now have grazing licenses in place so the horses have designated, safe areas to graze in Thamesmead.
To help us take care of Thamesmead, we record the many outdoor assets we’re responsible for – from lighting to street furniture to roads, parks, lakes and canals.
Most people living in Thamesmead are satisfied with it as a place to live. Thamesmead’s outdoor spaces, the town’s relative tranquillity compared to the rest of London, and general improvements across the area including day to day care and maintenance are some of the key reasons given for this.*
As new areas of Thamesmead have been improved, we’ve added these new assets on our digital map. This has made it far easier for our environmental services team to identify, repair and maintain the things that we own, and redirect enquiries about assets owned and managed by other landowners including Bexley and Greenwich councils. Thanks to our digital map data, we were able to introduce our online outdoor repairs and maintenance service, Fix My Street, in 2022. Through it, people can report issues directly to the environmental services team, making it quicker and easier for the team to solve them.
We’ve also taken further action to manage fly-tipping in the town, aiming to reduce incidents and improve community satisfaction. We now have new powers to enforce fixed penalty notices or community protection notices if needed. Local people have largely welcomed these new measures. In one fly-tipping
hotspot, 94% of people (65 out of 67) agreed we were making a positive difference as a result of them.
We’ve also refurbished many play areas and created seven new ones across Thamesmead, to encourage children and families to get active and spend time with friends outdoors. We now have 54 play spaces for people to enjoy across the town. These changes have been strongly welcomed by many people in the community.
Refurbishing
our
homes
As well as building energy efficient new homes, we’ve also refurbished many homes in our existing housing stock. In 2020 we completed our Decent Homes programme, involving the replacement of all windows and repairs to the concrete facades of 19 tower blocks in South Thamesmead. Meanwhile we’re continuing to carry out essential fire safety works across homes in need of this.
Playing at Broadwater Green
Profile: Ali
Spending most of his time outdoors in South Thamesmead, Ali is a familiar face to local residents. A Senior Environmental Operative, Ali is part of a team of four Peabody colleagues who look after many of the outdoor spaces on the Parkview and South Thamesmead estates. We recently invested £3.9m in improving the public realm in these two neighbourhoods, introducing planters, creepers, flower beds, rain gardens, play spaces, seating and other greenery.
“Since I started working at Peabody [in 2019] there have been loads of improvements,” Ali says. “We’re trying to make everything look greener. Every day we’ve got different jobs to do individually, and then every season we’ve got different things to do, like pruning, cutting back and planting.”
Ali takes great pride in his work and the impact it’s having on local people. “I can see that residents are happy with the work, and they often tell me how good the area looks.”
“I’ve worked locally for three years, so some people see me nearly every day. Some people will bring me a cup of tea or some cake while I’m at work.”
“I often get asked for advice or gardening tips, and sometimes on my break I’ll go and show people how they can look after their plants. A resident recently asked me about her hydrangeas which weren’t flowering, so I went to show her how she could prune them, and then I helped to cut them back a little bit.”
Ali’s passion for his work is infectious. Ali often posts photos of the team’s hard work on Peabody’s social network. “Some Peabody colleagues work in the office and they don’t get to see the greenery. But if I’m sharing photos and giving information, they see that they can do similar things with the plants in their houses or gardens,” he explains.
Growing and regenerating the town
Thamesmead
600 2,200
community library and public building complete new public square created
2,000 new homes built new homes under construction new homes in the pipeline households rehoused into new homes locally renovation of Moorings Sociable Club of people say the redevelopment of Cygnet Square and opening of the Nest improved their perception of the area*
£2.7m artist studios created at the Lakeside Centre 38
180+ construction of boating club, South Thamesmead £1.2m £2.15m
1515 £10m 1x refurbishment of Lakeside Centre, South Thamesmead
2x spaces for early years nurseries new commercial spaces created in South Thamesmead community buildings created or refreshed
84%
Our story
We want all residents to benefit from the growth and regeneration in Thamesmead. We’re therefore bringing community spaces back to life and creating new amenities, as well as building new homes.
Over the last five years we’ve prioritised:
Providing quality housing and amenities
We completed our first development in the town – The Reach, in West Thamesmead – in 2019. The award-winning scheme offers 66 affordable homes for affordable rent and shared ownership, a communal garden and an early years nursery. Close by we began construction with our partners, Berkeley, on a derelict industrial site at Plumstead West Thamesmead. Once complete, the development will provide 1,913 low carbon homes (including 765 affordable homes), 47,000ft2 of employment, industrial and community space, and a 1.8 acre public park.
In South Thamesmead we completed the first phase of our seven-phase
masterplan to deliver a total of 2,800 quality homes in the neighbourhood. This initial phase includes 534 new homes, an attractive public square overlooking Southmere Lake with a library and community building, several commercial spaces and an art gallery. We also completed the £1.2m construction of a new boating club on the northern bank of the lake which will enable local people to get out on the water. Work is now underway on the second phase of development, next to phase one, to deliver a further 329 new homes.
Renewing older buildings
We’ve brought important community buildings back to life, giving local people places to work from or socialise. They include the iconic 1960s Lakeside Centre, following a £2.7m renovation co-funded by us, the Mayor of London’s London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP), Bow Arts and Arts Council England.
This striking building is now home to a growing creative community. Managed by Bow Arts, it offers 38 affordable artist studios, a community darkroom, early years nursery, café and community garden.
Close to Southmere Lake, we’ve funded improvements to parts of the Link, a youth and community centre made up of eight arches under a flyover. Improvements to one arch have enabled the London College of Performing Arts who are based there to extend their education programme. The site is now formally recognised as a south east London campus for performing arts, attracting more than 180 students. We also brought a second arch back into use for martial arts classes, following lockdown, after trialling different activities. Meanwhile, in Central Thamesmead the Moorings Sociable Club reopened its doors to the public in 2021 after being shut for more than 15 years.
Paving the way for future growth Thamesmead continues to offer one of the biggest and most deliverable opportunities for housing growth in London. The largest and most significant is the Thamesmead Waterfront – a potential new neighbourhood on a 100-hectare site fronting on to the River Thames. In 2019 Peabody and Lendlease formed a joint venture to masterplan up to 15,000 new homes, a wealth of amenities and a major new park for London. Recognising that growth on this scale requires improved transport infrastructure, we’re working closely with TfL, the GLA, Homes England and a range of other stakeholders to progress proposals to extend the Docklands Light Railway to the town.
Local people are generally positive about the physical changes to the built environment in Thamesmead. Though the impact of these projects has been felt across the whole town, and there is a general sense of optimism about the future in the area, residents of South Thamesmead, where the largest changes been delivered, feel the most benefit. Some people are concerned about the time it will take to feel benefits of regeneration.* We will continue to keep communities informed of what’s happening across the town and the opportunities available to them.
*Arup
and The Social Innovation Partnership (2024), The Thamesmead Evaluation
The Reach, West Thamesmead
Evening Standard
New Homes Award 2021: Best Regeneration Project
- Winner, Southmere, South Thamesmead
- Highly commended Southmere, South Thamesmead Awards
What House Awards 2022: Best Starter Home Scheme
- Silver, Southmere, South Thamesmead
Evening Standard
New Homes Award 2023: Best First-time Buyer Award
- Winner, Southmere, South Thamesmead
Evening Standard
New Homes Award 2023: Best Shared Ownership Development
Playtime outside the Nest, South Thamesmead
The Boating Club, Southmere Lake
Profile: Billy
Billy was living just five minutes away from where the first phase of new homes were being built in Southmere, South Thamesmead.
At the time, he was looking for work in construction but lacked the experience and qualifications needed to work on site. He therefore decided to apply to the YouthBuild UK programme. Supported by Peabody, it helps people aged 18-24 into construction by teaching a range of sought after skills, including plastering, drywalling and tiling, as well as health and safety must-haves. This marked a major turning point in his career.
“While I was in YouthBuild, a construction manager from Durkan [who was working at the Southmere development] came to speak with us to get to know us a bit. He ended up offering me a week’s work experience,” Billy says.
Soon Billy was working with an electrical contractor called Hanover, helping to wire the flats in one of the new blocks.
“I finished the week and I was enjoying it, so I asked if they could give me an extra week of experience, which they did. [Hanover] kept me on full time after my work experience finished and I carried on working at Southmere until the [first phase of] development was complete. I’ve been working for the same company ever since.”
Alongside his day job, Billy is now studying electrical installation at college. His time on the Southmere development gave him a real sense of achievement and renewed pride in his neighbourhood: “I felt chuffed to be a part of it because there were a lot of new places being built for people to live in,” he says.
Enhancing and maintaining the landscape
New wetlands at Gallions Lake
6 1x 1x 1x
5,100 community orchard thriving community gardens outdoor education centre (Tump 53)
3033
nature forum meetings held
trees planted projects funded by the Making Space for Nature community fund
19,282
20% willow nursery
1,200 increase in biodiversity across two 1960s estates in South Thamesmead volunteer hours spent improving biodiversity
360
‘wildlife and welly’ walkers
85%
muddy boots exploring Tump 53 nature reserve of people visit their local park or green space more than once a month, up from 63% in 2019.*
Our story
As owners of two-thirds of Thamesmead, we’re custodians of 240 hectares of green space including five public parks, five lakes, seven kilometres of canals and 53,000 trees. By managing and enhancing them, we’re looking to increase biodiversity, mitigate the effects of the climate crisis and encourage people to enjoy the great outdoors.
Over the last five years we’ve prioritised:
Putting our green infrastructure strategy into action
We’re taking a strategic approach to creating an active, healthy, productive and better connected landscape. We now have in place an award-winning green infrastructure framework, Living In The Landscape, which underpins all our work – from plans to projects and programmes. We’ve welcomed hundreds of people to Thamesmead to learn more about our strategic approach. Over the last five years we’ve hosted several tours and events for built environment enthusiasts and academic institutions, including the University of Greenwich and University College London. We’ve also showcased our work at several high profile events, enabling us to share what we’re doing with thousands of people.
The proportion of survey respondents who have visited their local park or green space more than once a month has increased from 63% in 2019 to 85% in 2023. Thamesmead’s natural environment is often the top reason that people give for choosing to live in Thamesmead or enjoying the area.*
Working with communities
We’re transforming the way we work with communities across Thamesmead, making sure that local people play a central role in designing and managing parts of the town’s landscape. In recent years we’ve worked with the Mayor of London on four large-scale projects, to explore how local people can better share their lived experience with us, be more involved in decision making and challenge assumptions we might make.
This work started in 2020 with a plan to transform Claridge Way in The Moorings from a bland cut-through into a well-used space. Through conversations, hands-on workshops, a giant tea party and virtual reality design sessions, Peabody captured a wide range of ambitions into an award-winning Common Plan for the area. Improvements included new benches for seating and body weight exercises; new fences, back gates and planters for adjoining residents; a new gardening club at Hawksmoor
Primary School; a painted play route; woodland adventure walk; and a wildflower bee road.
The project helped inform further projects and programmes. These include the creation of the South Thamesmead Garden Estate – our most ambitious community co-production programme so far. As part of this programme we’ve recruited, trained and paid a group of people from the local community – the Community Design Collective (CDC) – to help redesign more than three hectares of underused green space. Together community members have invested more than 1,000 hours in design conversations, site visits and client meetings focusing on creating flourishing parkland and welcoming areas for people to sit, meet and play.
These new ways of working sit alongside tried and tested methods of community engagement. Through our Making Space for Nature programme – supported by Groundwork, CLEVER cities and
the Mayor of London, and run in partnership with North West Kent Countryside Partnership – hundreds of people have participated in outdoor activities. These include habitat creation, woodland coppicing, wildflower planting and general tidying and maintenance. As well as helping improve the environment, the activities have given participants the opportunity to meet new people and learn more about the local landscape.
There are a wealth of activities and events now running across Thamesmead, many of which have been shaped and led by local communities. The Thamesmead Nature Forum, set up in 2019, is a prime example of this. Once headed up by us, it now sees local people make decisions about discussion topics and activities. We’ve also supported 14 groups to run their own nature-based activities with the help of our Making Space for Nature community fund.
Picnic at Tump 53
Developing a more resilient landscape
We’re taking a range of steps to ensure Thamesmead’s landscape can improve biodiversity and cope with the impact of climate change.
In 2020 we published our local Biodiversity Action Plan to guide our work to engage people in protecting and enhancing Thamesmead’s priority habitats and species. We’ve also worked to increase biodiversity through major investment programmes.
These include work to make the Parkview and South Thamesmead Estates far greener, resulting in a 20% biodiversity net gain; the £2.5m transformation of Southmere Lake and then other parts of our waterways into wetlands; and the creation of sunflower fields and wildflower meadows to encourage pollinators and other insects.
Across Thamesmead we’ve planted more than 5,000 trees to help ensure a diverse, healthy and resilient mix of
species. Our survey of our 53,000 trees, carried out in 2021, has helped us better understand their role in storing carbon, reducing air pollution and reducing flood risk. We’re now using the data to develop a long-term plan for an urban forest to help ensure our landscape is fit for the future.
Awards
AJ Awards 2017: Landscape of the year
- Winner, Southmere community space
Design Week Awards
2018: Wayfinding and environmental graphics
- Winner, Byron Close
Landscape Institute Awards
2018: Science, Management and Stewardship
- Winner, Thamesmead
Landscape Institute Awards
2020: Excellence in public health and wellbeing
- Winner, Gallions Park play area
Future Cities Forum Awards 2021: Masterplanning
- Winner, Living in the Landscape BALI 2021
National Landscape Award: Hard Landscaping Construction
- Commended, South Thamesmead public realm
Landscape Institute Award
2021: Excellence in horticulture and planting design
- Winner, Southmere public realm
Landscape Institute Awards
2021: Excellence in place regeneration
- Winner, Parkview, Thamesmead
Landscape Institute Award
2021: Hardscape
- Commended, Parkview, Thamesmead public realm
Thornton Education Trust
Inspire Future Generations Award 2022: schools collaborations
- Winner, Claridge Way, The Moorings
MacEwen Award 2022
- Commended, Claridge Way, The Moorings
Children’s activities at Tump 53 Planting floating islands at Gallions Lake
Profile: The Nature Forum
The Nature Forum is a wellestablished group for anyone interested in Thamesmead’s varied local landscape and wildlife. Here people meet up every two months to talk about nature-based issues, join in a range of activities, and learn from others along the way.
The forum has now welcomed around 100 people since it began in 2019 – a mix of regular and occasional attendees. Members decide what they want to talk about and there’s plenty of lively discussion. Topics cover land and water management, projects that improve shared spaces, and activities organised by local people.
As well as discussing the natural environment, participants can also get involved in various fun activities. Many of these are run by our partners at the North West Kent Countryside Partnership (NWKCP) – a not-for-profit organisation specialising in conversation and environmental projects.
“Forum members generally want to get out in nature and help make a difference in their community, so we’ve made sure they can do this,” explains Nina Skinner, Partnership Officer at NWKCP. “We work with Peabody to host all kinds of events – from tree and bulb planting, to monitoring bats and other wildlife, to community events at Tump 53 nature reserve. These things help build up a sense of community among people with shared interests.”
The forum has also been a great way for Peabody team members to build trust and increase local people’s understanding of our wider plan to look after Thamesmead for the long term. It’s also encouraged many members to take an increasingly active role in the community. Fourteen Nature Forum members successfully applied to our Community Fund for grants to deliver their own naturebased projects between 2021 and 2023. These have included nature therapy wellbeing sessions, bird watching walks and improvements to community gardens.
An evening ‘bat walk’ at Southmere Lake
Making culture part of everyday life
Highlights
12
300+ 19
500+
culture events held and supported items in our community archive
1,000+
people in the creative industries paid to work on projects in Thamesmead
local voices displayed and represented at Tate Modern
30+
50+
residents helped into paid jobs on film sets in Thamesmead film and photography crews supported to film in Thamesmead underpasses transformed by artwork
8,000+
New cultural organisation TACO established, including local radio station RTM.FM with 70+ local broadcasters
112
56%
local creatives listed in the Thamesmead Culture Guide and Directory visitors to Thamesmead Festival 2023 of local people attended a cultural event at least once in the previous 12 months, up from 28% in 2019.*
Our story
We’re focused on making Thamesmead a great cultural destination. From working with Thamesmead’s growing creative community to internationally acclaimed artists, we’re delivering an ambitious, community-led cultural programme and making the town a home for culture.
Over the last five years we’ve prioritised:
Putting Thamesmead on the map
Across Thamesmead we’ve developed a wide programme of events and activities to celebrate the town’s identity and raise its profile. We’ve
done this in collaboration with local residents and community groups, empowering local communities to create culture on their doorstep.
Alongside community-led culture, we’ve hosted remarkable artwork by internationally acclaimed artists. This includes seeing 1,500 pigeons with LED lights fly in formation above the
former golf course in 2018, in Fly By Night by Duke Riley. The project employed three local residents, with one of them going on to train and work in the performing arts. This was the first Thamesmead cultural event in recent history covered in mainstream media, including Channel 4 News, the Guardian and Time Out. A further highlight for 2018 was the production of Beautiful Thing, performed over five nights to an audience of 1,500 people in South Thamesmead. Commissioned by Peabody and produced by Greenwich+Docklands International Festival (GDIF), the show was the remake of a seminal LGTBQ+ play and film, shot on location in Thamesmead by Film 4 in 1996. Many local people had been extras in the film and felt a great sense of pride having it performed again live. It was extremely popular with many viewers, including key political stakeholders, and achieved a four-star rating in the Evening Standard.
In 2021 renowned artist Bob and Roberta Smith exhibited their artwork Thamesmead
Codex in the town. A series of large painted placards, based on conversations with 19 Thamesmead residents, the artwork was shown at Tate Modern from 2022 to December 2024 to an audience of over three million visitors. On seeing the exhibition, the residents said how they felt heard, seen and proud to have their reflections displayed in a national institution.
In summer 2022 and 2023, we celebrated the launch of a unique hot air balloon above Thamesmead. Showcasing 200 art pieces inspired by stories from local people, this floating gallery wowed onlookers and hit local, national and international headlines. The extraordinary installation, known as Fields of Everywhen, was created by artists Musson + Retallick, winners of the Thamesmead Open – our ambitious, international art competition. Over two years, the artists invited local people to share their stories. These were interpreted into distinctive artworks by residents,
community groups, artists and students from the Royal School of Needlework, before being printed onto the balloon fabric. As well as flying over Thamesmead, the balloon was partially inflated on its side in four different locations across the town. More than 1,000 people stepped inside it to take a closer look.
Memorabilia from these and other events will be added to the Thamesmead Community Archive. Established in 2018, the online archive holds photos, videos, posters, brochures, architects’ drawings, news articles and audio interviews from the last six decades.
Empowering and connecting communities
We’re supporting local communities to decide on the culture they want to experience in Thamesmead. These community-led processes not only ensure that culture in Thamesmead feels relevant and interesting, but also builds people’s skills, confidence and networks. Set up in 2017, the Thamesmead Culture Forum is
an open bi-monthly meeting for local artists, residents and organisations. It’s a chance for them to discuss new ideas for creative projects and how we might support them, and to connect with each other. The forum has a growing network of over 300 members and attracts around 25 attendees each time. Members have helped the development of key cultural activities including three light festivals and the Thamesmead Festival. They have also helped establish new groups, including a street art group who are now commissioning five murals to add to the 12 canal-side murals commissioned in 2020.
Residents have also played a major role in the annual Thamesmead Festival, as organisers, performers, vendors or visitors. Our flagship event is planned and programmed by the Festival Production Group, a group of 14 local people, working alongside music event specialist, Serious. Thanks to their involvement, the Festival has grown in popularity, with more than 8,000 people
Our story
attending in 2023. Named as “London’s most unique festival” in Time Out in 2021, it has since been profiled on BBC and ITV news.
As well as leading key events, we’ve supported creatives across the town to commission creative projects. They include the Black Culture Collective, who since 2021 have funded nine local projects to celebrate Thamesmead’s diverse cultures and heritage; a group of seven young people and local artists, known as The Cage TM, who commissioned a new artwork to revitalise a tired multi-sports area; and a further five young creatives who have commissioned Thamesmead’s first public art piece in South Thamesmead.
Elsewhere we have helped fund a range of local community groups and
artists to run creative projects through the Thamesmead Community Fund. This gives grants of up to £3,000 to successful applicants looking to improve life in their neighbourhood, with decisions made by five local residents paid for their involvement. The fund is financed by our communities team (see page 24) and supplemented through money we make through filming on the land we own and look after. Through our partnership with Film Fixer who manage filming, we’re both generating income to support others’ projects, and providing people with training on film sets and work as paid extras.
Many local groups and artists feature in the Thamesmead Culture Guide and Directory. Published in 2022, it profiles 112 local creatives – rappers, poets, painters, dancers, broadcasters and more.
Making Thamesmead a home for artists
Thamesmead has a growing reputation for arts and culture, and several cultural organisations are well settled here. They include Bow Arts, who provide 38 affordable artists’ studios at the Lakeside Centre; the London College of Performing Arts who run a Performing Arts BTEC for over 180 students at the Link; and contemporary arts organisation TACO! who in 2022 moved into a new purpose-built space in Cygnet Square with a studio for Thamesmead’s community radio station RTM.FM.
Meanwhile the new library at the Nest is now home to striking artwork, The Brightness of Juju, created by a group of local school children and local design studio Rima & McRae and artist Dunya Kalantery. This cluster of cultural organisations and venues around Southmere Lake, just 10 minutes from the Elizabeth Line, is helping to attract new audiences and visitors to the area, as this new cultural quarter starts to grow.
The majority of participants in Thamesmead’s cultural events and activities find them enjoyable, absorbing, relevant and feel prouder and more connected to Thamesmead. The percentage of people attending a local cultural event at least once a year has almost doubled between the first survey in 2019 and the second survey in 2023 (from 28% to 56%). We are working hard to engage with, and appeal to, as many people as possible in the community, including those who have previously not worked with us, so they can help shape our programme*.
*Arup
Fields of Everywhen hot air balloon
Profile: Ian and Dominika
Ian has lived in Thamesmead for more than 20 years and is an active participant in the town’s growing creative scene. He’s one of the founding members of the Festival Production Group (FPG), a group of 14 local residents who help organise the flagship Thamesmead Festival, which welcomes thousands of people each year.
“We try to showcase the best of Thamesmead… We want to make the Thamesmead Festival by us, for us – but at the same time everybody is invited,” he explains. Ian regularly attends culture forum meetings to keep up to date with the different activities happening in the area. “It’s open to anybody in Thamesmead who’s interested in creative arts. People come along and introduce themselves, and then they talk about what they’re doing with regards to art and culture in the community.”
He has seen the strides that local artists have made to deliver exciting
cultural experiences for the community, and credits much of this to the Thamesmead Community Fund, which now provides grants of up to £3,000 for people to run projects to improve life for local people.
One artist who benefited from the Community Fund is sculptor Dominika, who’s lived in Thamesmead since 2017. She used her grant to fund her exhibition, Regret and Hope, at the Lakeside Centre, where she rents one of 38 artists’ studios.
“I think that the Lakeside Centre and the facilities it provides to local artists has made an enormous difference to local culture,” says Dominika. “It helps to build stability for artists and allows us to create experiences for the community.” This is critical to making people feel good about life in Thamesmead, now and for years to come.
“The centre has started to bear fruit now, but I foresee that in 15 to 20 years’ time we’re really going to see how important this all has been.”
Supporting communities to be happier, healthier and wealthier
Celebrating International Women’s Day at The Nest
12,000
people taking part in health and wellbeing initiatives
2,274 11,899
people referred to support services
22
community buildings owned and managed by Peabody
30,000
children and young people engaged in community programmes and activities hours of free or low cost use of community buildings provided
300+700 £230,000 awarded to 114 local projects through the Thamesmead Community Fund
200+
216
30+
Peabody-supported businesses attending annual award ceremonies young adults getting jobs following YouthBuild training
250+
children attending Smiley Ark holiday club annually
145
80%
adults accessing free or low cost food (2022/23) through food programmes supported by Peabody people supported into work businesses supported people supported through our Advice Hub (2022/23) of Thamesmead residents have a much greater sense of belonging compared to other areas (62% in London and 63% in England)*
Our story
We’re making sure that everyone living in Thamesmead can benefit from the large-scale regeneration and investment in the town. Working with local people, Greenwich and Bexley local authorities, contractors and partners, we’re creating new opportunities for residents to lead happier, healthier and wealthier lives.
Over
the
last five years we’ve prioritised:
Developing a thriving inclusive economy
We’ve supported residents across Thamesmead into education, training, apprenticeships and employment. Working with Career Ready, for example, we’ve helped more than 2,700 young people since 2021 explore their career options. Meanwhile, our partnership with YouthBuild UK has helped hundreds of 18-24 year olds gain new qualifications and skills in construction, alongside vital pastoral support and mentoring. Some 360 people have participated in the programme between 2018 and 2023, with 216 graduates going on to get full time jobs. Those jobs include work opportunities on the first phase of regeneration in South Thamesmead. (See page 14.)
Alongside helping people into work, we’ve supported hundreds of people to set up or grow their business, providing access to business enterprise development, support and resources. Our work has ranged from enabling start-ups or established local businesses to trade at events including the popular Thamesmead Festival, to supporting the Best of Royal Greenwich and Bexley Excellence Business Awards since 2018. Over 30 Peabodysupported businesses have been able to showcase their achievements and develop all-important networks at these annual ceremonies, with several of them winning awards.
We’ve also supported local people to access training or improve their skills, partnering with well-established training providers to offer dozens of free courses in a variety of sectors. This has benefited hundreds of local people wanting to start work, climb the career ladder, or take a new direction.
Helping children, young people and families to achieve their potential
We know that children and families benefit when the services they need work well together. We’ve therefore played a key role in the development of a Children’s Community for the
Moorings neighbourhood. With the Royal Borough of Greenwich, Charlton Athletic Community Trust, Waterways Children Centre, YouthBuild and the Greenwich Schools Cluster – Thamesmead, we’ve developed a plan to deliver services for children and young people, based on research by the Young Foundation into the lives of Thamesmead families with young teenagers. This includes working closely with the family hub, providing services for children with special education needs, and supporting young people at risk of anti-social behaviour or crime.
This strategic approach complements our ongoing work with partners to help local families, particularly those facing financial, emotional or health problems. Initiatives we’ve supported include three money management courses; the Discover Me project preparing people to return to work; and the More2Me confidence-building course for women who may have experienced domestic abuse, or alcohol and substance misuse. Participants have benefited from these courses many ways, from being better able to talk about finances to feeling more in control of their lives. One of the 20 More2Me participants has even gone on to create a peer support group for people recovering from substance misuse. (See page 56.)
We’ve also focused our efforts on supporting parents during school holidays, when the need for affordable, quality childcare often intensifies. Since 2021, for example, we’ve provided the Jubilee Community Centre free of charge and used funding from Kitchen Social and the Royal Borough of Greenwich to enable Smiley Ark Holiday Club to reach as many young people as possible. Some 250 children have enjoyed activities and nutritious hot meals during the Easter and summer holidays each year since 2021. Recognising the importance of care for children with special educational needs or disability (SEND), we’ve enabled a range of partners to deliver activities. Our partnership with Access Sports and Waterways Children Centre is a key example. Through it, children and their families have enjoyed a range of inclusive activities including Thamesmead’s first ever summer SEND festival in 2022.
Developing an active, healthy and well community Helping people improve their health and wellbeing continues to be one of our top priorities, particularly with health inequalities increasing nationally during the pandemic. We’re supporting communities in a range of different ways.
Crafting at the Moorings Sociable Club
The majority of people agree that Thamesmead is a place where people from different backgrounds get on well together, and that they feel they belong to their immediate neighbourhood. These positive feelings of community cohesion have been getting stronger in recent years, and are stronger than city and country averages. This suggests a link to the work we are doing in the area.*
From delivering our own programmes, signposting people to targeted support, or working with partners to ensure people can access relevant services.
Designing good services starts by understanding what people want and need. With the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of
Bexley, we commissioned independent research in 2020 - as part of our Shaping Healthier Places bid - to better understand health and wellbeing challenges and potential solutions across the town. The work formed part of our Connecting Thamesmead Programme. In response to this, we set up the Healthier Thamesmead
Partnership together in early 2023. Focused on the three wards of Thamesmead Moorings, West Thamesmead and Thamesmead East, it will encourage agencies to work more closely to develop and deliver local health and wellbeing programmes that meet the needs of the local community.
This work will complement many of the physical and social activities already going on across the town. Examples include our popular cycle hub, which has provided free bike and helmet hire along with cycling lessons for those needing them. Meanwhile, those interested in running can now join around 250 others for Thames Path parkrun, which we helped set up with the local residents and Royal Borough of Greenwich. We’ve also helped grassroots organisations to achieve their ambitions, such as setting up the formally constituted Thamesmead Running Club, to helping promote local activities from crafting, to colouring, to chess. All in all, we supported more than 11,800 customers to take part in health-related activities between 2018 and 2023.
A good diet has an enormous impact on health. We’re therefore working with voluntary groups to address food poverty in Thamesmead. Since October 2022 we’ve provided the Broadwater Hall community centre free of charge to the Love Soup Cafe in West Thamesmead. Around 100 local people can enjoy a free hot meal and learn about other local services
and activities at these weekly drop-in sessions. In addition, we’ve helped the Family Action Club, funded by the Royal Borough of Greenwich, to provide low-cost food to around 45 residents a week at our Jubilee Centre in The Moorings.
Building engaged and active communities
Many of Thamesmead’s community programmes operate from the buildings we own and manage across the town. One example is the Moorings Sociable Club, which reopened in 2022 following major refurbishment. Activities include our popular Advice Hub, which provides weekly sessions where people can get information, advice and guidance on issues including immigration, debt, housing, domestic violence, and emergency support. Developed in partnership with the Royal Borough of Greenwich and funded by the Greater London Authority, the hub supported 214 people between March 2022 and 2023.
As well as accessing services, visitors to the Moorings Sociable Club can also buy reasonably priced food at the
Camouflage Café. A social enterprise, the café provides training and job opportunities for people with learning difficulties. Between 2018 and 2023 we’ve offered a range of community groups more than 30,000 hours of time in our community spaces – either free of charge or at low cost.
Strong community organisations play an invaluable role in improving outcomes for local people. Through our Thamesmead Community Fund, we’ve provided grants of up to £2,000 for 114 local projects focused on making life better for local people. Recipients include a local crafting group for people of all ages; a football club, which provides training, games and access to pitches in Birchmere Park for around 250 footballers a week; and Divine Buzz which recently organised a sightseeing daytrip to Central London for families in the Moorings area, giving them the chance to experience something new. We recently increased our Community Fund grants to up to £3,000 to encourage even more groups to raise their ambitions and apply.
Profile: Melanie
For most of her adult life, Melanie has suffered from low self-esteem. Our outreach support worker got in touch with her in 2022, after hearing about her, and told her about the More2Me course. Run by Lucy House and funded by Peabody, it’s a selfimprovement programme that teaches women essential life skills that build confidence so participants can live positive and healthy lives.
“I found it impossible engaging with the world, I didn’t want to mix with other people or socialise in any way and so I’d become very isolated. At first I felt very apprehensive about joining More2Me, but I knew I needed to at least try,” says Melanie.
She began attending group sessions every week. “We would all sit around the table and talk and learn. During the programme I felt my self-belief changing, I could see that things in my life were in my control and if I put my mind to it, I could do whatever I wanted to.
“Another thing I liked is that different people would come in to talk about other help that was being offered, like housing and legal advice, Positive Steps for support with benefits, and the Her Centre for domestic abuse support.”
As she progressed through the More2Me programme, Melanie began to feel a lot better physically and mentally.
“I was still experiencing old feelings but not as often and I also felt supported by Lucy who runs the programme, and the group of women I met, which helped me a lot. Even my children were noticing the positive change in me and my attitude to life which also inspired them to do better, so it felt like a win-win.”.
On finishing the More2Me programme, Melanie went on to complete a peer mentor course. She is now a peer mentor at a local drug addiction support group. She also plans to start personal therapy. “More2Me changed my life,” enthuses Melanie. “I wouldn’t be doing any of the things I’m doing without it, so I will praise it from the rooftops!”
Reflections
Our own experiences, along with evidence gathered by Arup and The Social Innovation Partnership, suggests our whole place approach to regeneration is already having a marked positive impact on people’s day to day experience.
While we are making good progress, we also know there are some things we need to improve. We know that those people who feel they are benefiting from regeneration varies from neighbourhood to neighbourhood, for instance. And we know that people’s perceptions of regeneration is often affected by their experiences of us as a landlord.
We want everyone to feel that they can benefit from the changes across the town. We’ll therefore make sure people know about opportunities and investments happening elsewhere across the town. We’ll also ensure they are at the heart of decisions about what goes on in their neighbourhood.
We now look forward to maintaining momentum throughout the course of our next plan for Thamesmead (2023-28), progressing various plans, projects and programmes in the coming years, and building on the growing energy and confidence in this extraordinary London town.