Building on our strengths

Lambeth’s architecture practices include Marks Barfield, David Chipperfield, DHDSA, Martha Schwartz, new arrivals Squire & Partners, Carver Haggard and many other high quality smaller practices.

Architecture practises in the borough have designed buildings and public spaces of world renown — the London Eye, the Neues Museum (Berlin), Christ’s College (Oxford), Place de la Republique (Paris). Of the last ten Stirling Prizes, two have gone to buildings in the borough and one to a Lambeth-based architect.

Lambeth-based designers produce work of beauty, purpose, and incredible reach.

Working from his studio in West Norwood, ceramicist Edmund de Waal has received international acclaim for his work, recently collaborating with choreographer Wayne McGregor on stage design for the Royal Opera House. The latest Sam Smith album cover was designed by Studio Moross — led by Stockwell-based designer Kate Moross. Google, Amazon, Intel and Nokia have more than technology in common — they’ve all sought out type designers Dalton Maag in Brixton for finely-crafted typefaces.

Every year, the Brixton Design Trail showcases Lambeth’s design talent in buildings and open spaces — such as the fantastic ‘Flash Crossings’ by Eley Kishimoto and Dolman Bowles.

From the classic club scene of the Fridge, to Rock against Racism; encompassing everything from Reggae and Dance to Hip Hop and Grime, Lambeth continues to provide a home for performers and venues at the forefront of the UK’s musical fame.

Vauxhall is home to London’s biggest LGBT+ club scene; Brixton boasts The Academy, The Electric, Phonox and Club 414; and Streatham the award-winning Hideaway jazz club. The Southbank Centre has four resident orchestras, including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, performing around 100 concerts a year. Music is heard in Lambeth’s streets and markets, outside its tube stations, and behind the doors of some of the world’s most important venues. Music is part of our heritage and our future.

Companies in Lambeth have been at the forefront of technology in the past and will be into the future.

IBM has held a major presence in Lambeth since 1951 and continues to innovate, as demonstrated with the Watson technology which uses machine learning to enhance business processes. As the largest CDI growth sector in recent years, the borough is home to earlier stage technology-driven companies — including the outstanding Citymapper, a public transit app and mapping service with global reach.

UsTwo Games — the Stockwell-based studio behind Monument Valley, were visited by fan Apple CEO Steve Cook in 2017. Apple is due to take up a major office presence in neighbouring Battersea in 2019. Whilst Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charitable Trust has shown its belief in the power of technology to drive healthier lives through the creation of The Health Foundry — London’s first workspace dedicated to health-tech start–ups.

The film and TV industries have significant potential for growth in Lambeth.

Anchored by the British Film Institute (BFI) on the South Bank, the borough is seeing increased demand from film and TV companies. Beneath Coldharbour Lane, animation and VFX gurus Jellyfish Pictures work on the next Star Wars movie, and now have 3 studios within the borough.

Behind the scenes, Hilary Wili, Clapham resident and dressmaker to the stars, cuts and sews creations worn on the sets of Doctor Who and Oscar winning film Gravity. B3 Media, a groundbreaking business running ‘Talent Labs’, provides innovative support to BAME talent to become film directors and script writers. Iconic Steps, a social enterprise hosted by the BFI, provides cost-effective training and routes to employment in film.

Underpinning our strong visual arts scene is a community of organisations providing a platform for artists to flourish.

Organisations including Gasworks (Vauxhall), 198 Contemporary Arts & Learning (Herne Hill), Artist Studio Company (Brixton) and ACME (Stockwell and West Norwood) provide studio space for artists at substantially below market rents. Their support has launched the careers of many successful local artists.

Bringing art outdoors is a local passion. Studio Voltaire recently brought the hugely popular ‘Rainbow Aphorisms’ for Art on the Underground project to life, estimated to have reached 36 million people across the underground network. The council and Brixton Design Trail collectively ran a design competition to develop detailed proposals for signage and a gateway feature at the Brixton Road Rail Bridge. The winning designers are now working with key stakeholders to create a new, highly visible, welcoming and creative feature on both sides of the gateway bridge.

Lambeth’s mission-driven creative practices put inclusive growth at the forefront of their work.

The borough has 21 Arts Council National Portfolio Organisations (NPOs) — charities making an outstanding social contribution to enabling cultural excellence and widening participation. ActionSpace is a sector-leading NPO. Working in conjunction with organisations such as the Royal Academy and National Portrait Gallery, Clapham-based ActionSpace makes a professional career in the arts a realistic option for talented artists with learning disabilities.

Livity has become one of the UK’s most respected agencies with local young people central to its growth. Champion Agency is a social enterprise which exists to champion those who make a positive impact. Above the bustling market stalls and restaurants of Brixton Village, Photofusion — London’s largest independent photography resource centre, works with socially excluded young people. Reprezent Radio, a talent incubator and the UK’s only youth-led FM radio station is now the ‘go to’ place for media companies looking for young talent.

The role of the education sector is sometimes underplayed in the remarkable creative output of the UK.

Lambeth has high-achieving primary and secondary schools and several have long-standing track records of collaborating with creative and technology employers. Organisations such as Raw Material, the London Connected Learning Centre, and Lambeth Music Service provide extra-curricular work for young people.

In the Further Education sector, Morley College is one of London’s longest established providers of creative education, and Lambeth College supports the development of hundreds of local students. South Bank Engineering UTC focuses on allowing students to apply their own creativity, imagination and ideas in an engineering context. A minute’s walk from Clapham Common, the Academy of Contemporary Music stands as one of the most effective routes into the music industry.

Lambeth’s creative and technology businesses are able to draw on the world class higher education system across London. Locally, King’s College London, London South Bank University, and London College of Communication support thousands of people to gain a first–rate creative Higher Education.