Patrice Lovelace
CONTENTS Mayor of Hackney’s introduction to the 2012 London Olympics The Olympics on the horizon 2012 Budget The Olympic Village Map of Hackney Wick and the Olympic site borders Anti-Olympics (Local opposition) The Hackney Wick Travellers Site Hackney Wick canal systems Blog entry from a Hackney Wick local Hackney Wick’s street art (photographic profile) Hackney Wick’s industrial past History of Hackney Wick’s railways Olympic Logo: origins and controversies The 1908 London Olympics The 1948 London Olympics Local opinion: Interviews with some Wick residents
JULES PIPE – Mayor of Hackney “The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be great for Britain. As Mayor of this host borough, it is my job to make sure they’re great for Hackney too. I am committed to Hackney’s role in helping to deliver the best Games ever. But our top priority is making sure we secure the best possible long-term benefits for Hackney residents. Here in Hackney, we are at the heart of the 2012 Games, with almost 1/3 of the Games happening in our borough. This is bringing the most significant regeneration project ever seen in London. Hackney Council is working to provide significant lasting benefits. We’ve campaigned for four years to get better public transport in Hackney, and the Games have given us the opportunity to make this happen. The borough will be properly linked to the tube network for the first time via the extension of the East London Line, and
major investment in the North London Line will bring improved trains and services. The media and broadcast centre for the journalists reporting on the 2012 Games will be located in the Olympic Park within Hackney Wick. After the Games are over, our aim is to make sure this is transformed into a new employment hub for East London. Hackney Council is working to create a thriving new neighbourhood at Hackney Wick, including affordable new homes, places to eat, shops, and business space, alongside indoor sports facilities and green spaces and parks. The 2012 Games give us a golden opportunity to make Hackney a better place. We will work with partners and organisations to get the best out of the Games for the people who live in our borough. And by the five host boroughs working together, we can make sure the Games bring a lasting legacy for all of East London.”
HACKNEY COUNCILS PRIORITIES FOR HACKNEY:
* * * * * * * *
Better public transport Skills, training and jobs for local people Work for local business and enterprise Improved facilities for sport and leisure A better environment A healthy, active borough with more people involved in sport and pysical activity A boost for culture and the Arts - making the most of our role as the lead host borough for culture Promoting our borough as a great place for living, working, visiting and investing
HE OLYMPICS ON THE HORIZON his is the view of the impending Oylmpic site from my roof: I can’t help but think that it looks like a shot from a post-nuclear war premonition. he mountain of rubble and herd of diggers, armies of builders and a skyline, filled with cranes like skyscrapers, stretch as far as the eye can see. he building of the 2012 Olympic site will create around 90,000 construction jobs over the next few years. As well as the Olympic Village, there will be the extension of the East London Tube line, the revamping of Stratford City Centre and other major projects that will also provide many new jobs.
INDUSTRIAL VS. RESIDENTIAL
The process for setting the London 2012 Games budget has been thorough, the National Audit Office says today, but the level of public funding has increased greatly, and significant areas of uncertainty remain including the finalisation of the design of venues and the intended wider benefits.
2007 is now over £9 billion. It includes a number of new costs and provisions which account for much of the increase from the time of the bid, including the Olympic Delivery Authority’s programme management budget, contingency, tax and security. The budget also includes a £6
These are the main findings in a new report by the Comptroller and Auditor General which examines the development of the budget for the Games. At the time of the bid to host the Games the estimated gross cost was just over £4 billion, to be met by £3.4 billion
in public funding and an anticipated £700 million from the private sector. The budget announced in March
billion increase in the public funds required to fund the Games set against a significantly reduced level of anticipated private sector funding (now £165 million). Over £1 billion of this increased funding is to meet the Games’ potential tax costs and would therefore flow back to the Exchequer. Today’s report states that the revised funding package is sufficient to cover the estimated costs of the Games, with the important proviso that
the assumptions on which the budget is based hold good. The report found that the budget process followed since London was chosen to host the Games has been thorough, and the judgements and assumptions made by the Department for Culture Media and Sport have been informed by detailed analysis and expert advice. There are, however, remaining areas of uncertainty including design specifications which have not yet been finalised, the impact of construction price inflation and how potential suppliers will respond to invitations to bid for work. The degree of uncertainty is reflected in the high level of contingency (£2.7 billion) which has been provided.
Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office said: “The Olympic Games is now on a firmer financial footing thanks to the budget announced in March 2007. This should help all those involved in delivering the Games to move forward with greater confidence. “However a budget is just that – a budget not a target. The Department must still work to contain funding and achieve value for money, and should make clear what will be delivered for the public’s money. There will be a need for clear and quick decision making on funding, effective commercial arrangements with suppliers, and finalisation of designs and legacy plans.”
THE 2012 OLYMPIC VILLAGE: HACKNEY WICK/STRATFORD Early indications are that London’s planners have come up with a stunning design for the showpiece of any Olympics – the main athletics stadium. “Our stadium will provide the best natural conditions for the world’s athletes,” said London bid leader Lord Seb Coe. The theme of the stadium is to provide an intriguing and inspiring analogy to the human body. “We’re trying to make the building communicate physical strength, sport and movement,” said stadium designer Alejandro Zaero-Pollo. One way the design team have managed this is for the retractable roof to echo the flexing of muscle. Great attention has also been spent on the position of the stadium, set in the Lea Valley, east London. “From a competitor’s point of view, to be able to be in the village and see the main stadium as well as the Olympic flame makes it so much more inspiring and real,” said Decathlon gold medal champion, Daley Thompson.
PAST VS. FUTURE
DEMOLITION VS. REGENERATION
No doubt done by a local artist, these home-made posters poke fun at the widely critized new Olympic logo. Plastered all over the blue boards that act as the Olympic Park Gates they were impossible to miss. Knowing how much the logo cost to re-design, and how unpopular it was with the British people on its first public appearance, these posters are a humurous reaction to a government decision that offered no public participation.
The simple face modelled from the Olympic rings, which appears on all the posters, resembles a balaclava, an anonymous and mischievious identity. The words ASBO used on a few of the posters in context with the fly-posted images reminds the viewer that freedom of speech can come with a price. They were ripped down within days.
The bridge over the motorway that runs through Hackney Wick, the London-Essex connection.
The above is another poster that was stuck to the blue board Olympic Park Gates. It depicts this bridge over Eastway with a view over the Olympic site billowing black clouds of smoke. It compares the heavy development and regeneration of the area to the effect of class cleansing – giving the opinion that an historically working-class area is becoming an ultra modern and up-and-coming place to live, destined to see soaring house prices that alienate those same working-class people. The road to Essex is often a choice for those families who are driven out by the London cost of living.
Some parts of Hackney Marshes and Lea Valley green areas were sold off to the Olympic site developers. These vast open spaces had always been left to the elements, home only to a few Gypsy and Irish Traveller sites. It was they who faced eviction in the face of regeneration. Hackney Council had the responsibility to re-house them, albeit in pastures less green. The Travellers appealed against the move as they had been living on that land for ages, undisturbed. Their argument fell on deaf ears, the land was sold and the council built them this development. They now live in tiny concrete bungalows backed up against the rail bridge, with roads on all other sides. It’s a far cry from the land they had before where they kept many horses. They only have a few horses now which live in difficult conditions.
THE WICK TRAVELLERS’ SITE
FLOATING VS. SINKING
Hackney Wick sits on a junction of canals The Lee Navigation and Hertford Union Canals. There is a small community of people living on canal boats there. An isolated spot, with no official mooring, attracts both long-term and overnight moorers. The Wick canals run along part of the blue fence that protects the Olympic site.
article: by NOOSALEE on www.thatssopants.blogspot.com
HACKNEY WICK’S STREET ART
ART SCHOOL VS. STREET ART
CLASH VS. CONTRAST
ARTISTS VS. VANDALS
MAN VS. NATURE
HOME VS. AWAY
UP VS. DOWN
RUINED VS. REDEFINED
EYE-SORE VS. EYE-CANDY
INSIDE VS. OUTSIDE
REVAMPED VS. DESTROYED
FORGOTTEN VS. REDISCOVERED
OLD VS. NEW
FANTASY VS. REALITY
INDIVIDUAL VS. COMMUNAL
TRASH VS. TREASURE
In recent post-industrial times, Hackney Wick has lost most of its industry and much of its population. Very little remains of the inter-war street pattern between the Hertford Union Canal and Eastway (the western part was then known as Gainsborough Road) or indeed the masses of small terraced houses. Many of the street names have vanished for ever. Part of the Wick was redeveloped in the 1960s to create the GLC’s Trowbridge Estate consisting of single-storey modern housing at the foot of seven 21-storey blocks. The demolition of these commenced in 1985. The East London artist Rachel Whiteread has, inter alia, made screenprints of photographs of the former Trowbridge Estate as part of her series ‘Demolished’ which is in the Tate Collection. The Atlas Works of 1863, backing onto the Lea Navigation was demolished to make way for housing in the 1990s. In the 1930s it had been the home of the British Perforated Paper Co, famous for inventing toilet paper in 1880. Further along Eastway, the 2012 Olympic site has claimed industrial premises formerly used by British Industrial Gases (later British Oxygen Company, BOC) to manufacture Oxygen and Acetylene and Setright Registers Limited who made, between the mid 1950s and mid 1960s, the famous bus ticket issuing Setright Machine used throughout the country and abroad. The historic Hackney Wick Stadium, well-known throughout the East End for greyhound racing and speedway, became derelict in the late 1990s and closed in 2003. However, it will become the site for the new 2012 Olympic media and broadcast centre and, after the Games, will be turned over for commercial use. There are many signs of revival. Not only should the area benefit from the future 2012 Olympics development, but London’s artistic community, increasingly forced out of the old warehousing and industrial zones to the south of Hackney borough and in Tower Hamlets by rising rents, are taking an interest in the more affordable industrial buildings out at the Wick. The notable 59 Club for motorcyclists was founded at the Eton Mission church in 1959 in Hackney Wick.
History Of Hackney Wick Railways
Hackney Wick station is near the scene of the first railway murder. The victim, Thomas Briggs of 5 Clapton Square, was returning from dining with his niece in Peckham in July 1864 and had the misfortune to meet his murderer on the train. Two clerks discovered a compartment sticky with blood at Hackney, but Franz Muller had slipped away unnoticed to return to his lodgings at 16 Park Terrace. The victim was discovered on the line between Bow and Hackney Wick and was brought initially into the Mitford Castle public house (now the Top o’the Morning) in Cadogan Terrace and subsequently taken home where he died. A hat belonging to Muller was discovered in the compartment. In the next few days, a Cheapside jeweller came forward with Briggs’s missing watch and chain, and a description of Muller. The theft was to pay for Muller’s emigration to America, and he departed soon after on the Victoria Liner, but the police went to New York by a faster boat and were awaiting his arrival in New York. He was returned to England and hanged at Newgate Prison.
Victoria Park railway station on the North London Railway to Poplar, which closed to passengers in 1943. and to goods in the early 1980s, was on the site of the present East Cross Route. It opened in 1866 at the former junction of the Stratford and Poplar lines, replacing a short-lived station of 1856 on the north side of Wick Lane (now Wick Road). No trace of either remains. The redundant viaduct carrying the former goods line to the Millwall docks over the East Cross Route was removed in the 1990s. The present Hackney Wick railway station was built on the 1854 spur from the original North London Line to Stratford. The entrance poles to the former Hackney Wick Goods and Coal Depot (a site, now occupied by housing) are still to be seen beside the Kenworthy Road bridge.
East London will see major development of the local transport systems in the run-up to the Olympics. Hackney will finally be properly linked to the London Underground network for the very first time.
The five interlocking Olympic rings represent the five continents and were designed in 1913, adopted in 1914 and debuted at the Games at Antwerp, 1920. This emblem was designed by Baron Pierre de Coubertin. He made the following statement when introducing the Olympic emblem to the world. . .
“The emblem chosen to illustrate and represent the world Congress of 1914 . . : five intertwined rings in different colours (blue, yellow, black, green, red) are placed on the white field of the paper. These five rings represent the five parts of the world which now are won over to Olympism and willing to accept healthy competition.�
The London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, headed by Sebastian Coe (head of the London bid in 2005 and former Olympic athlete), unveiled the identity of their 2012 games at the Roundhouse Centre. Designed by Wolff Olins at an expenditure of £400,000 the logo has been met with expected cynicysm and humour. Here is how Wolff Olins explained the monstrosity. . . “Echoing London’s qualities of a modern, diverse and vibrant city, the London 2012 emblem is unconventionally bold, deliberately spirited and unexpectedly dissonant. The emblem’s form is inclusive. It can talk to anyone. It has incredible flexibility, yet is consistent. Behind the emblem is a dynamic grid from which comes a distinct visual language. A palette of colours, lines and shapes that create energy, inspiration and interest across every application.”
1908 LONDON OLYMPICS The very first time London hosted the Olympics was in 1908. The Olympic movement was grateful to London for filling in when other candidates were few and far between. In 1908 London came to the rescue when Rome dropped out following a serious eruption of its nearby volcano, Mount Vesuvius. The eruption would cause the Italian state serious financial difficulties. London’s formal acceptance came in November of 1906, with a mere 18 months in which to prepare. Happily, many of British sport’s governing bodies had been in existence for many years, and were very experienced in organising large meetings. A new stadium, later named The White City, was built in west London. Though much smaller than the gargantuan mega-circuses of more recent times, the 1908 Olympics managed to host over 2,000 athletes from 22 competing countries. As one of the first of the modern Olympics, London 1908 was in on plenty of the rule-making that still governs the games today. Among things sorted out as a result of the 1908 games were the exact length of the Marathon (which is still 26.2 miles, the distance between Windsor Castle and White City Stadium), the establishment of the International Amateur Athletic Association and the organisation of the whole event around national teams. One event that didn’t make it beyond 1908 was Tug of War, which is a bit of a kick in the teeth for all those who have since taken part in the event at school sports days.
The new stadium, built for the occasion, had a capacity of 68,000, but this was exceeded on a number of occasions. The athletics track measured 3 laps to a mile, outside which was a 660 yards banked concrete cycle track. On the infield was a giant tank, for the swimming events, which measured 100 metres x 15.24 metres. Problems arose during these ceremonies, when the American standard bearer refused to dip his flag as the American team passed the Royal Box, and when the Finnish team refused to march under the flag of Czarist Russia. Later, complaints about British chauvinism, ‘fixed heats’, and rule breaking were levelled against the hosts, and to top it all off, the weather was not good. Nevertheless, it was generally acknowledged that these Games were the most successful yet held, and they set a template for future celebrations.
An old steam train to Wembley Stadium where the last London Olympics took place in 1948.
1948 LONDON OLYMPICS The last time London hosted the Olympics was in 1948, in Wembley Stadium (pictured). The two previous Olympics had been cancelled due to the outbreak of WW11. The end of the war in 1945 had left Britain in devastation, with food and clothing rationed and many homeless. The 1948 London Olympics were dubbed “The Austerity Games�
Britain were the obvious candidate to host the1948 games since the Second World War had ravaged other cities and left economies destroyed. Unlike Berlin in 1936, there was no specially built village for competitors for the London 1948 Olympics, so the men were put up in military camps, and the women at colleges. Wembley Stadium, the home of British football, was the main venue, and a temporary running track was laid around the pitch, and other buildings were adapted for various sports. A record 59 countries sent a total of 4,099 competitors, but, not surprisingly, Germany and Japan were not invited! The highlight of the opening ceremony in 1948. John Mark, a former Cambridge University athlete and a symbol of British youth, lights the cauldron in Wembley stadium. The flame had been lit 12 days before in Olympia (Greece), and carried a distance of 3160km by some 1531 runners, including two stretches in Royal Navy vessels. Another great tradition of the Games is the Olympic Creed shown on the scoreboard. It reads “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part. The essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.� This message has been displayed at every opening ceremony since 1932. It is usually attributed to Baron de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Games, but it is actually based on words used in a sermon by the Bishop of Central Pennsylvania, Ethelbert Talbot, given in St Paul’s Cathedral, London, in July 1908, the first time Britain hosted the Olympics games.
Although there had been limited television coverage, beamed by closed circuit to specified halls, at the Berlin Olympic games in 1936, the first true television coverage came at the Wembley games in 1948. There were only a limited number of receivers within range of Wembley stadium, but this was the start.
The camera here is focused on one of the 1500m heats.
Live international coverage came from Rome in 1960, and pictures from Tokyo in 1964 were the first to be sent via satellite. The Games were first broadcast in colour from Mexico City in 1968. Television is now the biggest source of the International Olympics Committee‘s income from the Games, mainly due to the intense rivalry of the American TV networks. In 1960, CBS paid out $394,000 for the privilege of showing the Games. NBC are paying in excess of $1.1 billion for United States’ exclusivity at the 2012 Games in London.
The Original Wembley Stadium was closed down in 1999 and demolition began in 2002. The concrete crowns that for 69 years had rested on top of the famous twin towers’ flagpoles were being removed and kept by the Football Association as part of the heritage of Wembley. Initially, English Heritage launched a campaign to save the Wembley twin towers, which had always been a famous landmark
but changed their minds and pulled out after the new plans for the flattened site were unveiled (July 1999). Wembley was to be rebuilt as a brand new 90,000 seater stadium, at a cost of £757m with the grand opening scheduled for 2006.The twin towers were not included in Wembley’s redesign but were symbolically replaced with a “triumphant” arch.
I was waiting nervously outside the Wick’s Costcutter, psyching myself up to go in and get my 1st interview for this mag. I was well prepared with my list of questions, my digi-cam and a brand new dictaphone that I’d spent the night before learning to use. I turned to see two boys in blue strolling in the sun. I had to grab the opportunity. It was nice to be talking to a cop voluntarily for a change! He was great, had a lot to say, was very jolly. I even got a police escort to the Hackney Wick Community Centre afterwards where they introduced me to my next interview opportunity!
NAME: PC BOLTER AGE: 26 OCCUPATION: POLICE OFFICER (OBVIOUSLY!)
Do you live/work (or both) in Hackney Wick? I work in Hackney Wick.
How long have you worked in Hackney Wick? I’ve been a police officer in Hackney for six years and I’ve worked in Hackney Wick for four of those, as a permanent beat officer, which means old style policing, if you like, I’m always on foot. All the community know who I am, or most of them, including the wrong people.
What are the positives of the area? There are a lot of nice people, like this lovely lady just here, (mother and child passing by) she’s smiling. We’ve got a lot of different types of people in Hackney Wick, which makes it an interesting place, and a lot of them tend to get on. There aren’t any solid community groups or large groups of just Asian families or African, there’s a good mix so it’s a very fluid community. Very balanced, very fluid, it’s a very good community to work in and I guess to live in.
What are the negatives of the area? I’d say, from a practical point of view, that it’s very very busy with traffic. And with the Olympics being built there’s a lot of people being concerned with through traffic, heavy-goods vehicles from all over Europe coming through. Crime here is relatively low compared to the rest of Hackney, you can see for yourself on the Met-Police website, it’ll show you the crime figures for the area, ward by ward, and Hackney Wick is one of the lower. You’ve obviously got a lot of open park space as well incorporated into the ward, so for the size of the ward there aren’t so many people living there which makes it a nice place to live.
What are your feelings on Hackney Wick/Stratford hosting the 2012 Olympics? Professionally, it’s obviously good for the area. We, as a ward, have been working very closely with the Olympics to try and help negate people’s worries about the traffic in the area. Also, it’s brought a lot of work.
Do you think Hackney Wick will benefit from hosting the 2012 Olympics? How and why? We had an employment fair here not long ago, which was held down the road in the community centre, and we had building companies from the Olympics. So professionally speaking, the Olympics is bringing lots of work and obviously a lot of media focus to the area, which means the community is going to have more money spent on them by the council and other Local Authorities. So that’s a good thing.
Do you think you will benefit from it? How and why? Well, If the community benefits then I, as a police officer, will benefit as well. It will make my job a lot easier. If people are happier, it will make my job happier and easier to do.
Can you already see positive changes? Definitely, the atmosphere here has changed a lot in the past four years I’ve been working here. And that might be because of the foundations of safer neighbourhoods. But the community has put a lot into it as have the police and the Local Authorities. So there have been a lot of changes for the better. It’s a lot nicer a place to be.
Can you already see negative changes? Personally, other than a little increase in traffic I can’t see much negative change.
What are your hopes for the redevelopment and regeneration of Hackney Wick? As I don’t live here, I can only answer professionally, but it will become a safer place to live, which is what everybody wants and, as a police officer, we want happier people, but obviously people will always have problems. But if it’s a nicer place for people to live and work then it’s a nicer place for me to work.
What are your fears for the redevelopment and regeneration of Hackney Wick? Fear is a strong word but my professional concern would be people, the community, worrying about the redevelopment of the area. Especially the recent movement of Travellers’ Sites. We’ve done a lot with the community to try and negate any worries they have about that. Not only policing the area more or as much as we can, it’s been difficult. We can’t promise people things, we can only try and reassure them. Only working in the police sector, it’s hard to reassure them of what other companies and other local authorities are doing so we are limited on how we reassure people.
What do you associate Hackney Wick with? I associate the Wick with work, obviously. I come here as a police officer and it keeps me busy. My days are never the same so I associate it with having a happy work life, personally.
Do you think these aspects of the Wick will remain once the Olympics arrive? Certainly, certainly. There’ll be a lot more jobs, work and a lot more things for the kids to do because it’s always notoriously suffered with not having things for the younger people to do. If you look at the Wick there’s been a lot of youth centres that have opened, closeddown, opened, closed-down. They are only ever fiveminute wonders with the local authorities; they are too expensive to keep running so I think it’ll be good for that as well. The area, I think, will stay nice. The Olympic Development Authority is going to have an obligation to keep these things running.
Would you like to see the Wick’s oldest Victorian factories and buildings maintained or demolished? Personally speaking, I’d like to see them remain coz I like them, it adds a bit of early culture, character to the area. And the Wick is obviously for a lot of different things like the first petrol/oil refinery, things like that, so it would be nice to see them stay.
Will 2012 be Hackney’s proudest moment? I don’t know about its proudest moment. Hackney’s got a lot to be proud about because Hackney as community, the Local Authority and the policing has come a long way in the past few years. Crime has dropped, greatly so. Employment has increased; there are a lot of positive factors that outweigh the negative.
Do you think the budget for the 2012 London Olympics is too high, too low, or spot on? I think, to host the Olympics, and I can only talk about it from a professional and personal point of view, it’s a good thing. The money being spent with the Olympics has caused some minor things, like the Travellers’ Site, increase in traffic, but people need to remember that a lot of money is being spent on the area. And for a area where so little was spent o it in the first place I think everybody can be grateful that money is being spent anyway, even if it’s for the Olympics.
When the coppers left, Terry and I went to the garden behind the Hackney Wick Community Centre to do the interview and have a fag. Afterwards we talked about getting an official Wick magazine made for the community. I didn’t know it was so easy to get involved. So I made a good contact here!
NAME: TER
RY STEWAR
T
AGE: 55 OCCUPATIO N: MANAGE R OF HACKNEY W THE IC COMMUNIT K Y CENTRE
Can you already see negative changes in the area? Do you live/work in Hackney Wick and for how long? I’ve worked here (HWCC) for about two years, lived here for 18.
Do you own or rent your Wick property? No I don’t, it’s Housing Association.
Why did you choose to live and work in the Wick? Because I’m a Community Development Worker and engage with people, for development services in the area. Everybody’s talking about the Olympics but there’s no legacy for this area in the Olympics and we’re trying to shape that here from the Wick.
What are the positives of Hackney Wick? There is a real sense of community around here. The area is being developed. There is a whole big diversity of people here, there are Irish Travellers, West African communities, Asian communities, a lot of young people. A lot of people are now coming in who are interested in the Arts, music, and stuff like that. It’s the new Shoreditch!
What are the negatives of the area? We’re surrounded by motorways and railway tracks, parks, so we’re kind of cut off from the rest of Hackney. We’re a bit like an island, sometimes that can be a bit of a bonus but if you don’t know where Hackney Wick is, we’re hard to find!
What are your feelings on Hackney Wick/Stratford hosting the 2012 Olympics? Well initially I didn’t go along with it, I was opposed to the Olympics coming to London. But it’s here so we just have to embrace it. Try and get as much as we possibly can out of it.
Do you think the Wick will benefit? We’re not sure because the other Olympics and host cities communities were kind of left behind. That’s why we think it’s important that our legacy is built in and that it’s maintained so that when the Olympics is over, we have something in the Wick that we can use and access. If we don’t it’s been a total loss to us.
Do you think you will benefit? Well, we’ve (HWCC) benefited already coz a lot of the Olympic consultations with the development agencies and the London Development Agency, and the Hackney 2012 Team, have done all the consultations down here (in the HWCC) and we’ve charged them for being in the building. So those charges, any money we made off that we ploughed back into any other projects we run. So we’re at a plus already.
Can you already see positive changes in the area? I hope there will be and there are going to be real jobs for people. Leading up to 2012 a lot of young people will get the opportunity to get skilled up in the particular jobs that they want to choose to be in.
If it all goes pear-shaped, yeah! If they don’t plough the money into the Wick, then the Wick is just going to remain dormant, after 2012, apart for the people who live there, with absolutely no services. If people haven’t got services they’ll look elsewhere for fun, go elsewhere for entertainment, and unfortunately some of that is quite negative.
What are your hopes for the redevelopment and regeneration of Hackney Wick? Well just that it engages the whole community, that it’s something they want, not forced upon them from some big developer somewhere. That the community made a choice for change and we can have a mapping project in the Wick so we can begin to map our community and what we want to use.
What are your fears for the redevelopment and regeneration of Hackney Wick? That we’ll be left behind.
Will you stay a Wick resident once 2012 arrives? Well I’ve lived here for 18 years and I don’t think the Olympics are going to make me move.
What do you associate the Wick with? I don’t know, the Eton Boys’ Club has always been a big thing around here. Especially during the 40’s and 30’s, until the 1950’s. But that’s gone. There have always been light industries around here. Even with industries developing in the 30’s and 40’s, the Wick was there. In the 17th century, silk factories, the Press, they were all there. Lots of old buildings.
Do you think these aspects will remain after 2012? It’s changed but it’s always evolved into something else.
Would you like to see the Wick’s oldest buildings, factories and warehouses maintained or demolished? Well, I hope they will be maintained.
Will the 2012 Olympics be Hackney’s proudest moment? They are going to build a big multimedia centre up the road and if we get hold of that after the Olympics, it then means that we will be able to do things that are relevant to skill young people up, and use the potential premises for our own media projects. I like to think that London will be able to deliver and then get something out of it and it’ll be better than Australia, Greece, but I don’t know.
Do you think the budget (£9billion+) for the 2012 Olympics is spot on, too high or too low? Is it being spent in the right way and what else does Hackney need that money for? It’s too high. The sacrifices we’ve made, they’ve taken over large proportions of Hackney Marshes and areas that our community had access to, that’s now gone. We should be properly compensated for that, I don’t think we have. Also, money that was going into the Lottery Fund, that would have been spent on projects like our own, that’s been reduced. The money going into the Arts, the Community, and it’s now all going into the Olympics. So that’s a loss to us already.
I kind of cheated with this interview, he’s my boyfriend! But he is a good representative of the many artists who flock here for the art studio spaces. . . He talks about Hackney Wick >>>>>>>>> --------------------------------------------------------------->>>>>>>
A
ZURN S Y N E G V E Y : E M NA AGE: 29
ESIGNER/ D T E S : N IO T A P OCCU ARTIST
Unfortunately I don’t own my place, I rent it. Hopefully the rent won’t go up so much. For now it stays the same but I think it will go up next year, sometime.
I live and work in Hackney Wick. I have done since January 2008.
I like the ambience of Hackney Wick, I like the people. It’s quite an interesting area to live. There’s a lot of stuff going on, like a lot of graffiti artists painting around, nice people and it’s not really a residential area. It’s more industrial and kind of isolated. You can be on your own here or there are lots of cool people there to mix with and find inspiration when you want it. I’m not bothered with the Olympics happening here because I don’t know where I’m going to be when that happens.
I haven’t found any negatives with the Wick. There is going to be lots of noise and commotion here soon but we’ll see what happens. I’m not bothered with all that, so far.
The only people who will get any benefit from the Olympics are the people who own the shops and hotels, things like that. Residents won’t really benefit.
Unless I was taking part in the Olympics I wouldn’t benefit from it. Hackney Wick has kind of stayed the same so far. As they haven’t started major building works yet, I can’t see much change that’s negative.
Maybe it’s going to get nicer to live here, more secure, probably.
The rent will go up with that, It’s kind of natural I guess.
If I move away it will be for other reasons I think. If I move it won’t be because of the Olympics, that’s OK.
I associate Hackney Wick with the time when there were a lot of warehouse parties going on there, rave parties and things, a lot of wasteland with not much else happening. I would like to see the old buildings maintained. Maybe the owners would do them up a little bit, make the appearance smarter. Not too much, but there are things to be done, like rubbish issues.
Security’s going to be tighter so that aspect will change.
There’s going to be a lot of attention, of course, so some people are going to be proud to be in the place were the Olympics are happening. I’m not really interested.
The increase in the Olympic budget is a classic story with buildings. Unfortunately working-class people have to pay for it and most of them won’t benefit from it. It’s not really the right way to spend public money, if the government want to do the Olympics they should pay for it, sort it out themselves. People shouldn’t have to pay for it. It’s going to last for a month and then it will be over. It could be used to build houses, it’s the best thing they could do is build cheap houses.
NAME: BILL AGE: 23 OCCUPATION: STUDENT
Do you live/work in Hackney Wick and for how long? I’ve been living in Hackney Wick for six years.
Do you own or rent your property? Is the value/rent going up? I own my place. The value is going up!
Why did you choose to live in Hackney Wick? I don’t know, because it’s central.
What are the positives of Hackney Wick? Nice people, it’s easy to get around, close to the City.
I walked passed this guy on my way through the estate. He was in his front yard doing the gardening. I’d always been curious about the two-tone pink sports car that was always parked outside this driveway; so now I know, it’s Bill’s. I added pink to his photo, with the strawberries he was planting, to bring his character to the page...
What are the negatives of Hackney Wick? Well, graffiti here and there, but other than that, everything else is alright.
What are your feelings on Hackney Wick/Stratford hosting the 2012 Olympics? It’s a good opportunity for everyone in the area to make something of themselves.
Do you think the Wick will benefit from hosting the games? Not only the area, but a lot in general will benefit. If you look at it, there are a lot of opportunities coming up because of that. There’s a lot of development, which means more jobs.
Do you think you will benefit? Of course I will, take any opportunity that’s coming my way, and use it.
Can you already see positive changes? Yeah in the area in general. The general maintenance of the area has improved and gradually, you can see the buildings improve.
Can you already see negative changes? Yeah, it’s going to be overcrowded.
What are your hopes for the redevelopment and regeneration of the Wick? Just the best for the kids really.
What are your fears for the redevelopment and regeneration of the Wick? My fears really, the down side to it, are if things don’t go as planned. But other than that. . . It’s well planned out though so I don’t think there’s going to be a down side to it.
Will you stay a resident of the Wick when the Olympics arrive, or will you move? It depends if I’m offered something, you know. If I move it won’t be because of the Olympics.
What do you asociate Hackney Wick with? I would say the old buildings around and lots of factories. But that’s going to get cleaned up
Would you like to see the oldest warehouse, factories and buildings maintained or demolished in the regeneration project? Well maintained really, to tell you the truth, because these new buildings are weak! At least maintain what you have.
Will 2012 be Hackney’s proudest moment? I hope so.
Do you think the budget for the 2012 Olympics (£9billion+) is spot on, too high or too low? Is it being spent in the right way? What else does Hackney need this money for?
It’s too high in a lot of ways. It could still be going up. It could be used to develop the area or decrease pollution. They need to make better schools for the kids, that’s what they need to do. Better schools and another hospital! You know, there’s only Homerton (Hospital) so at least some money needs to go on that, you know. For the kids, it’s for the future, right? That’s what I think.