As a trustee at The London Society, we hosted a panel discussion last week on London’s high streets. We know that the lockdown has affected current patterns of working, shopping and eating out. Local high streets are reporting some recovery, but central areas are still seeing footfall...
As reopening continues at pace across high streets and town centres, we adapt to new ways of moving around and accessing shops and services, it’s easy to lose track of what opened when. Whilst it often appeared that reopening dates were set at short notice,...
Along with most people, (especially after last weeks’ press on getting back to work) I’m finding the government’s messaging on encouraging people to return to the office very confusing. At a basic level, I don’t believe it’s the role of the government to be involved...
Under normal circumstances, we’re out and about a lot both for work and socially. Being based in London, it’s always good to visit other places for a different perspective, whether it’s in the UK or elsewhere in the world. In the weeks before lockdown, we’d...
During the lockdown, we’ve been attending a number of webinars which has definitely been positive, as it’s easier to fit them into the day or catch-up later as opposed to taking time out for an event but the two (live and online) are not quite...
In 2019, Arup was commissioned to convene ‘The Future of Barking Town Centre Panel’, which was created to develop a vision for the future of the town centre in 2030. Whilst Barking is functioning well as a town centre, it is not fulfilling its potential. It...
Last week we posted a blog on Business Engagement, where we discussed the importance of strengthening relationships between councils & BID teams, with high street and town centre shops....
Over the past 12 months, we’ve been managing several stakeholder engagement projects. Whilst talking to business owners, BID members, workers, market traders and high street users in very different places, we’ve uncovered interesting findings on how these places work and what interventions might be needed...
Last month we visited Ruddington, a large village five miles from Nottingham with a host of indie shops, local history museums and a country park. In 2019, the village launched its own street market and we went along to celebrate the market’s first birthday. We met...
2019 has been a busy year at the Assembly Line. We have worked on a number of interesting and diverse projects and we are now planning ahead for 2020.We have capacity for new projects from March onwards. If you would like to collaborate on a...