DEPUTY MAYOR OF LONDON OPENS BLOQS

This morning Bloqs welcomed Jules Pipe, Deputy Mayor of London, and Cllr Nesil Caliskan as their guests of honour to open their brand new facility.

Already home to hundreds of professional makers and maker businesses, Bloqs is a radical new approach to small-scale manufacturing and making, offering affordable, pay-as-you-go access to fabrication workspace and industrial machinery for a huge range of making disciplines.

The Deputy Mayor, Jules Pipe, came to cut the ribbons as Bloqs launched its purpose-built factory. The Bloqs community moved into its new home just before Christmas and the factory is now proudly open to all the makers of London and beyond.

Mr Pipe and Cllr Caliskan toured the facility meeting makers and businesses that use the space as their production base, before meeting students from West Leas School who are learning making and employment skills using the new facilities.

In an address to assembled guests and media, Jules Pipe said:

“Bloqs is an innovative example of what can be achieved when businesses, boroughs and City Hall work together to add value to local communities and economies. The ability of our small businesses to rebuild and thrive will be a crucial element of London’s post-pandemic recovery and Bloqs gives businesses the space, materials and resources to do just that.”

The new space – designed in close collaboration with Bloqs by 5th Studio – provides 32,000 square feet of workspace with facilities for woodworking, metalworking, fashion and fabrics, engineering and spray finishing, as well as resources and services – including courses, classes and hireable meeting rooms. Part-newbuild and part-adaptive reuse of a former vehicle testing facility, the light-filled, hangar-sized building is 6.5 (serviceable) metres tall with direct access to a service yard. New amenities open to the public include a café and event space as well as a shop stocking tools and materials.

The new Bloqs is the result of a three way partnership and £4 million investment by The Mayor of London, Enfield Council and Bloqs, a not-for-profit social enterprise established in 2012 to empower and inspire makers who have suffered a steady decline in affordable industrial workspace in the capital. It is situated at Meridian Water, a £6 billion development being built in Enfield.

The deputy mayor met members, Lizzy Flemming and crew from Made From Scratch and Michel Fauvrelle of Wowhaus Furniture + Interiors, both of whom are based at Bloqs. He also met 4th and 5th generation carpenters and regular Bloqs member David and Billy Chamberlin of DWC Carpentry.

The party of VIP guests from City Hall and LBE saw members and machines at work, toured the engineering and metalwork departments and witnessed a demonstration of up-to-the-minute CNC technology made available to the Bloqs community via Bloqs’ latest machine partners Weinig Holz-Her.

Following the ribbon-cutting, Mr Pipe was treated to the best of Bloqs hospitality in the Bloqs Kitchen, headed by chef and author Marianna Leivaditaki where he was kind enough to meet guests from industry, education, the local business community and other organisation partnering and working with Bloqs.

It was a special day for the Bloqs community and its hard working team whose collective belief, persistence, creativity and inventiveness have together forged a magnificent new model for how manufacturing and making can thrive in London’s ever changing socio economic landscape.

Notes to editors

Bloqs is a professional, open-access workspace and social-enterprise based in Meridian Water on the

River Lea, providing flexible pay-as-you-go access to machinery, workspace, training and business

support. It was co-founded in 2012 by – Vinny Nanray, Arnaud Nichols, Al Parra, Alex Motta, and

Julien Thomasset building on the success of their live-work space enterprise at The Chilli Works.

Facilities currently include engineering, CNC machining, 3D-Printing, metalworking, woodworking,

spray finishing booths and sewing and fashion studios as well as a café, shop and storage space. It’s

free to sign up. Once registered, members can pre-book spaces and facilities as required. Bloqs is accessible via car, with onsite parking available. It is within walking distance of Meridian

Water station, located less than a mile away.

5th Studio is a unique spatial design agency, working across the fields of architecture, urban design, infrastructure and landscape. Working with clients and commissioners, they create beauty and enduring value from complex situations.

The practice applies spatial intelligence to a broad spectrum — from delivering buildings through to research and strategy. 5th Studio strives to be visionary, innovative and persuasive, committing to successful outcomes beyond the traditional role of a designer: leading the team, transforming risk into opportunity, raising profile and clearly articulating the objectives of a project.

Bloqs is the fourth makerspace 5th Studio has delivered – it follows the government-funded Creative Exchange in St Neots, Cambridgeshire (2009), The Future Business Centre (2013), and Clifton House co-working space in Finsbury Park (2020). Current work spans from the sustainable retrofit of university buildings, the Urban Design Framework for Stratford Station to masterplanning London’s Royal Docks.

Meridian Water is a major 6bn, 25-year London regeneration programme led by Enfield Council, bringing 10,000 homes and 6,000 of jobs to Enfield, north London, next door to the beautiful Lee Valley Regional Park. Alongside attractive new homes, fantastic public spaces and community facilities, the development now has its own railway station, unlocking the area for commuters, with better connections south to Stratford and London Liverpool Street and north to Stansted and Cambridge. The Council is leading on the vision for Meridian Water and overseeing its delivery, which is based around three pillars:

• Your place to make and create
• Mixing uses and animating streets
• Park life at your doorstep

Please click here for the full press release of the opening