Greater London Authority
Working to improve boroughs across London through the GLA, through funds including the Good Growth Fund
VIY started in London back in 2011, with our first project here at the John Corfield Centre in Streatham. London soon became our first VIY hub, delivering projects all across the city through various partnerships and programmes – both local and through our national partnerships including Sport England and Toolstation.
This included the Greater London Authority (GLA). For example, 20 VIY projects were funded by the GLA’s Good Growth fund and through the Mayor’s Young Londoner’s Fund. See some examples of our work below – and further projects in London here.
St Ann’s Library Community Garden & Kitchen, Haringey
As part of the Mayor of London’s Grow Back Greener Fund, VIY partnered with Haringey Council and Edible London for a project at St. Ann’s Library in Tottenham in June 2021. The fund sought to convert grey spaces into green spaces for community use. The aim of the project was to transform the library’s underused garden into a regenerative growing and educational space, aiming to support young people in Tottenham to access green space, nature and to provide positive nutrition messages.
The Sound Lounge, Sutton
As part of Sutton Council’s regeneration programme, we continued the retrofitting of this high street unit into a thriving community space for The Sound Lounge – which would play a fundamental part of Sutton Council’s wider regeneration plans for the area.
We built a new stage, a new secure storage space for sound equipment, created a new bar area. new kitchen space and redecorated the entire venue, making it a fit-for-purpose home for The Sound Lounge to become a central community space; the UK’s first carbon neutral grassroots music venue and plant-based café.
Chat’s Palace
Chats Palace, a community arts centre and theatre based in East London, was another of our Good Growth Fund projects. They run a variety of programmes including plays, art exhibitions and workshops fostering creativity within the local community. At the centre we created a disabled facilities in their green room and painted the main theatre space black. This was done with help of construction college students from New City College in Hackney. A “theatre transformed”, as described by the Technical Director.
Mayor’s Young Londoner’s Fund
The Mayor of London’s Young Londoners Fund (YLF) helps children and young people to fulfil their potential, particularly those at risk of getting caught up in crime.
In 2021-22, we worked with students in a number of Pupil Referral Units (PRUs) across London, offering an alternative educational pathway for young people for are excluded from mainstream education. This often involved projects taking place in their PRU, improving/creating spaces that benefitted their own school environment, in a space they felt comfortable and safe to learn in.
