The Nice Dream Van was used to accompany the consultation team during the first phase of consultation, the outreach phase. It was an ice cream van that traded ice cream for a nice dream. While the team was taking soundings on the street between Aldgate and Stratford, the van attracted an audience and rewarded people’s participation with an ice cream lolly!

In the week from Tuesday 17th June until Saturday 21st of June, the Fluid/Soundings team could be spotted in 9 different locations along High Street 2012. Along came the Nice Dream Van, our consultation vehicle that traded ‘nice dreams’ for ice creams! This outreach exercise comprised little interviews with the Fluid canvass cards, the big ideas map, an aerial view where people could map their hopes and ideas for the future of the high street, but also their experiences (good and bad). We also provided a route map where people could mark ‘hot spots’ and no-go areas and also how they used the area. All these tools helped us to identify key issues of the street and its communities.

Part of this outreach period were two major local events: the Bow Arts Trust Open Studios event and the LIFT festival in Stratford. This phase of consultation has officially ended with the celebration of the street with the High Street 2012 Summer Picnic, part of the London Festival of Architecture, that took place on Saturday 28th of June.

The HS2012 picnic was part of the London Festival of Architecture and took place on Saturday 28th of June in Mile End Waste. The event featured 2 architectural walks, one going east towards Stratford and one going west towards Aldgate. Food was catered from Rinkoff’s bakery and Tayyubs restaurant. Carolyn Steel presented her latest book ‘Hungry City – how food shapes our lives’ and gave a lecture on the significance of food in the East End. There was an exhibition about fantastic stories of the High Street, from the Kray brothers to Dr. Bernardo and the Salvation Army. Finally, East London jewellery artist Bernadette Deddens held a workshop where she produced a ‘charm bracelet’ representing the hidden charms of the High Street.

On Saturday 21st of June, Fluid conducted ‘on the ground consultation’ in Stratford park as part of the LIFT festival ‘Plenty in the Park’ event. Members of the Architecture Crew supported Fluid staff, conducting additional consultation with the tools they had designed in the design workshops. It was a great day – THANK YOU ARCHITECTURE CREW!

High Street 2012

Design consultancy Fluid has been selected to set out a vision for the key thoroughfare linking the city to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games site. The route runs from Aldgate through Whitechapel and Mile End and onto Stratford.

The project, called High Street 2012, is a joint initiative between Tower Hamlets Council, Newham Council, Design for London, Transport for London, English Heritage and London Thames Gateway Development Corporation.

This ambitious project aims to draw-up a vision that will achieve short-term and long-term public realm and building improvements to the areas along High Street 2012. This will help make it a more pedestrian friendly route, with a character that reflects the diversity of the communities that live alongside it. The vision will be aspirational but also achievable and sustainable, and will continue well beyond the Olympic Games, acting as a catalyst for the further regeneration of East London.

Over the next five months, the vision will be developed with extensive involvement and engagement with local communities. It is really important that the public and local community organisations help us develop the ideas and plans, to ensure that the vision is locally owned and appropriate to your communities. We need you!

There are a number of ways to be involved:

1.    Talk to us on the street or at an ‘outreach’ event while we’re out and about in East London (throughout June and early July)
2.    Become involved in a project group or design workshops for your local area. These groups can directly help to shape and deliver improvements (through June, July, August)
3.    Attend public exhibitions to view the emerging ideas and comment on what proposals are being planned (September)

If you are a local resident, community organisation or local authority officer and would like to get in touch with the consultation team for High Street 2012 about how to become involved, please contact Angelica Lienhart or Tabea Berthold of Soundings, who are running the consultation programme:

Soundings,
148 Curtain Road
London
EC2A 3AR
tel: 020 7729 0770
email: highstreet2012@fluidoffice.com