With 2016 done and dusted, and 2017 newly upon us, we take a look back at all the highlights from the initiatives and goings-on that we had here at Perseverance Works throughout the year.
From food and yoga pop-ups to clean air solutions, it’s been a year packed full of electric bikes and street food galore.
‘Summer Series’
After the success of last year’s food pop-up, a number of London’s startup food stalls set up shop here in the Perseverance Works courtyard over the summer serving anything from Argentine steak to wood-fired pizza, gourmet burgers to vegan lunchboxes.
Bringing a different food offering each week, featured between April and September our courtyard welcomed old and new friends, including Constancia on the Road with their Argentine grills housed in an H-Citroen van, wood-fired pizza from Wandercrust, Wonderbuns’ gourmet burgers, Project Sandwich and Mojo Box with their vegan lunchboxes. Every Friday our tenants were given something special in the summer sunshine.
Running alongside our ‘Summer Series’ we also held a number of evenings of courtyard get-togethers, including our very own beer pong night, which was a chance to pit our skills against other tenants.
Supporting Zero Emissions Network
This year we took steps to work closer with Hackney’s Zero Emissions Network (ZEN) by supporting their celebration to mark approaching 1000 businesses in their network. The event celebrated their new website and had a number of key speakers that included Client Earth, Buzzbike, Clean Air in London and Accenture.
Alongside the event, we helped support ZEN’s ethos by recently hosting their Dr. Bike session, giving free bike checks and repairs to not only the tenants of Perseverance Works but also the people of Shoreditch.
Pop-up Yoga classes
Alongside our ‘Summer Series’ we also hosted a weekly pop-up yoga class, which was held on our rooftop throughout the summer (weather permitting).
The classes ran on a Wednesday lunchtime with Eve Hardcastle, and welcomed all levels as Hatha and Vinyasa Flow Yoga classes made their way to Perseverance Works.
Speaking to Works Post about the classes Eve said: “There is a gentle focus on calming the mind and a tuning into the body to bring unity and balance through movement. Yoga and meditation has been proven to enhance more productivity, creativity and focus throughout the day so come along and join in! Mats and blocks will be provided.”
In 2017 Eve’s yoga classes will continue with number of rotating themes, which can be viewed via her blog, starting with her ‘Fire’ theme complete with its motivation, quotes and inspirational stories.
Vmoto and their electric bikes
In May we were pleased to welcome London’s very own Vmoto UK and their fully electric, zero emission mopeds and scooters to the Perseverance Works courtyard.
Launched in 2015, Vmoto UK are bringing to the UK the low-cost, zero-emissions scooters which have been changing lives and businesses in the rest of Europe and across the world. Saving you fuel, tax, and maintenance costs and time spent filling up, Vmoto Emax scooters are 100% electric and emissions free, and charge from a conventional home socket.
And much, much more!
Outside of the support for clean air solutions and our pop-ups we also had a number of tenants host events; Splice had a private view of artist in residence Jess Wilson’s work in June with beers, fizz and, of course, art on offer.
We’ve also welcomed a number of new residents including urban cycling company Blaze (read an interview with founder Emily Brooke here) and Creativepool, a start-up powered by connecting global creatives to generate business through discovery and inspiration.
Amongst the many highs from our tenants a special mention must go to architects Henley Halebrown, who after a successful 2016 have a number of projects taking shape in 2017, with the regeneration of the 1970s Kings Crescent Estate to be completed in June, before looking forward to the development of De Beauvoir Road, a new rooftop community of studios and creative work spaces in Hackney.
And to end the year, Perseverance Works was pleased to be featured as one of the case studies for community-led broadband schemes on the Culture, Media and Sport website for our Fibre to the Premises network.