We want to see a system adopted that makes it easier for councils, community groups and landlords to collaborate in the temporary use of empty buildings.
We're calling it the 'respace classification'; A simple addition to planning law that allows community groups and social organisations to have temporary access to suitable empty buildings for virtually no cost, with significant social and environmental benefits.
Why is this important?
We're told to recycle every tin can, banana skin and plastic bottle we use - yet there are thousands of empty buildings in London and the UK, tons of wasted materials and thousands of people with spare time and skills that could easily be used by local groups and organisations to tackle local problems.
Problems such as:
Homelessness
Austerity cuts
Rising prices
Lack of creative space
Closure of public spaces and venues
Energy and food waste
Social issues like community cohesion and access to facilities
A lack of creative space
In difficult circumstances a bit of space and time to create solutions can make all the difference.
The Hive Dalston has proved that empty buildings and wasted resources can be brought together intelligently to help make a real difference to people's lives. Now we want to help create a system that encourages other groups to try the same solutions. This system encourages easier access to recycling really important things in our environment - like skills in the community and wasted spaces.
At the Hive Dalston, in two and a half years, we've seen over 30,000 people, held numerous performance, environmental, political and cultural events and helped over 70 charities. We've enabled people to start businesses, learn new skill and even had an indoor skatepark! We held a yearly conference, featuring academics, politicians, planners, activists and local councillors - including the now Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glanville. Our landlord was so pleased with our progress he extended our tenancy four times!
Watch a short video introduction to The Hive:
https://youtu.be/yj1cGzoic2g
The Hive is the blueprint for a system of reuse called "Holistic Urban Regeneration", that benefits councils, landlords, developers, businesses and communities together - discussed in more detail in Radio 4 Documentary, "A Waste of Space".
Watch a short video of our recent conference and hustings where all the mayoral parties agree to support the petition:
https://youtu.be/UqICZgyVrwc
Please lend your voice to that support so that we can help create hundreds of Hives and similar projects in areas of need all over the country. The Respace Classification will help make this a reality.
Sign our petition and join a growing movement to start to fix our broken Britain ourselves.
For more detailed information about the classification - check our webpage:
https://hivedalston.wordpress.com/the-respace-classification/
Thank you and please take a moment to sign ...
How it will be delivered
The campaign is aimed at the Mayor of London and had cross party mayoral support at the recent Respace Conference, but rather than leave the work to City Hall - which will take time - we're already respacing several buildings in and around London.
Help us strengthen our network by adding your signature and sharing the campaign with people who want to be more than ink on paper; people who can help us build the infrastructure necessary to implement this new system of reusing empty buildings.