Emerge East, established in its third year, is a free festival celebrating community, creativity and nature in a development with 3,500 homes and a small population of 6,000. Once complete, the area could house 50,000 people but footfall remains low. Emerge East, a one-day event, encourages long-term economic growth by incubating local talent and strengthening connections to the riverfront, local economy, and cultural heritage, ensuring a lasting impact on the community.

Who is on the project team?

Barking Riverside Limited

HemingwayDesign

Describe the context of this project and its neighbourhood and people?

Barking Riverside (BR) is a growing neighbourhood with scope to deliver up to 20,000 new homes (subject to a new outline planning application submitted in 2024), alongside amenities, commercial spaces and green areas. It is being delivered by master developer Barking Riverside Limited (BRL), a JV between L&Q and the Mayor of London. To date, c.3,500 homes are complete or in-build, creating a relatively small population of 6,000 people. Once complete, the development could be home to 50,000 people. Despite the eventual growth, and the fact that homes are being delivered at pace, today footfall remains low. For existing residents, BRL has delivered early facilities, including a transport interchange integrating a London Overground Station, a river bus pier, bus and cycle routes - centred around a new public square ripe for activation. Other facilities include a resident-led café within community building The Wilds. Delivering facilities early in the development cycle helps reverse historic isolation, but presents BRL with a new challenge to create sustainable opportunities to enliven BR and incubate long-term uses. 

Tell us what you did and how the project, event or installation enlivened the place in a creative way? 

BRL partners with HemingwayDesign to deliver EE, who bring the creativity of a festival agency with a placemaking approach. Designed to create a sense of connection to existing natural assets, the festival activities seed uses by 40+ organisations, creatives and makers that could become permanent activations. Traders involved in previous events have helped to refine each iteration of the festival. By trailing and incubating these activities, they are more likely to be successful long-term activations because of the early emotional connection formed, and the ability to pilot and refine their offer in a meanwhile capacity. Connection to the local economy: Home Cooks (local people upskilled to run a street food business for the day). Independent traders at the Emerging Makers’ Market created attachment to a hyper-local emerging economy. Connection to the riverfront: Guests enjoy unique experiences such as Pop-up riverside saunas, massages and gong baths, linking blue spaces to wellness. Connection to nature: Nature-inspired creative workshops such as ceramic seed pots or autumnal flower planting create a connection between the built environment and natural landscape. Talks by London National Park City help the appreciation of green spaces ahead of two new parks of 50 and 19 acres opening in the future. 

Did the project make a positive social and environmental contribution? If it was a temporary intervention, is there a legacy plan? What happened to its tenants, users, materials and programming?

Enlivening a neighbourhood of currently low footfall, EE 2024 is BR’s largest event, attracting 2,650 visitors (+47% on 2023). Whilst EE is a one-day event, its legacy is designed to be long-lasting. Economic growth: EE helps incubate and upskill local talent. The best example of this is the Home Cooks. Suppliers aren’t currently running their own businesses; they are, quite literally, home cooks. Giving them a springboard and an opportunity to trade, learning about all that goes with running a business (from insurance to revenue management), upskills them for the future. The idea is that these residents could become operators in BR, when permanent or meanwhile uses open. Since December 2023, EE trader Meetini, has run a pop-up bar on the riverfront at Barking Riverside – showcasing that EE can successfully incubate traders to deliver meanwhile uses. Other Home Cooks are now discussing pitches at BR. Connection to nature: An emphasis was placed on activities that highlight the importance of nature, such as planting workshops and upcycling. Highlighting BR’s natural environment will help create attachment to natural assets in the long term.