We were invited to The Loft in Queen’s Park to take part in a celebration of local business heroes with a new photographic exhibition. We enjoyed a morning of breakfast treats, a tour of of the gorgeous work spaces and then sat down to a photo shoot and interview. We absolutely loved taking part in this opportunity to champion local people and their businesses.

Read on to hear more about the idea behind the exhibition!

The word ‘local’. What does it mean to you? Perhaps it dials up a sense of community. Village clubs, groups or town high streets. Maybe you’re involved in your local community. Supporting school projects or helping vulnerable people. One of the many unsung heroes, donating your free time for good work or a new home worker, now living and working in your local neighbourhood.

What we do know? The word ‘local’ has been undergoing an impact transformation. Post pandemic work patterns have changed and during lockdown, the daily commute vanished for many office based workers. The new ‘work from home’ rule changed our daily view. Some of us began to experience a life lived local. And for many of us, it’s an enjoyable new experience.

It has taken a global pandemic for government, business and in fact, all of us, to reassess the way we live and work. And the Covid effect has compelled us to experience an entirely different relationship with our local neighbourhoods.

‘Local Heroes’ is a new project from Spacemade that showcases and celebrates local business and enterprise talent. Spacemade provides flexible and inspiring local workspace for a range of business needs from freelancers to SMEs, entrepreneurs and hybrid workers.

Launching with a photographic exhibition at Spacemade’s flexible workspace location, The Loft, Queen’s Park, Local Heroes will spotlight and share the stories of incredible business talent in the local Queen’s Park area. This includes members of The Loft and people who are contributing significantly to or supporting local enterprise.The specially selected businesses were voted for by Spacemade members and also selected for their individual impact.

Local business innovators featured in the exhibition include Joe Channer, a successful London financier who was born in the local area and is a recent founder of boxing gym and social enterprise space StormLDN. Mum and daughter entrepreneurs & Queen’s Park residents, Emily Wharburton-Adams and Ali Wharburton who co-founded POW, a business and consumer food delivery service focused on good nutrition to support work productivity and performance.

Also featured are (previously Queen’s park Mums) Queen’s Park Folk – Alexia, Dede & Tala. Although from very different professional backgrounds: primary school teacher, member of a successful band and a global events organiser they now share an ambition to run a thriving website as well as various social media platforms to highlight and promote the fantastic local businesses and wonderful local area of Queen’s Park and its surrounding areas.

The exhibition presenting 8 local entrepreneurs, founders and innovators will run from December 21 – January 22. Each business story will be shared across Spacemade’s own social media channels with films and inspiring quotes designed to celebrate each individual entrepreneurial endeavour and inspire a new generation of new local business leaders.

The way we interact with our local town or city neighbourhoods has changed forever and Spacemade is committed to spotlight the exciting business talent that chooses to locate itself local. But we are not unique in recognising this movement.

According to a BBC report, Carlos Moreno, a scientific director and professor specialising in complex systems and innovation at University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, believes there “will never be” a return to city life as it was before the coronavirus struck. When the pandemic shuttered city centres, he says, it showed how important social links are – but through a different prism.
“Many people never visited shops close to their homes before because they were busy. They didn’t know their neighbours or the parks nearby. The pandemic made us discover this. We have rediscovered locality, and this has improved quality of life.”
The Mayor of London and London Assembly have laid out a new post pandemic vision called High Streets For All, where they envisage the ‘building back better’ of new self supporting communities providing residential access to all essential services as well as local green spaces, local shops, medical & sports facilities and local workspaces too.
“Shared workspaces can enable collaboration, knowledge exchange and increase business productivity. They can also speed up the adoption of new technologies. There is an opportunity to build on the momentum of remote working by providing flexible and family friendly local work spaces”.

And for Spacemade, this is where the business hopes to play a valuable role. Localisation is also about transforming how and where we work. Our neighbourhood workspaces are designed to benefit our local members and the local community. Our mission is to blend a productive and supportive working environment with positive social impact. From creating job opportunities to local partnerships, learning workshops and sourcing local suppliers, our formula will ensure opportunity flows throughout our building and our entire community.

The Loft

Salusbury Road

NW6

The exhibition is running from December ’21 to January ’22