We are thrilled to announce we have secured a £125K grant for innovative interventions in the built environment through Public Realm Innovation Lab’s Connected Places Catapult.   

Our winning proposal, ‘The River Roding Health Corridor’, was a team-effort, created through a consortium of brilliant partners: NHS North East London, Arup, Be First Regeneration Limited and Care City - pictured here on our kick off day touring the project's location in Barking.  

Our aim is to transform the River Roding in Barking into a thriving, health-promoting public space with the end goal of improving the health and wellbeing of children and young people in Barking and Dagenham.

Makower Architects have worked on many projects in the Barking area  and along the River Roding in particular, (e.g. recently consented London Road and Hertford Road,) so we were able to identify the Roding as one of London’s most undervalued natural corridors. Along its banks lie tidal reed beds, rare bird species, and underused public spaces with vast potential to support community health and nature recovery, yet it remains largely invisible and inaccessible to most local people.

Our project has identified six sites along the River Roding to use as a test-bed for innovative interventions to address the core health challenge within the borough of Barking and Dagenham: it’s high proportion of childhood obesity, with more than 31% of Year 6 children classified as obese.

At the heart of our approach is a commitment to community-led innovation. We want local residents to be actively involved from the outset - shaping ideas, testing prototypes, making decisions, and identifying opportunities. And in October, we launched an open-call for creative and sustainable ideas from SMEs to propose solutions and small-scale trials.

We are hugely proud to be a founding member of this flagship project which we hope will deliver demonstrable community, health, and environmental value, forming the foundation for a longer-term, multi-phase strategy for Barking and beyond.