Holistic regeneration in East London
28 October 2025
A perfect opportunity to adopt a holistic approach that places, at its heart, people’s happiness and developing a sustainable, thriving community.
There are things we all care about – our families, our loved ones, our homes, our communities, our place, and for the fortunate ones even our jobs! All too easy though to forget aspects of these, given our busy lives.
So, it was refreshing earlier this month to join the Poplar HARCA study visit organised by PlaceShapers as part of its Year of Learning. A Brompton ride from Waterloo station to East India Dock Road, fold my wee bike away and I was off on foot with housing colleagues for what proved to be an insightful and enjoyable couple of hours. If you’ve not joined a PlaceShapers study visit yet, I commend them to you.
A Luftwaffe aircraft picture of the destruction wrought on Poplar and Hackney during the Blitz in late 1940 served as a helpful reminder of what effort was (and is) required in post-war reconstruction. 85 years later and Poplar is still being regenerated. Poplar HARCA’s vision emphasises the importance of helping the community thrive. Place-shaping at its very best – at the risk of sounding trite, it’s what good looks like. I guess unsurprising as the clue is in the title, Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association (HARCA).
Poplar HARCA’s fast growing and diverse population, with housing demand outstripping supply, adds to the local challenge, as do the inevitable vulnerabilities of some in the community. But this context also provides a perfect opportunity to adopt a holistic approach that places, at its heart, people’s happiness and developing a sustainable, thriving community. The staff we met spoke with one voice, with real passion for what they do and for the people they serve, and with empathy for their communities. The staff had a refreshing passion for addressing, in partnership with others, food poverty, unemployment, financial insecurity, cost of living challenges, health inequalities, social isolation and the like.
Ingrained in my memory banks are Chrisp Street Market (rebuilt in 1951 as part of the Festival of Britain) and its ‘idea store’ (a modern, lifelong learning approach to a library), Spotlight (think of the best youth hub you’ve ever seen then multiply by at least two), Balfron Tower (grade 11 listed, 26-storey, built 1965-7 by an architect called Goldfinger, yes really), The Feldy (a state-of-the-art community space), Aberfeldy Village (1000 new homes, health and faith centre, retail spaces, green spaces and more to come) and more besides…
We all take something away from such events and we share them as in the PlaceShapers Learning Hub – for me there were three take-aways. No rocket science here, but personal inspiration for sure:
1. A reminder of the importance of placing communities at the heart of regeneration (easy enough to say but often harder to do - and all too easily forgotten).
2. The importance of imbuing in staff a shared vision (credit to Poplar HARCA and its chief executive, Steve Stride).
3. It reinforced for me the importance of housing, helping and community and these three things together.
All that and a yummy, heart-shaped jammy dodger to take away with us – confession, I ate mine almost as soon as I was given it!