‘Imaginary Romford’ eco friendly event at the Mercury attracts over 400 residents.

“So many people, young and old, are very interested in what is happening in our town – and excited to play a part in that too.”

This Weekend, level one of The Mercury Shopping Centre was transformed into a miniature utopia by over 200 children and families putting their mark on an ‘imaginary Romford’ built from scratch with the ideas of kids. Imagine if instead of a shopping centre we had a zoo, or we had more bookshops? Or even an airport?
These were a few of the ideas that Havering kids built into the ‘to scale’ map.

The crescendo event came after a week of eco inspired architecture activities hosted by local arts organisation The NO Collective. The week was inspired by all aspects of the building process and included a workshop called ‘Card-Struction’, which taught kids from the age of 5 how to construct big structures using card and kids tools. The workshop led by local artist Hannah Davis utilised discarded boxes from the mall to create a truly eco-friendly event. Supported by B&M (the centre’s waste contractors) there was also advice for parents on how to reduce waste at home and how to recycle too.

Running in parallel to the Architecture Adventure Festival the first glimpse of the revised Romford Masterplan was revealed in an urban design challenge for young people to discuss what they need in a town. This activity was ran in collaboration with Architecture firm Make:Good.

The weeks activities also included a window design workshop for elderly residents at the Centre’s Monday Breakfast Club. Hosted by Gill and April, also local artists, and supported by Café Della Continental. This was well received with members asking if they could “make more designs at future club dates” to decorate their homes.

Centre Manager Spencer Hawken was delighted by the fun had and positive response by both young people and shoppers to the Architecture Adventure:

“So many people, young and old, are very interested in what is happening in our town – and excited to play a part in that too. It was so nice to see parents and children creating miniature shops together, playing together with big materials and having super ideas about what could be built in the borough.”

Havering Changing also supported Architecture Adventure with a workshop on cultural designs taking place in Harold Hill’s MyPlace, with a workshop that showed children how patterned tiles are made with circles and lines. This geometry element also saw itself in an engineering themed day hosted at The Mercury to think more mathematically about how buildings are made.

Architecture Adventure is held in Havering every two years – with themes in the past including sustainability and home. It has an objective to show young people how they can have an influence on the places they live, and helping them see the creativity behind STEM subjects and careers.

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