Woolwich HSHAZ

The Woolwich High Street Heritage Action Zone project was funded by Royal Borough of Greenwich and Historic England and focused on the commercial centre of Woolwich. The project aimed to revitalise the newly created conservation area centred on Powis Street, Hare Street and Beresford Square and to help the community to connect with its heritage. Our Hut designed and is implemented a programme of events including exhibitions, family workshops, walking tours and school workshops focused on the architecture of Woolwich Town Centre and what it tells us about the history of the area. 

Working with artists from SET Woolwich we put on an exhibition, Woolwich: Drawing on History in Woolwich Front Room in September 2022. The artists responded to a brief from Our Hut to investigate and take inspiration from the area around Powis Street and the resulting artworks celebrated the range of wonderful buildings, signage, details and nooks and crannies found there. They included the 19th-century former department stores and pubs, the Art Deco RACS building and cinemas and the 1960s and 1970s shops and showrooms. At a family workshop run alongside the exhibition participants created beautiful bags based on the architecture of the area.

In March 2023 we held a film night at Tramshed. The programme included a century of archive footage of Woolwich, as well as showcasing two contemporary films, Woolwich Speaks by Crixus Productions and Future Proof, commissioned by Our Hut and made by students from Thomas Tallis School working with Foreign Body Productions.

We also held walking tours, ran programmes of workshops at Notre Dame RC Primary School and Plumcroft Primary School and held an exhibition at Woolwich Public Library. As part of the legacy to this project we recruited and trained volunteers to become Woolwich Ambassadors and lead walks based on ours.