Make your idea happen here!

What could you do with this building and public square? Whoever comes up with the best idea for making use of this space will win the building rent-free for five years.

The Make Your Idea Happen Here! competition is a bit like The X Factor for creative entrepreneurs with a social conscience. We’re offering someone a chance to make their dream come true and make a real difference to this empty, under-used part of Wembley. The Pop-Down Square was designed by students of the Royal College of Art’s School of Architecture, and is due for completion in Summer 2013. It’s a beautiful and practical space which is part-public square, part-flexible covered space, and is designed to be as adaptable as possible.

The 116 square metre building itself could be used as an indoor market, workshops and galleries, or a fully-fledged shopping area. The decked outside space is equipped with a moveable ‘pop-down’ screen which could be used as a cinema or the focal point of any live entertainment.

Anyone can apply to Make Your Idea Happen Here! It’s a completely open competition and the possibilities are almost unlimited. All we ask is that the idea is self-sustaining and that it improves and enhances the lives of the residents and local businesses in the area.

The location is incredible – the land is in two parts which sits either side of the public path which leads to Wembley Stadium. But we are not looking for someone to flog burgers and glow sticks on event days. We are looking for a person, or organisation, who’s big on ideas but short on space. Whoever moves into The Pop-Down Square will need to show that their idea will bring energy, creativity and opportunities to the people who live in this corner of Wembley. That could mean jobs, or training, or some other way of showing social responsibility and enterprise. The land is ear-marked for development by Quintain, the developer behind Wembley City, the 42 acre housing, leisure and retail project which will transform the area. Meanwhile, without the competition, it would stand unused for five years.

The Make Your Idea Happen Here! competition is the joint brainchild of Meanwhile Space CIC, Brent Council, and The Royal College of Art.

Alex Hearn from Brent Council’s regeneration and major projects team is thrilled by the way the architecture students took up the challenge of designing a building that had to be not only beautiful, but flexible and useful.

‘Pop-Down Square is such a neat response to the brief. It provides a variety of uses within internal and external space, successfully improves the public realm and can cope with the rigours of major events in the Wembley area. It’s now up to a person or organisation to come up with an equally amazing idea on how the space could be used,’ he said.

Meanwhile Space has had a presence in the area since this time last year when it opened The Coming Soon Club in a disused toolhire shop which had been empty for 15 years. The Coming Soon Club, which now has 200 members, offers local people a base and a high street shop front to try out their ideas without having to take on the expense and risk of renting a commercial space.

The Make Your Idea Happen Here! competition is a natural, but ambitious extension of The Coming Soon Club’s practical hands on approach to ending the blight of boarded up buildings, one shop at a time. As Emily Berwyn, director of Meanwhile Space, puts it: ‘We are turning what most people consider to be a negative – disused empty boarded up shops – into a positive resource for local people who would otherwise have no way of testing out their ideas on the high street. The Make Your Idea Happen Here! competition is the same, but on a bigger grander scale, using some of the most talented architects of the future.’

Wembley is being regenerated, it will be wonderful, but it’s going to take twenty years and people here can’t and won’t wait that long to see some improvements. They don’t want to live in a building site for the next twenty years, so meanwhile we are working with the developers and Brent to make something happen here.

What we’re offering: A brand new building designed by RCA Architecture students rent free for up to five years. A small start up grant.

What we’re looking for: A self-financing creative or business project which provides jobs or training for people in Wembley, and improves and enhances the local environment.

To Apply: Information and application form will be available to download from www.comingsoonclub.co.uk. You must be a member of the Coming Soon Club to enter he competition, membership is free. The deadline for application is 12 noon Friday 29th March 2013.

Make Your Idea Happen Here! is a joint project run by Brent Council, The Royal College of Art and the Coming Soon Club with support from Quintain Estates, GLA, Ove Arup, and Metsä Wood.

• Alison Minto is project delivery manager at Meanwhile Space community interest company. 
• For more information click here.