From Materials to Movement: what East London taught us about building together
September 2026
This autumn’s People and Place field trip took us east to Tipping Point East in Silvertown, Newham – a place exploring what can happen when organisations come together around material reuse, shared space and new models of partnership.
The morning brought together People and Place peers, Camden Council officers, mentors and friends to spend time with the teams behind Tipping Point East and explore some of the ideas underpinning their work. The afternoon then took those themes into a wider gathering of London-based Community Asset Developers at REinsTate, where conversations about partnership, materials, buildings and collective action continued.
Starting with curiosity
The morning began gently, with coffee, pastries and a few check-ins: how were people arriving, what were they curious about, and – perhaps most importantly – what’s your favourite building material? Rather than arriving with a set objective, the group was invited to bring their own curiosity about Tipping Point East – its partnership model, governance, land, materials and the ways its founding organisations work together. That curiosity became a useful thread through the morning.
What happens when you build an alliance?
Tipping Point East is the result of a partnership between RESOLVE Collective, Yes Make and Material Cultures, working together on a 7,000+ sqm site in Silvertown. The site brings together material reuse, workshops, learning, research and shared space.
What makes the project particularly interesting is not simply what each organisation does individually, but what becomes possible between them. The teams shared their experiences of building an alliance across different organisations, with different expertise, aesthetics and ways of working. There was space to explore the practical realities too: what gets shared, where things don’t align, what needs negotiating, and what collaboration actually asks of the people involved.
The organisations have retained their individual identities while contributing to something collective – a useful reminder that collaboration doesn’t have to mean becoming the same.
For People and Place peers, that feels particularly relevant. Much of this work depends on alliances: with councils, neighbours, funders, developers, professionals and other community organisations. Bringing different expertise and perspectives together can create possibilities that would be difficult for any one organisation to reach alone.
Getting under the skin of Tipping Point East
The tour offered a chance to see some of that thinking in practice. Moving around the site, the group heard from the different organisations that make up Tipping Point East and got a closer look at the Material Yard, Material Store, workshop, material library and shared spaces.
The focus wasn’t simply on what happens within each part of the site, but on the infrastructure that connects them: the materials being shared, the knowledge being exchanged and the relationships that make the wider ecosystem possible. There was plenty to chew on for a group whose own work will, at some point, become physical places.
Stewarding assets inevitably means grappling with land, buildings and materials – as well as the systems and relationships that shape what can happen with them. Spending time somewhere that is actively rethinking how materials are sourced, reused and shared brought those ideas into sharper focus, connecting the practical realities of construction with wider questions about how places are made and who gets to shape them.
From one kind of collective action to another
After a morning immersed in Tipping Point East’s approach to partnership and material reuse, the group walked down the road to REinsTate – another East London project exploring what’s possible when people come together around a building and a shared vision for its future.
There, the group joined around 60 London-based Community Asset Developers working to activate and steward buildings and spaces in their neighbourhoods. The afternoon shifted from looking closely at one particular model to making space for peer exchange, practical workshops and new connections. Many of the morning’s themes continued to ripple through those conversations – from working with councils and developers to finding technical support, navigating funding and building stronger networks of solidarity.
A day spent learning alongside one another
The field trip offered a chance to look closely at two very different projects, while also stepping back to notice some of the ideas connecting them. Both Tipping Point East and REinsTate are exploring what can happen when people come together around underused spaces, shared resources and a different vision for how places can work.
For People and Place, those connections matter. Asset stewardship is rarely a neat or linear process. It involves building relationships, finding allies, learning from others and working out what might be possible in a particular place.
That was the gift of the day: time to step outside our usual contexts, spend time with people doing things differently, and carry some of that learning back into the work happening across Camden.
Credit note: All photos in this blog were taken by Natalie Sloan, of Little Red Hen Films