Waltham Forest Council will award a firm a £1.57million contract to carry out refurbishment works in Tramworks, Hatherley Mews, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter
The ongoing transformation of a 19th Century workshop in Walthamstow into a cultural space is entering its final stages after four years of planning.
Since 2017, The Tramworks in Hatherley Mews, off Hoe Street, has been turned into a creative and commercial hub through a project led by Waltham Forest Council.
The aim, the council says, is to help local businesses grow, boost the borough’s cultural offerings and improve the ‘evening economy’ – giving people more things to do after work.
Now, the council is looking to physically refurbish the space and – according to documents published this week – will award Woodland Interiors Contracting Ltd a £1.57million contract to carry out the works.
Over the past three years, the council has installed new fire protection, upgraded the Victorian watermains, threaded in new fibre optic internet cables, and reinstated the historic cobblestones on the street.
The pair of two-storey blocks comprises residential and commercial units of varying sizes. It was built in the 1800s as stables and workshops to repair the London trams, which were first phased out in 1952.
The firestopping works cost £800,000, while refurbishing some of the commercial units cost £1.9m. It was mostly covered by a £1.96m Levelling Up fund grant.
The cost of the project, however, has ballooned by around £825,000 due to increased construction costs and the complexity of works involving Thames Water and the UK Power Networks. The extra funding was approved in February, bringing the total of £3.58m.
Work has been gradually phased to avoid disruption to both tenants and the new Soho Theatre, which opened its doors to patrons little over a year ago.
Waltham Forest bought the Tramworks in 2017 for £7.75m. Twelve companies in total were considered for the most refurbishment works.
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