The REinsTate project at the Tate Institute, Silvertown — your questions, answered.
1. What is the REinsTate Project?
It starts with a question — why can’t communities have access to wasted buildings? We set out to prove that they can.
The REinsTate project is about physically stepping in to rescue the derelict, but beloved, Tate Institute right here in our community and transform it into an active, affordable community hub, using reclaimed materials to fix it up so local people can actually use it.
The vision is about completely rethinking urban regeneration from the ground up. We want to break the cycle of properties sitting around rotting while local groups and residents desperately need space. The bigger picture is about proving a circular ecology works — where nothing, and no one, gets wasted — and putting the power of our neighbourhoods back into the hands of the people who actually live here.
2. I heard you had loads of money from the Council?
It sounds like a lot, and we did get a solid kickstart — just over a million quid, plus a bit more we scraped together from grants — which we were only allowed to spend on the building works.
We’re incredibly grateful, because it was just enough for us to fix the outside, get solar on the roof and make it watertight to last another 100 years.
But here’s the reality of taking on a massive derelict space: getting this building fully fixed up, safe, and ready for the community is actually going to cost closer to £5 million.
So, while that initial money started the heavy lifting, it’s honestly just a drop in the ocean compared to what’s actually needed. It is nowhere near enough to finish the job. That’s exactly why we rely so much on resourcefulness, reclaimed materials, and community effort to stretch every single penny and bridge that massive gap. It’s a tough challenge and we could use all the help we can get!
3. So what exactly is it going to be?
Instead of a standard commercial development, we are doing a full net-zero retrofit designed to provide what we call “emergency social infrastructure.”
We are packing a lot into the Tate Institute to make it a true Resilience Hub for Silvertown. Instead of just one thing, it’s going to be an entire ecosystem under one roof. Here is the breakdown:
- For working and creating: we are building a dedicated business hub, affordable studios for local creatives, and even a proper music studio.
- For gathering: there will be flexible community rooms and a larger event space for gigs, workshops, and neighbourhood meetups.
- For sharing: we are setting up lending hubs and making a ton of shared resources available. The idea is simple — why buy things you only use once when you can just borrow them from the community?
- For growing: we are going big on green space. We’ll have dedicated growing and planting areas, plus a full community garden where we can get our hands in the dirt and grow our own food.
Basically, it is going to be a living, breathing space where we can work, share, create, and grow together.
Because we operate on a circular economy model, the building will function like a living organism, adapting and evolving based on what the neighbourhood actually needs. It is about turning a historic building back into a high-value asset for Silvertown.
4. Who’s behind it?
The project is led by ReSpace Projects. We are a non-profit that specialises in taking empty, derelict buildings and turning them into thriving community hubs using a circular economy model. We have actually been doing this for over a decade, and we won the formal tender from the council in 2024 to rebuild the Institute right.
To pull off a massive net-zero retrofit like this, we are working with our incredible architects, Office S&M, who completely share our vision for using reclaimed and natural materials. We are also working in direct partnership with Newham Council, the Greater London Authority (GLA), and local universities like UEL, UCL and the LSE. We even have the backing of major stakeholders and funds like the Levelling Up Fund and Tudor Trust.
So it’s a real coalition — grassroots community energy backed by major organisations and brilliant architects, all pulling in the same direction.
5. Do you have jobs or training opportunities?
Absolutely — that’s actually a massive part of the plan.
We are setting up the REinsTate Academy. The idea is simple: if you come down and volunteer your time to help us rebuild, you aren’t just doing free labour. You’ll actually earn recognised certificates in sustainable practice and green construction while you work. You’ll learn real, future-proof skills.
But it doesn’t stop at training. We are designing the space specifically so local people can use it to start their own businesses and actually make money. Whether you need a desk in the business hub, a studio to make your products, or just a space to test out a new idea, we want this building to be a launchpad for you. It’s all about keeping the skills and the wealth right here in the neighbourhood.
6. Why are you only telling us this now?
Honestly? Because we believe in doing the work and proving it first before making a bunch of noise. We didn’t want to just sell the neighbourhood a dream; we wanted to show you actual results.
And we’ve just released our latest Impact Report, which proves exactly what we’ve been quietly pulling off in the background. So far, we’ve already generated nearly £700,000 in social value right here in Newham. That includes rescuing £360,000 worth of materials from the scrap heap, plus massive boosts to the local economy and community wellbeing. By doing things our way, we’ve managed to turn under £2 million of funding into £2.5 million in physical build value. We were even featured as a top project in the Financial Times!
So, we haven’t been keeping secrets — we’ve just been getting our hands dirty and getting the job done. Now that we have concrete proof that this model works for our community, we are ready to shout about it and get everyone through the doors.
7. Is it risky?
Well, yes, it is risky. Doing things a bit differently is. But the truth is, if we tried to run this like a normal business it would fail. Every time.
In fact, three out of four community spaces across London have gone — exactly because that’s what they were forced to do.
We think that what these systems don’t understand is that risk is reduced when people care and take care. And what we’re trying to show here at REinsTate is that — if you do things the right way and people care — you mitigate the risk, and you have a better time doing it, and a more resilient project.
Our challenge is to convince the financial risk people that there are other ways communities can manage risk without having to be millionaires, so they can open the purse strings for real communities instead of just for the rich.
