Hackney Wick | Site description
Hackney Wick is located in the Borough of Hackney. It sits on the western edge of the Olympic Park, across from the River Lea. The River forms its eastern border, while the A12 demarcates its northern and western borders. To the south of Hackney Wick is Fish Island: a former warehouse district that had been an area of heavy industry. They are often referred to together as Hackney Wick Fish Island (HWFI) or Hackney Wick for short. However, Fish Island is in the Borough of Tower Hamlets and differs from Hackney Wick in terms of its demography, built environment and economic life.
HWFI has around 250 artists’ studios and 100 creative businesses and has been designated a Creative Enterprise Zone by the Mayor of London. In Fish Island, there is an above average proportion of people in their 20s-40s in comparison to the Tower Hamlets average. This is reflective of the ‘young artists’, and more recently, the ‘young professional’ demographic seen as typical of HWFI. In Hackney Wick, however, the inverse is true: there are a higher proportion of children and young people below 24 years old, fewer adults between 25-44 and more aged 45 and over, in comparison to Hackney as a whole. Many of these residents live in the social housing estates to the north.
There has been considerable development underway in and around Hackney Wick since the London 2012 Olympics, including a new neighbourhood centre around the Overground station, and East Wick and Sweetwater across the River Lea. Residential development in particular has put immense pressure on local creative businesses in Fish Island, which relied on low rents in warehouses repurposed as live-work spaces. Many of these have been replaced by mid-rise residential apartment blocks. However, the new developments (particularly the neighbourhood centre) provide much-needed services for older residents located in Hackney Wick.
The northern side of Hackney Wick is one of the most deprived areas of the UK. However, a short walk to the south of Fish Island and the neighbourhood is moving towards the UK average. This is likely to reflect the rapidly changing demographic of people moving into the new apartment blocks.