In the final weeks of 2024 Fight for Peace completed a redesign of the central hub area of the Academy as part of the London Borough of Newham’s People Powered Places programme.

The project aimed to evolve Fight for Peace’s hub – which was initially built in 2019 to connect the composite parts of the Academy – into a more welcoming, receptive and comfortable space for young people, parents and visitors alike.

With Fight for Peace’s commitment to youth leadership front of mind, a team of eight young people and staff was assembled to tackle this ambitious task together. 

“Young people have been expressing the need for a more fit for purpose hub space for some time, and so it was a great opportunity to put some much needed work into this area,” said Head of Operations James Morgan, who was part of the project’s steering group. 

“Working together as a group of young people and staff allowed us to create a space that really represented our collective needs,” he added.

“I am very grateful to have been a part of the hub redesign as I can see how it has impacted Fight for Peace positively as a whole,” said Ashlei, who is part of the Youth Power youth leadership group at Fight for Peace. “It’s also really nice to see how our ideas were turned into a reality in the new hub.”

Among the top priorities of the project were to build connection and comfort. To this end, an extensive new sofa and eight cube stools were purchased and installed in the space, alongside a large table with room for ten people, and smaller coffee tables for young people to gather round, play games, catch up and build relationships.

Entertainment was another key consideration in the planning of the space, the steering group purchasing a large flat screen TV – where combat sports bouts, music and upcoming events promo can all be shown – and a foosball table to add to the longstanding table tennis table that survived from the hub’s previous incarnation.

Finally, efforts were made to ensure that the space continued to reflect the much treasured Fight for Peace brand, the furniture colours all representing the organisation’s primary and secondary brand colours. And the entire hub space was given a fresh lick of paint to bring it back up to scratch. 

“This project taught me consistency and the ability of actually working together,” said Aziza, who is part of Youth Power and the project’s steering group. “My voice was heard and listened to. When some of my ideas were shown into the final piece of the hub I felt important and taken seriously. It gave me a chance to feel more involved with Fight for Peace.”

The hub redesign was one of 120 projects funded by the People Powered Places programme in 2023. These successful projects were chosen from a total of 366 applications via a public vote involving some 10,000 residents. The launch of the new hub coincided with Fight for Peace’s 2024 Annual Awards, a fitting ceremony for young people to test out what the reinvigorated space had to offer. While renovations pause for a moment to take a breath, there are some more additions planned for the hub including a painted mural behind the reception desk, and some large framed pictures representing our work – watch this space!

Fight for Peace would like to say a huge thank you to everyone that participated in the People Powered Place public vote, without whom this project would not have been possible. We would also like to extend our thanks to the London Borough of Newham for funding this opportunity.