Open Places FAQ
What is Open Places?
Open Places is Havering London’s public art commissioning programme. It’s part of our ambition to make Havering a destination for culture and belonging, celebrating the borough’s design heritage while inviting artists and communities to reimagine what it means to belong here.
As a small organisation, our remit is to champion art and help improve the public realm in Havering, in ways that are rooted in the borough’s own places, people and history.
The first commissions under Open Places are now being installed, and this page is here to answer the questions we expect people will have.
The two artworks
Open Places has so far commissioned two pieces of work.
The Now Expanded
By Joanne Tatham & Tom O’Sullivan
A sculptural clock tower in Romford town centre, clad in richly coloured handmade tiles. It draws on the decorative rooflines and tile-work of the Gidea Park Garden Suburb, and on Romford’s own vistas: the tile transfers include local landscapes, both urban and green.
The tiles are handmade in the UK by Craven Dunnill Jackfield, based at the Jackfield Tile Works in Ironbridge, Shropshire, which is the oldest surviving purpose-built tile factory in the world, in continuous production since 1872. A work exploring Romford’s tile heritage is itself made using genuine heritage tile craft.
Standing Timbers
By Richard Woods
A set of tall, brightly coloured timber-effect sculptures, cast in aluminium but finished to look like stacked, processed timber from a builder’s yard. They celebrate the value of Havering’s green spaces, and will be placed across St George’s Health Hub and Stubbers.
Split across a health site and a green, publicly accessible outdoor learning site, the work is intended to build a small art trail and a lasting legacy for the borough, somewhere people can return to it again and again.
Who funded this?
Open Places is funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
Havering London successfully bid for £100,000 of UKSPF money to deliver cultural projects in the borough. That funding can only be spent specifically on the project we bid to deliver: it can’t be redirected to other uses.
Did the Council Pay for this?
The money is UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), which is central government funding. The Council holds and administers Havering’s UKSPF pot, and Havering London (an independent organisation, legally separate from the Council) bid in 2025 for a portion of it and claims against it to deliver Open Places.
Who’s going to be looking after this?
UKSPF funding is for delivering the project itself, not for its long-term, ongoing upkeep, so Havering London has arranged separate maintenance funding alongside the build.
For The Now Expanded, in the centre of Romford, Havering London has allocated maintenance funding that is being handed over to Romford BID (Business Improvement District). For Standing Timbers, the host sites at St George’s Health & Wellbeing Hub and Stubbers are looking after the works locally on the ground.
Who decided on this, and how?
Havering London invited several artists to work with our lead curator to explore Havering as a place, through visits, research and conversations, before any artwork was proposed.
Their proposals then went to our People’s Panel, an open panel that anyone in Havering has been able to join, to help shape and decide on the direction of public art in the borough. Alongside this, we consulted a range of local stakeholders, particularly in and around Romford, including Romford Civic Society, to talk through the work.
Wouldn’t this money be better spent on something else?
We know people have different views on where public money should go, and that’s a fair conversation to have. Havering London is an arts organisation: our purpose is to support and enrich people’s lives through artistic activity, and our remit has to stay within that. We’d genuinely welcome anyone raising funds or campaigning for other priorities alongside us.
We don’t work in isolation. Havering London is part of a wider ecology of organisations across the borough working on different things, health, education, community support, and more, and we often work alongside them to support their aims through our own activity. Culture is one part of what makes a place more resilient. We’re here specifically to champion and support Havering’s communities through art and culture, and we hope people can find value in that even where it isn’t their own personal priority.
What guides our public art commissioning?
Anything Havering London commissions is tested against the same set of values:
- Long-term over temporary. We favour permanent, well-made public art using durable materials over temporary murals.
- Change and legacy. We want work that leaves something lasting for the borough, not just a moment.
- Heritage and identity. We look for work that is rooted in Havering’s own history, landscapes and character, rather than generic public art that could sit anywhere.