Such is the success of the new Greenwich Design District, the creatives wanting a small studio space must join a waiting list. Located on the Greenwich Peninsula, the developer Knight Dragon announced in 2017 that it was commissioning eight small architects to design a new district for artists close to the O2 and North Greenwich Tube station. Seen by some as a cynical ploy to make the area more appealing to potential buyers by giving it a creative buzz, the district is now finished and is indeed buzzing. It demonstrates that the idea can work given the right type of space coupled with cheap rents.

Unlike the high-rise housing blocks surrounding the design district, this consists of buildings no more than four storeys high packed closely together to give the district an intimate feel. The blocks are mostly muted in appearance, being finished in materials including brick, concrete, aluminium and stainless steel. Two buildings stand out in this largely monochrome landscape, one clad in an orangey-brown Corten weathering steel and the other a vivid green which shifts to a bluer shade depending on how the light is falling. These two buildings also happen to be the only ones constructed from timber.

Designed by Mole Architects, the timber buildings were carefully modelled and designed to minimise embodied carbon and ensure that they would not overheat, a potential problem with lightweight construction and increasing summer temperatures. Now fully occupied, the realities of the different demands of a diverse community mean one of the buildings has been radically altered due to the specific requirements of the tenants. How flexible are these buildings and how are they performing 10 months after the design district formally opened?

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