A two-metre-wide artwork by Grayson Perry that honours Dagenham’s inter-war Becontree Estate has been installed as the focus of an Apparata Architects-designed housing and workspace project in east London.

The practice’s A House for Artists in Barking town centre provides flexible living and working space for 12 artists and their families. Under a scheme run by Create London and funded by the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, the artists commit to delivering free creative programmes for the neighbourhood in return for reduced rent.

Construction of the building completed last year, but Perry’s artwork – titled Inspiration Lives Here – has only just been installed in the complex’s central courtyard. The Corten-steel sculpture, which is part hand-painted, takes the form of a row of Becontree houses. It also serves as a light to illuminate the courtyard.

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