The mayor of Newham, Sir Robin Wales, and mayor of London Boris Johnson launched a competition to find ‘meanwhile’ uses for three prominent brownfield sites – and the adjacent water – in the Royal Docks and Canning Town. The sites are owned by the London Development Agency or the London Borough of Newham and lie on or close to the route between the main Olympic site at Stratford and the ExCel Centre, which will host several events for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The competition, which is part of the transformation of the Royal Docks, was a great opportunity for developers, investors, designers, artists, thinkers, entrepreneurs, community groups – anyone can enter, including commercial groups – to devise temporary uses for these prominent sites. The winning entries were to be local projects that reach a global audience. Ash Sakula and partners’ winning competition entry, the Canning Town Caravanserai is a welcoming oasis hosted by locals, open to all visitors. For two years it will explore and prototype new local employment opportunities, cultivating vital cultural and economic legacies for Newham. It is a living manifesto for a new generation of public spaces, integrating forums and facilities, workshops and workspaces, all collaboratively produced by hosts and guests, with artists and architects, thinkers and makers, businesses and communities. It centres on a vibrant, adaptable, open courtyard, surrounded on all sides by busy shops and bustling production spaces where innovative and sustainable business ventures are invented or re-imagined. The competition was entered with our partners EXYZT // Space Makers // Ash Sakula // Community Links // The Kindest Group // // Technology Will Save Us // Wayward Plant Registry // Atmos // Davd Barrie Associates The Canning Town meanwhile project is part of a cluster of projects belong to our work in the field of Adaptable Neighbourhoods . Please click here for more information: Adaptable Neighbourhoods:Canning Town