Temporary 5,000-cap Venue For London

Aptly called Printworks, the venue will start hosting events of all sorts – arts, culture, fashion, music, film, food, immersive theatre, dance and more – in January 2017, if Southwark Council approves, that is.

Authorities are reviewing the plans for the use of the space, but The Vibration Group, the venue’s operators, seem confident: the first in-house music events series is supposed to be announced on Dec. 1. Conveniently, the old press halls, which Simeon Aldred, head of creative and strategy at The Vibration Group, called “truly magnificent” are already fully soundproof.

Independent electronic music specialist LWE and Broadwick Live are in charge of programming the ticketed events “as well as providing community rehearsal rooms to ensure the space is accessible and beneficial to local collectives and creative incentives of any scale at this interim project,” the announcement reads.

The whole project has an expiration date. The landlords British Land are currently developing the so-called Canada Water Masterplan, which involves a new shopping center, leisure park, work and entertainment spaces, restaurants and more.

Development is expected to take five years, which is the time frame in which Printworks will operate as a multipurpose venue. Gareth Cooper, CEO of Broadwick Live, hopes Printworks “will become one of the most sought after venues in London.”

LWE released a statement saying: “Our business model has always been about finding new and exciting spaces in the capital; in 2014 we started music events in the beautiful grade 1 listed Tobacco Dock, in 2016 we launched Junction 2 at Boston Manor Park with the main stage on an island under a motorway bridge, we didn’t think the best could be still round the corner, but it was, this is the icing on the cake.”