My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
Yes
I am 18 years of age or above, by the application deadline.
Yes
My organisation is a registered UK entity and has a London-based address.
Yes
My organisation is a non-profit (e.g. school, university, or local authority) — not a for-profit, which can only join as a partner.
Yes
If there is a for-profit organisation as a partner in my initiative, they work on a cost-recovery basis only.
Yes
My solution is implemented at scale, or if not, I have a clear business plan, a minimum viable solution (prototype, pilot, or proof of concept), evidence of access to a lease for the space you are leveraging, and evidence of work or impact in London within your coalition.
Yes
I am aware that, if I am submitting more than one application to a Challenge run by Ashoka and Go! London, only one of them is able to progress through the stages.
Yes
Are you an employee (and their children and grandchildren) of Ashoka or any of its respective affiliates and participating advertising and promotion agencies?
No
I have read and accepted the Challenge Terms & Conditions.
Yes
First Name
Jeffrey
Last Name
Lennon
Pronouns
He/Him
Email address
I would like to receive notifications and updates about Go London!, Ashoka, Ashoka Changemakers, and other Ashoka opportunities.
1
Are you an Ashoka Fellow?
No
Are you applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow?
No
If you are applying from an organization founded by an Ashoka Fellow, please specify the name and organisation of the fellow below.
Lead Organisation Name
Hammersmith and Fulham Council
Year that you started/ registered your organisation
1965
Initiative Title
The Nomadic Playground
My initiative is designed for and delivered in London
1
Website URL(s) or Social Media Handles
www.lbhf.gov.uk
Initiative Stage
Idea (You have a solid concept and are hoping to get started in the future)
Sectors/Themes: What topic does your project most directly relate to?
Children & Youth
Initiative Summary: Describe your initiative in one sentence
The Nomadic Playground is a unique co-designed initiative working with young people that will transform vacant, underused and non-traditional spaces into inclusive places for sport, street culture and active play. Using bespoke, moveable assets that travel to where they are most needed, the project aims to shift power over public space and remove barriers to physical activity and play for young Londoners facing the greatest inequalities.
The Problem: What problem are you helping to solve and who will benefit the most from your solution? How close are you to the problem and/or community impacted?
Children and young people across Hammersmith and Fulham and beyond face a profound inequality of access to safe, welcoming and high-quality spaces. Limited green space and play within many communities create environments where meaningful play is unavailable to many young people, particularly those from low-income households or global majority communities. This problem is structural. Across the borough and the wider city, vacant development sites, empty car parks, underused community buildings and neglected public spaces sit idle while children grow up without safe places to move, play and connect. Existing solutions and projects are almost always ‘fixed’ – tied to a single location, expensive to build and maintain, and often unable to reach the communities most in need. There is an urgent need for innovative, moveable, community-designed solutions that activate underserved spaces now, while generating the insights needed to design better permanent places for the future. The Nomadic Playground directly addresses that need – starting first in Hammersmith and Fulham and designed to travel.
Your approach: How are you/ will you addressing the problem outlined above? How does your solution unlock or reimagine access to spaces for sport and physical activity? What role do landowners, local authorities, or other decision-making stakeholders play in your approach? We'd love to know about the origin of your idea, and what was your "aha" moment" that led you to take action?
The Nomadic Playground is a borough-wide initiative led by Hammersmith and Fulham Council working with partners that will bring inclusive, joyful, high-energy play and sport to underserved spaces across the borough and beyond through a fleet of moveable, community-designed assets. The approach is built on a simple but powerful idea: that a play offer can be flexible enough to adapt alongside changing spaces and circumstances - activating a vacant development site today, a housing estate courtyard tomorrow and a car park the week after. Working through collaborative design labs facilitated by Jan Kattein Architects, children, young people and families will design and potentially be involved in creating a suite of modular, sustainable, transportable play and sports assets - a kit of parts that turns any urban space into a playable destination. Young people will hold real decision-making power over which assets are built, how spaces are programmed, and potentially even where the playground travels next. Our project responds to these challenges through the considered design of equipment, manufactured to provide straightforward installation play ‘templates’, easily constructed and de-constructed, with the potential to instantly turn any empty space into a playable space. The first activation would take place on the Empress Space at Earls Court – the 44-acre Opportunity Area development site – with this flexible space to be provided by the Earls Court Development Company. The learning from this process where young people co-design and create here can feed directly into the thinking around the neighbourhood that will be built on their doorstep. From Earls Court, the play assets will tour to further council-identified locations across the borough, extending reach
Collaboration with young people and the community: In what ways does your initiative engage young people and community members closest to the problem? What role do they play in building the solution you deliver?
Collaboration is the foundation of this project, not an add-on. Communities across Hammersmith and Fulham, and particularly those alongside the Earls Court site, many of whom were excluded from that space for a generation, deserve to be active decision-makers, not passive respondents. This project shifts that power dynamic from the outset. The centrepiece is the Space Ambassador programme. Young people from across the borough are recruited, trained and empowered to hold genuine authority throughout the project – which could include shaping which assets are built, approving design outputs and deciding where the playground travels. These are not advisory roles – the process ensures that the assets produced will genuinely reflect how young people want to move and play. Design Labs facilitated by Jan Kattein Architects with support from an academic institution such as the Royal College of Art or Imperial College London will bring together children, their carers, families and others co-producers. The RCA's ‘Matter Out Of Place’ project activated the Earls Court site in 2025 with postgraduate students testing out innovative spatial interventions alongside community members – demonstrating that genuine co-production here is not theoretical. It has already happened. Central to the project will be Solidarity Sports, a charity based in West Kensington that works with hundreds of local children and their families. Their focus is around ensuring children recovering from complex trauma, young people with disabilities, and those for whom traditional sport feels unwelcoming are not just included but centred. Their existing relationships with local families, and their connections with ECDC and LBHF, means that this project begins with trust already established.
Potential for/Evidence of Impact: How do you imagine your initiative will make a difference in unlocking spaces for and access to physical activity and sport so far? If you have already implemented it, what difference have you made so far? What is the impact your initiative has had , and or what impact do you envision having in the future?
The partnership has a strong, relevant track record providing genuine proof of concept. Hammersmith and Fulham Council is the democratically accountable public body responsible for the communities this project serves, with direct ownership and influence over spaces, housing estates and community buildings that will form the Nomadic Playground's future touring network. LBHF are uniquely placed to unlock coordinate across partners, and ensure the project delivers lasting benefit for residents across the borough rather than just a single site. Jan Kattein Architects have worked with over 10,000 children and young people across London regeneration projects and delivered multiple GLA-funded initiatives. Solidarity Sports is a sports and play focused local charity reaching hundreds of children and families annually. ECDC's Empress Space activation programme has already drawn hundreds of thousands of people to the formerly long-closed off location proposed to host the first activation of The Nomadic Playground. The ‘Matter Out Of Place’ project that took place in 2025 demonstrated that this exact site can host design-led community activation – proof of concept on the ground, not in theory. The need is independently evidenced by assessments undertaken by LBHF that has identified enhanced play provision as a resident-identified priority for the directly adjacent communities. We will measure impact across three dimensions. Participation: a minimum of 500 children and young people during the initial activation, with the touring model reaching further locations within 18 months, targeting 1,000 additional participants. Spatial impact: at least 3 underused spaces unlocked for play.
Innovation: What is different about your initiative compared to other solutions that are already out there? How is your approach original and innovative?
The Nomadic Playground innovates most significantly at the level of systemic change – and this is what distinguishes it from other moveable play project in London. Because of the involvement of the landowner ECDC and a range of other partners, there will be a direct feedback loop between the project’s community co-design outputs and future permanent urban development. The play preferences and design choices of young people from the local area could be referenced into the future neighbourhood being built on their doorstep. This is community co-authorship – a genuine shift in how development decisions get made, with the potential to change practice across London. At the level of model, the project pioneers genuine community co-ownership of temporary activation. The young people involved hold real decision-making power. The collaborative Design Labs will produce co-authored briefs. The touring model ensures that the investment travels where it is most needed rather than just serving one postcode. At the level of assets, modular, sustainable, repairable equipment designed as a kit of parts can turn any urban space into a place of joy and play within hours. These assets would be designed around the street culture, non-traditional sport and informal play that young people actually enjoy, not rigid, intimidating formats that can exclude the children most in need of inclusive, fun, high-energy activity. A focus on using climate-conscious materials and repairability replace the throwaway logic of most temporary installations.
Viability and Scalability: How are you setting your initiative up for success, and what is your plan to ensure operational sustainability of your solution and its impact? What are your ideas for scaling your initiative to the next level?
The Nomadic Playground is built for long-term success : a strong cross-sector partnership; opportunities for long-term sustainability beyond grant funding; and a replicable model designed from the outset to travel across the borough and beyond. Hammersmith and Fulham Council (governance, accountability, civic duty) leads a partnership combining ECDC (private sector land and resources), Solidarity Sports (charitable delivery and youth engagement), JKA and an academic organisation (design, engagement and fabrication). For-profit partners are engaged on a cost-recovery basis only. ECDC provides land, security, storage and support for the initial activation, meaning the grant focuses on co-design, fabrication, community engagement and developing learning outcomes. Financially, the project is designed to move beyond grant dependency through a community hire model. Following the initial activation, assets will be managed by a community-based organisation as a hireable resource – available to housing associations, schools, community halls and other landowners wanting to activate underused spaces across London. This creates a long-term income stream, funding ongoing maintenance and programming. The grant seeds a self-sustaining community asset. A touring schedule would be established, targeting underserved council-owned spaces including housing estates, community buildings and public spaces and parks lacking high quality space. The Toolkit, documenting co-design methodology, fabrication approach, legal access models and operational logistics, would be freely available to enable other London communities and local authorities to replicate the model independently. ECDC has confirmed access to the Earls Court site as an agreement in principle.
Roles and Responsibilities: Describe how responsibilities are shared among your team or partners.
Earls Court Development Company (Private Sector Partner): Provides access to the Empress Space for the initial activation, site security, equipment storage and operational support, including potential support from the on-site Earls Court Skills Centre which could support asset fabrication. ECDC also have links with Academic and Fabrication Partners, who will contribute fabrication facilities, design expertise and other relevant capabilities. ECDC has existing links with a number of institutions and discussions are in progress. Hammersmith and Fulham Council (Lead Applicant): Holds overall accountability for the project; provides Governance; and manages the grant funding. Leads the borough-wide touring strategy, identifying spaces and buildings where the Nomadic Playground will travel following the initial Earls Court activation. Provides strategic alignment with the council's existing commitments to improving play and public realm, including the West Kensington and Gibbs Green public realm improvement programme, and connects the project to the borough's wider third-sector and community networks. Jan Kattein Architects (Design Partner, cost-recovery basis): Facilitates the Design Lab co-production sessions, oversees materials procurement and leads fabrication of the moveable assets. JKA bring over a decade of participatory architecture and GLA-funded project delivery, with a track record of working with over 10,000 children and young people across London regeneration projects. Solidarity Sports (Charitable Delivery Partner): Leads trauma-informed, inclusive engagement with children, young people and families, ensuring the most vulnerable community members are centred throughout. Manages the Space Ambassador programme – recruiting, training and remunerating young people as genuine decision-makers – and provides direct delivery expertise for play programming. Based in West Kensington in a building owned by ECDC, with established relationships with the families this project serves.
Upcoming Milestones: Please provide an overview of the milestones that are required for your initiative to come to fruition/to grow.
Months 1–2: Partnership mobilisation – formalising the neccesary partnership agreement and programming ( ie media and communication, evaluation, governance structure and reporting) Months 2–4: Collaborative co-design thorough a series of structured design labs and community engagement events led by JKA and involving Solidarity Sports, ECDC, LBHF, and project partners, working with young people and families from across the borough to define the asset brief and programme. Months 4–7: Fabrication and testing – building the fleet of assets using the Earls Court Skills Centre and potential academic partner fabrication facilities, with community members involved throughout. Testing moveability and accessibility with young people before sign-off. Month 8 onwards: Launch – opening of the Nomadic Playground activation on the Earls Court development site. Months 12 -18: The Nomadic Playground Tour – relocating assets to the first satellite community site within Hammersmith and Fulham, identified by LBHF. Collecting participation data, community feedback and design insights. Months 16– 18: Toolkit and hire model – publishing the Toolkit and establishing the community hire model, transitioning the assets into long-term community management and self-sufficiency.
