Deptford

Redevelopment Project

Exciting new plans for Cockpit Deptford

We recently submitted a planning application to expand and improve Cockpit Deptford.

  • The building will open its doors to the community with a courtyard garden accessed from Creekside and small, public cafe.
  • A new, ground floor education space will host workshops, exhibitions and events.
  • New single storey studios in the rear yard and an internal reconfiguration will improve facilities for the makers’ community and create space for 20 new businesses.
  • The existing wall alongside Creekside with the Love over Gold mural is in a poor state of repair and will require removal to open up the courtyard garden and provide open public access.

We are working with Cooke Fawcett Architects on the project, read more about the project design in Architects’ Journal

The existing wall alongside Creekside with the Love Over Gold mural will require significant repair and opening up to provide open public access to the courtyard garden. (You can find out more about plans for the Love Over Gold mural below.)

A new welcoming public entrance will be created for the local community through the existing exterior wall on Creekside, opening up the creative studio space and providing public access to a courtyard garden and cafe. We are exploring creative ideas to preserve the mural for years to come. Come along to our consultation events to share your ideas.

In the meantime, you can view our digital brochure here.

Public Consultation

A sensitive renovation will see the Deptford building open its doors to the local community with a courtyard garden accessed from Creekside and small, public cafe. New flexible space on the ground floor will allow makers to host workshops, exhibitions and craft events. Additionally new studios in the rear yard and an internal reconfiguration will improve facilities for the makers’ community and create space for 20 new businesses.

Throughout the summer, we’ll be developing our ideas for a public art strategy which will reimagine the Love Over Gold mural along our Creekside wall, which dates back nearly fifty years, and help ensure that its message weaves into our future and reflects our desire to welcome the Deptford community into our new spaces.

Get In touch

If you have any questions for the project team, here’s how to get in touch:

Interwoven with local stories

Do you know the story of the mural Love Over Gold? The old wall alongside Creekside is part of the local history of the area and Cockpit Deptford is exploring creative ideas to preserve this artwork for years to come.

Timeline

  • 1975 Crossfields-resident art student painted graffiti Love Over Gold on the brick wall of what was then the council-owned Drake House.
  • 1977 Mark Knopfler and other members of Dire Straits performed an early gig on Crossfields Estate.
  • 1982 Dire Straits album ‘Love Over Gold’ was released inspired by the graffiti.
  • 1989 South London-born artist, Gary Drostle, was commissioned to create the mural, titled Love Over Gold.
  • 2001 Cockpit Deptford opens affordable studio space for craft and makers.
  • 2011 Rotting timber doors in wall removed and replaced with steel doors.
  • 2021 32 years later, the wall and mural are in a poor state of repair with structural cracks and crumbling brickwork.

Repairing the wall and creating a welcoming public entrance on this street frontage will ‘open up’ the creative studio space for the local community to the new courtyard garden and café.

Celebrating Love Over Gold

The Love Over Gold dates back nearly 50 years and is an important part of Crossfield’s cultural history. The ‘Love Over Gold’ graffiti is thought to have originally been painted by a Crossfields resident art student in 1975 on the brick wall at the front of what was then the Council owned building, Drake House. Artist Gary Drostle then worked with nine schools and the local community to create the mural based on this ‘Love over Gold’ title.

The mural encapsulates the community at the time with the central part of the mural representing the deprivation within Deptford and the exterior parts of the wall representing an imagined future of wealth redistribution.

The renovation and creation of a public opening into the front yard necessitates partial removal of the existing Love Over Gold mural on the Creekside wall. Due to this and the need to repair extensive parts of the wall, a new public artwork will be commissioned to replace the existing mural. The focus of this commission will be on:

  • Place: celebrating / reflecting the history of Creekside and Deptford (making it in London)
  • People: celebrating & reflecting local community & communities (together we’ll make it)
  • Prosperity: Love Over Gold (making a better world)

Furthermore, building an interactive exhibition within the new building will celebrate the history and legacy of the mural. As the mural was painted in 1989, asking locals for their pictures and fond memories of the mural. This can be an on-going project which encourages the community to get involved.

In 2017, Gary, who created the ‘Love Over Gold’ mural, created a community public artwork for Brixton’s new Eythorne Park – Myatt’s Field North. Through workshops with local residents, Gary gathered photographs and images of the community and  fired them onto porcelain tiles to create a mosaic of memory. Historical research of the area was added to these community photographs to create ‘The Tangerine Tree’ a ‘true history ‘of the area. You can find out more about the project here.

Please contact the project team by email, by writing to us or on social media to share your views on the proposals and ideas for capturing the Love Over Gold story as part of the future of this valuable creative space.