A new pop-up local business campus is set to open in Brixton, London, UK. Pop Brixton will be home to local independent start-ups and small businesses. It will be housed in a temporary shipping container village, but it is the project's ethos that is perhaps its most innovative facet.

The project's aim is to support local jobs, training and enterprise by providing affordable co-working space for start-ups. It will support an estimated 80 entrepreneurs and create around 200 jobs, as well as 12 apprenticeships being paid the London Living Wage.

Tenants at Pop Brixton will primarily be independent businesses chosen not only for their line of work, but for their benefit to the local community. Applicants are rated based on their business plan, their locality and their commitment to supporting the local area and community.

An effort has been made to to ensure that tenants will compliment rather than compete with each other. Furthermore, tenants are obliged to commit a minimum of four hours a month to skill-sharing with other tenants and the local community.

The businesses at Pop Brixton will span food and drink, retail, the creative industries and the arts. Among them will be independent vintage clothing retailer Make Do & Mend. Sarah Bennett, owner of Make Do & Mend, explains that the project has given her the opportunity to establish her business on a full-time basis.

Pop Brixton will feature farm garden and greenhouse areas, local artist exhibitions, workshops and an event space

"It's allowing me to do so in a more affordable way than renting a shop on the high street and within a vibrant and exciting project in a fab part of London," explains Bennett to Gizmag. "It's going to bring more people into the area as a whole, so more business for everyone, and it's putting Brixton on the map for doing something innovative, forward thinking and creative."

Bennett describes the stacked shipping containers as being "quite beautiful" and says the site invites you in and encourages you to explore. It was designed by Carl Turner Architects, whose previous projects have included the unusually shaped Slip House (also in Brixton) and an open-source floating house.

Over 50 containers will be used in total, providing both a quick and environmentally-friendly means of construction. In addition to business units, Pop Brixton will feature a farm garden and greenhouse area, local artist exhibitions, workshops and a 200-capacity event space available to hire, or for free to local people and organizations.

The facility is described as a "meanwhile project," meaning that it will be located in a space that would be otherwise unused. The Pop Brixton project will be occupying the site temporarily until at least October 2017, when the city council intends to redevelop it.

Pop Brixton is due to open on May 29. Second and third phases of the project will continue being built over the coming months.

The video below shows some of the construction work that's been going on to create Pop Brixton.

Source: Pop Brixton