After doing a trial in West Bromwich with the Longhouse bursary artists and Scott Farlow, I revised my ideas a little about the event I wanted to create. Firstly, even though the dawn was spectacular, and we had talked about the idea of applauding, at the time it felt too forced, and also unnecessary. If I was interested in the applause as a collective action, then in fact just being together, discussing observations as a group and sharing food was enough. It would be interesting to see if this changes when there’s a larger group.

The setting – indoors, and high up with a view – was also on trial. I decided it was important to have a good view  from high up to be able to see the sky and horizon properly, and to help in creating a sense of occasion. Indoors made sense for December, the discomfort of being outdoors in low temperature would have detracted, but it felt important to sense the outdoors as much as possible – being able to hear sounds, and feel the air. I did ask about access to the roof, but it was out of the question as Premier Inn, who lease the building said they did not lease the roof and public access would anyway not be permitted.

Going forward, finding a tall building, which I could throw open to a public audience in the early hours of the morning, was tricky. I did quite a bit of research on multi-storey car parks… partly inspired by Hannah Barry gallery in Peckham which stages the Bold Tendencies sculpture exhibition on the top floor of Peckham Multistorey Car Park. I was aware that multi-storey car parks are often designed for public access to the roof, whereas most tall buildings aren’t and tend to have elements that would make public access unacceptable e.g. air conditioning / lift equipment and similar. Also, Multi-storey car parks are pretty durable and hard to damage… and if there aren’t cars there as it’s after hours, then there is little of value in the building (perhaps?). Also, it goes without saying that in a terrorism-aware climate then a request to gather on a rooftop is suspect! Particularly when the people attending will be at least partly drawn from open invitation.

I was introduced to Coin Street Community Builders – and the roof terrace of the Coin Street Community Centre (image above). And while there was enthusiasm for the event, and an opportunity to draw on existing networks of people connected to the centre, the location, next to residential flats meant that there was a restriction on use of the terrace that covered not only late nights but also early morning times. While Scott encouraged me to investigate further – and see if I could gain support from the nearby residents  – I looked into a further venue option, and found it really attractive… and able to be amenable to my needs.

Provided the event is properly invigilated, Hackney Historic Buildings Trust are happy to have a group event on the roof of St Augustine’s Tower which has a 360 degree panorama across east London, as the tower is at Hackney Central. I was also particularly interested in the event taking place in an urban district and also in a place that has some sense of being a distinct neighbourhood – which I believe Hackney does.