History

Built in the 1950s, this site was originally the head offices for a large consortium of industrial spaces which produced dyes and food colourings.

In its second phase of life it became a call centre and switchboard that dealt with all the enquiries that came through to Waltham Forest Council.

The building is now home to Switchboard Studios, a creative co-working space whose name pays homage to the building’s council heritage.

Although it was renovated in 2018, like Sutherland House the site retains a number of original architectural details. See the terrazzo flooring on the staircase, for example.

After receiving funds from the GLA’s London Regeneration Fund, Switchboard Studios was designed and operated by High Street Works, a joint-venture between Jan Kattein Architects and Meanwhile Space. Waltham Forest Council took over management in 2020.

Switchboard Studio is now home to fine artists, record labels, and digital creatives, including audio designers, graphic studios, and videographers. Switchboard Studios' creative workspace consists of 26 Studios and an event space.

It’s 26 studios range in size from 14 to 35 square metres. Each provides a dedicated workspace for an SME creative business.

Before you head out, be sure to check out Switchboard’s hidden gem.

Inside the event space – ‘The Circuit Room’ – you’ll find a walk-in safe that was used to store the cash that paid the industrial workers in the 1950s.

You can still see the functioning safe door which weighs nearly half a ton.

Open Studios: Switchboard Studios

Step inside one of East London's most vibrant creative hubs for a weekend that reveals the extraordinary diversity of talent thriving in Walthamstow's industrial spaces.

Colour Lab returns to Switchboard Studios for London Design Festival 2026 (Thursday 17th - Saturday 19th), the third iteration of a successful LDF programme in Waltham Forest, this year developed in research partnership with Chroma Waste Lab from Australia, and following colour from waste to value.

A three-day, waste-to-studio experience of exhibition, open studio, and hands-on participatory sessions, tracing how post-consumer textiles become new pigments, dyes, and inks. Visitors encounter waste differently here, not as the end of a material's life, but as the beginning of its next one. The exhibition presents both the science and the design applications: what the pigment looks like, and how designers and makers could put it to work.

Building on Colour Lab 2025's nature-to-studio journey, this year's programme moves from origins to futures, gathered around a central question:
“What is the value in waste colour, and who in our community holds the knowledge to unlock it?”

Each day has a different focus and activity workshop

Throughout, the exhibition remains free and open: material evidence of what colour can look like when it's made differently.

Switchboard Studios, home to 26 creative businesses and managed by Waltham Forest Council since 2020, provides dedicated workspace for creative SMEs in this recognised Creative Enterprise Zone.

Perfect for families, design enthusiasts, and anyone curious about the creative process. Activities are free and drop in, with advance booking required only for specific Colour of Saying workshops.