community/cultural
Robson Kelly, 1993
The Soanes Centre, Southern Grove, E3 4PX
What does an equitable environmental education look like in London? And how does learning about the natural world connect to life in a changing city? Join us at the Soanes Centre, a purpose-built outdoor education and community centre in one of London’s most densely populated and rapidly changing boroughs to explore these questions and more, with pond dipping and activities for all ages.
Mile End
Our building is step free and has accessible facilities. The pond areas are unfenced, and children should be supervised.
An inclusive and restful environment with gentle activity. Visitors will be guided to explore the building and the surrounding area.
10:30–15:30
Volunteers from Save Soanes will offer tours of the building, including a photographic display charting its history from 1993 to present.
11:00–15:00
This mapping activity will encourage participants to reflect on our environmental education mission and how it relates to their own lives.
11:00–15:00
Setpoint’s head of education, Dimuthu Meehitiya, will help visitors discover and learn about some of the wildlife in the dipping ponds, our
The Soanes Centre was built in 1993 as a purpose-built environmental study and community centre within Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park. It was managed directly by local government for the first three years, but despite ambitions to develop it as a key borough-wide resource, it closed in 1996 due to a lack of funding. In 1997, it was renovated and reopened by Setpoint London East (at the time operating as SATRO), and has been run as a pioneering outdoor education centre serving the local area ever since. Each year, more than 8,000 East London schoolchildren use the centre to learn about nature and the environment and develop their scientific curiosity. Outside of school hours, it is a community space used by many different groups.
The building was designed by architects Robson Kelly, who also worked on its renovation. While today it may read as a somewhat unglamorous building typical of the 1990s, it included a few unusual features that spoke to aspirations for its role as an environmental study centre – from an early example of a green roof, to a watercourse running through the entrance hall that would allow for pond dipping indoors!
The Soanes Centre is part of a generation of community buildings that, after 30 years of use, are in need of investment. Setpoint London East are aiming to model a community-led retrofit that will future-proof the building, bring greater flexibility to its use, and embed environmental education into every stage of the design and renovation process at no cost to the local authority.
In Summer 2023, Setpoint London East received an eviction notice from Tower Hamlets Council which gave one week to vacate the building after 27 years of service to the community. The Save Soanes campaign began, and thankfully, the eviction notice was rescinded within a week.
The campaign recently presented 2,000 signatures in support of Setpoint being granted a lease for the Soanes Centre to the Council, alongside Mudchute Farm and Leila’s Shop, who have also been campaigning on lease issues.
Conversations about the centre’s future are still ongoing, but a lease has not been offered.
Guided tour / Walking tour
cemetery, public realm/landscape, walk/tour, garden
One of the magnificent 7 cemeteries. Burials ceased 1966, now 31 acres of woodland, meadows & ponds including the Soanes Centre (Robson Kelly 1993). Of outstanding importance for flora and fauna, set amongst funereal monuments, some listed
Thomas Wyatt & David Brandon, 1841
