Affordable Workspace Creche - Dalston

V22’s first Workspace Creche opened in September 2017. Our aim is to provide a space for artists, freelancers and entrepreneurs, who are also parents, to work alongside a crèche facility for their children.

The enterprise is run by V22 Foundation ‐ a not‐for‐profit organisation ‐ and, if successful, we want to make such an offer an integral part of V22's studio and workspace buildings across the city. Our business plan is based on the most affordable model we could come up with. We have tried to build flexibility into it without escalating administration costs, and hope we may grow to be more flexible as we settle into our daily rhythms.

What we want to create, in partnership with our parents and carers, is an ethos of co‐caring for our children in an environment built on a child‐centered approach to daily routines which celebrates the importance of play.

We believe, like Albert Einstein, that play is the highest form of research, and we take seriously our commitment to a child‐led approach, not only to play, but also to the changing design ofthe creche space, the choice of books for our library, and even visits to the local market to choose fruit and vegetables for snack time.

The crèche has dedicated access to the lovely Dalston Eastern Curve Garden which means that our children can have a daily outing to this lovely community green space. The children also use local facilities like the library at the end of the road and the local Ridley Road market. Parents have already started to get involved offering workshops on their specialisms or hobbies, these include: growing plants, looking at art and painting. We hope more parents wil become involved as we belive in a co-operative model of childcare and believe it adds to the culture of co-caring which our crèche provides. 

Sessions run from 9am - 12 noon and 1.30pm - 4.30pm. An outline of our daily routine can be found here, and FAQ's here. 

Parents of children under five (or expecting one soon) who would like to register their interest, can fill out our short form here and we will get back to you with news, waiting list information, and availability.

We hope you will join us in creating the next generation of creative parenthood.

We are delighted that the Mayor of London pledged to our crowdfunding campaign on Spacehive to help to set up the crèche. He said: 'I am delighted to be supporting projects like the V22 Workspace Creche that will help strengthen local communities and help to make London an even greater city.’