London is in a period of transformation. Hybrid working, changing cultural patterns and shifting urban priorities are reshaping the way people interact with the city. These changes ask difficult questions of places once defined by office life. If people no longer have to be here, what will make them want to be?
This was the challenge Nuveen Real Estate set out to address at Devonshire Square (DSQ), a five-acre estate at the meeting point of the City and East London. Once largely seen as a cut-through, DSQ is being reimagined as a cultural, social, and commercial destination. Acrylicize, alongside Squire & Partners and Townshend Landscape Architects, was invited to collaborate with Nuveen to help bring this ambition to life.
Our task was not simply to improve how the site looked, but to consider how it could feel. How could these spaces encourage people to pause, connect, and belong? We worked with Nuveen to frame the project around three principles which became touchstones for every intervention.
Connect focused on identity and movement. At the New Street Arches, a digital canopy inspired by the area’s textile heritage now welcomes visitors with light and motion, transforming what was once a hidden gateway into a landmark visible from Liverpool Street Station. Sculptural totems provide consistent wayfinding across the estate, making navigation intuitive while building a stronger sense of place.
Create placed cultural activity at the heart of the redevelopment. One of the most rewarding aspects was a partnership with London Metropolitan University. Fashion and photography students, drawing on Petticoat Lane’s textile history, co-designed garments using locally sourced materials. Their work was exhibited on-site, bringing young voices into the project and showing how regeneration can involve and invest in the wider community.
Restore addressed wellbeing and the character of the public realm. At Harrow Place, the expanded cut-through route features a series of light-framed arches, creating a safer, more welcoming entrance. Once narrow and uninviting, it now feels open, calm, and accessible and as a passage designed not only for movement, but for experience. Together with new landscaping, seating, and outdoor working areas, these interventions create open spaces where people can gather, work, or simply pause and relax amidst the intensity of the City.
Taken together, these layers support Nuveen’s wider vision to shift DSQ from an inward-looking campus to an open and vibrant destination. The sustainably retrofitted Building 7, the reactivated entrances, and the cultural programming strategy are all part of a cohesive story about blending heritage with future-focused design.
The significance of this project lies in what it says about placemaking more broadly. Across London, the question is no longer just how to fill buildings, but how to animate the spaces between them and create places that people want to engage with, even if they have no obligation to be there. DSQ is one example of how that can be achieved through collaboration between developers, architects, landscape designers, and creatives.
Placemaking with purpose means thinking beyond short-term activation to consider long-term cultural and social value. At Devonshire Square, investment in art, culture, and public space has transformed this mixed-use estate into something more than the sum of its parts. It is now a place that invites connection, sparks creativity, and restores a sense of belonging in the heart of the City.
Editor’s Note: Hannah Rummery is global creative director at Acrylicize.
