Away from the centre of Brixton, tucked away at one corner of a Brutalist concrete building, almost hidden behind the ramp to the entrance floor, is a doorway leading down to Block 336, an expansive basement space full of pipes, ventilation plant and electrical switchgear, with white-painted walls between the concrete columns, concrete floors and a grid of fluorescent lighting, all reminiscent of the original plans for the building in 1967 as a warehouse.  

Here is Block 336, founded in 2011 as a gallery and studio space to support ambitious new artists with facilities and assistance they cannot obtain elsewhere, free of the pressures of the commercial art world, while also supporting creative initiatives with community, disadvantaged and disabled groups.

Today, as more snow falls on London, is the last day of the annual Bloomberg Contemporaries which arrived in this unlikely space in January, fresh from the Baltic in Gateshead. The best works are those that relate to the space itself, Gal Leasham’s hanging textile ‘Imprint of his Native Landscape’, Carla Lava’s ‘Natural Scaffold’, Jack Howell Evan’s ‘Camp’, Tom Platt’s ‘Invader’ and Amanda Mostrom’s ‘Welcome to the Common Ground‘ swinging in front of Caitlin Hazell’s ‘Growing up with Corrugation’ and, in a different way, Tom Hatton’s photograph of a refugee tent ‘Now Here’, contrasting with Robbie O’Keeffe’s ‘People on a Beach’.  Another world away, but still in London, is Christy Burdock’s collage ‘Piccadilly’.  In all, 47 artists have been selected for this year’s Bloomberg Contemporaries, many using digital media. ‘Welcome to the Common Ground

Brixton has shown leadership with community projects such as Pop Brixton, the community initiative on disused land alongside the railway station, using re-locatable economical old shipping containers to support new local businesses and community initiatives, and now 336 Brixton Road which provides accessible and affordable office, meeting and conference space to disability, older people’s and carers’ charities, and following an architectural competition, now has ambitious plans  for refurbishment and expansion designed by architects Henley Hale Brown to create a building which ‘will be at the leading edge of disability access, provide quality facilities, offer a great experience and be a pleasure to be in for all our users’. Hopefully Block 336 will continue and prosper as part of that vision, given the important work that it does.