Pop-Up “Skate Street”, Centre Stage 2026

We returned to Richmond in July 2026 for our second instalment of Skate Street! 

The weekend event highlighted yet another creative collaboration with Hemingway Design and further opportunity to build and play with local families, following the same successful pop-up skate event in 2025. 

Hundreds of demountable boxes from our Box Library travelled from east to southwest London to contribute to the Centre Stage festivities. Spanning across two streets, the festival was free to attend and welcomed live performers, food stalls, art, imagination, music and interaction for the community. 

Our U-Build team arrived on site in the morning to transform George Street into a skate park. The outdoors space was equipped with youth-designed ramps and provided an arena for free skate skills sessions and showcased live demos of tricks and flips. Live screen printing and garment upcycling was on offer nearby, allowing different channels of creativity to flourish. 

Next to the skateboarding zone, we hosted a live box building workshop where visitors of all ages could learn to use electric drills, mallets and bolts to construct huge structures together over and over again. We use plywood, which is lightweight and can be moved easily, allowing play for all, regardless of experience level. 

The event really captured all the things we love to do best – teach, encourage and empower community members to pick up hand tools and create with confidence. 

Find out more about our other Live Workshops by browsing through our project archive. If you have your own temporary project that you’d like to borrow boxes for, please contact us via info@u-build.org with your Box Library enquiry.