Expressway London: Filming a Creative Workspace in Motion
One of my first shoots after the initial COVID lockdown in 2020 was for Expressway London, filmed at the beginning of August as restrictions began to lift. At that point, simply being back on set felt significant. The project wasn’t about spectacle or scale, but about reintroducing a place, its people, and its ambition at a moment when many businesses were still finding their footing again.
The brief was to create a short series of films that captured both the wider context of Expressway and the practical reality of what it offers. The project was commissioned by the team at General Projects, who manage the site, with the films designed to reflect both the workspaces and the surrounding neighbourhood. Formerly known as Waterfront Studios, the site had been reimagined as a flexible, affordable business centre for SMEs, makers, and creative enterprises. Rather than selling a single idea, the films needed to communicate clarity, pace, and openness, with an emphasis on communication first and image second.
I shot the project alongside Liam Allen, working as a small, efficient unit. The approach leaned into movement and flow, allowing the camera to drift through corridors, workshops, and communal spaces to reflect the diversity of businesses operating there. As a filmmaker and videographer, this kind of work sits somewhere between architectural documentation and brand storytelling. The goal is not just to show a space, but to suggest how it feels to work within it.
Rather than relying on a single voice, the films were structured around short interviews with current tenants, interspersed with b-roll that moved between the workspaces themselves and the surrounding area. The aim was to give a sense of what was available, studios, maker units, shared spaces, but also what it felt like to be there day to day. We spent time capturing the energy of the wider neighbourhood, the cafés, routes, and movement around the site, as well as how straightforward it is to get in and out. Together, those elements helped frame Expressway not just as a place to work, but as a location that supports pace, sociability, and ease.
Looking back, the project feels like a marker of transition. Not just for Expressway as it stepped into a new identity, but for many of the businesses moving back into shared environments. It was a reminder that good videography does not need to overstate its case. Sometimes it just needs to observe clearly and get out of the way.
If you’re developing a film for a workspace, studio, or creative hub and need a videographer who understands how people actually use space, you can get in touch via my contact page.
