Second Chance, a bustling charity shop located on the Archway gyratory, is one of a number of small businesses that has received a much-needed makeover as part of Archway’s £2m redevelopment.

Second Chance is a charity shop, based in Archway, famous for its inventive window displays. Owned by the adjacent church, the project formed part of a grant programme by the London Borough of Islington to revitalise and regenerate the high street. This particular project included a new interior fitout, full re-servicing and refurbished shopfront.

Lyndon Goode worked closely with the church to ensure that the project would meet the grant requirements set out by Islington. The practice tendered the project to multiple contractors to obtain best value, with the selected tender more than 20% less than the average. The studio's detailed specification and drawing set helped to make sure that quality would not be compromised, and that the contractor delivered the design correctly.

The design approach referenced the shop's 'recycle' philosophy, making much use of salvaged materials in the interior fitout. This included adapting a number of scaffold poles, kept by the church in the basement, for use as retail stands. Shop manager Barry Brundage likes to think outside the box with his merchandising: “Usually with charity shops you think of little old ladies, but really there should be more to it than that”.