Before you move into 1 Portal Way, it helps to know who your neighbours are, not just the people who will live beside you, but the people whose work is shaping what this area is becoming.

One of them is Sanish Mistry, a designer at Koalaa, a company reinventing what prosthetics can be and who gets access to them.

Koalaa builds soft upper limb prosthetics that can be fitted instantly, sent through the post, and produced at scale. Their mission is simple: make prosthetics accessible to anyone in the world who wants one, regardless of where they live.

The story began at Imperial.

Koalaa’s founder, Nate, was a mechanical engineering student when he met Alex Lewis, a quadruple amputee recovering from sepsis. Nate wanted to build something “Ironman style” for him, but the things Alex valued most turned out to be much simpler: a soft fabric sleeve he could slip into immediately and a tiny clip that let him draw again.

From that moment, Koalaa grew prototype by prototype, first in Imperial’s Hackspace, then in shared labs in White City and finally into a full R&D and production space in North Acton.

This is the journey Imperial imagines for its innovators: learn in South Kensington, experiment in White City and scale production in North Acton. Koalaa has lived that journey step by step.

Why North Acton and Park Royal?

Because it offers what most of London cannot: space to design, space to test, space to build. The team needed room for sewing machines, 3D printers, fabrication tools, storage and a growing workforce, all of which are impossible to assemble in central London.

North Acton/Park Royal let them keep their R&D close to the university ecosystem in White City while giving them the flexibility to manufacture at real scale.

Today, Koalaa designs and produces around 300 prosthetic products a month from this neighbourhood and ships them across the world. Their devices are used in Sierra Leone, Gaza, Jordan, Ukraine, the United States and the UK. They have now supported more than 1,500 users across six continents, all from a workshop a few minutes from where you will live.

Why is this relevant?

Because Koalaa’s story says something important about this neighbourhood.

It is a place where making matters.

If someone visits Koalaa in the morning asking for a custom adapter, the team can design it, 3D print it and have them testing it the same afternoon. North Acton allows that kind of immediacy, something incredibly rare in London.

It is a place with a true maker ecosystem.

If Koalaa needs a part, a tool or a specialist machine, the answer is usually that someone around the corner has it. They collaborate with neighbours like POW Workshops, share equipment, swap skills and solve problems face to face.

It is a place where design, science, craft and social impact meet.

Koalaa sits alongside artists, fabricators, engineers, food tech startups and makers. It is real, a working neighbourhood with energy, talent and curiosity.

It is becoming a social, supportive community.

There are local events, open studios, weekend workshops, new cafés and restaurants, and a growing culture of sharing skills and supporting one another.

It is also incredibly well connected: with the Central Line, Overground, cycle routes and the coming Old Oak Common interchange, it is one of the easiest places in London to move between research, industry and global travel.

So what would Sanish say to you directly?

“Welcome to a neighbourhood where things get built quickly, collaboratively and with heart. We came to North Acton because it gave us the space to design, test and manufacture without leaving London. It connected us to makers, tools and a community we could not find anywhere else."

If you're thinking of moving to the area, you're joining a place where people look out for each other, where ideas travel easily between buildings, and where problem-solving happens with your hands as much as your head. Step inside, get involved, and see what's possible when you work in a neighbourhood that builds things every day.

Want to come and have a look at North Acton? Want to base yourself in the area? Join us for a Tour

Koalaa