Reimagining Middlesbrough, One Lift at a Time?
No 46 Linthorpe Rd - Before Refurbishment
I’ve been thinking a lot about lifts. Well, design and access statements really. Or refurbishment, more generally. Although, in reality, there is nothing general about refurbishment. Have you ever looked at new builds and thought, ‘why didn’t they just renovate a wonderful old building instead?’ I used to think that. Not anymore.
The cost of re-zoning, refurbishing and re-using a building is huge. Building regulations are a large part of this. Trying to retro-fit into an old building, what is expected - and legal - for how we live and work today, is well, difficult, to say the least. And expensive.
This is one of the big challenges for Creative Factory - how to develop sustainable, affordable live/work space within these parameters.
Tasked with developing at least 15,000 square feet of space in Middlesbrough town centre into functioning space for creatives, we have a lot of building to choose from - there are about 1.4m square feet of empty commercial space in the town. From the hey-day of shopping (four shopping centres), to the post Covid work from home and internet shopping world, just how do we re-imagine our high streets?
Having had ten years of experience, developing artist studios and gallery space at The Auxiliary, I knew it wasn’t going to be that straight forward. I also didn’t realise it would be so difficult.
The Auxillary during construction
There is a reason meanwhile space is popular. No change of use to worry about, and very little costs. Little or no risk to project funded organisations. Very often, creative organisations benefit from meanwhile space due to the rates mitigation, organised by an agent. Everyone wins, right? Well, sometimes. Because, besides the benefit of use, very often the organisation activating the space gets no monetary return from the rates mitigation. With no long term lease, they can’t raise the money to make repairs or to develop the space. Don’t get me wrong. I firmly believe meanwhile space is useful space, and an important part of the cultural landscape. It allows for testing, piloting, innovation and growth. But it needs to work for the organisations using it and the communities that gather around it. Power to Change have set out some great reccommendations for changing the current meanwhile model here.
So this is where Creative Factory comes in. If we own space, then we get to dictate the terms. We can ring fence the buildings for creative use, ensure it’s affordable, ensure it has value for the tenants. But ownership comes with high costs - of refurbishment, operations, maintenance and activity. Working closely with Erika Rushton, we began to model what our money could get us - but also, what we would need to develop and charge in order to sustain ourselves. We held several workshops with members of the Cultural Partnership, local property owners and Council officers. We visited other models, in Dumfries, Newcastle and Manchester, and spoke with different organisations trying to do the same thing - the London Creative Land Trust, Nudge and Oxford Make Space.
We also in true Boro fashion, took a punt. We bought 46 Linthorpe because it was right on the high street, a good size and space for some public artwork on the front of the building.
The Creative Factory 46 Linthorpe Rd
We met with many Council officers in various departments, and managed to buy a house on Princes Road from the MBC surplus list. Another, privately owned house, came up for sale directly opposite - a chance at a micro cluster of creatives? That was an opportunity too good to pass up.
And then the renovations. Claire Harrison, a board member and one of our representatives from the Cultural Partnership (our board is 50% made up from people from the Partnership) and with a great eye, put together new plans for the apartments. Without her careful hand, the renovations would have taken much longer, and the cost would have been far greater. The renovations began in January 2026 - now, in June, all but one of the four apartments are let.
By the time this blog gets posted, two artists, Nocciola the Drawer and Hannah Campion will have completed two murals both gable end walls as part of Middlesbrough’s Storytelling Festival. The theme? Stories of Home. These murals will signal to everyone that something new is happening - and will be, I hope, the beginning of many more (art trail, anyone?)
After many many months of planning permission, re-drawn plans, building regulations, engineer visits, surveys, asbestos removal, and figuring out where the keys for the shutters were, we have begun the strip out at 46 Linthorpe. Our plans are ambitious - 3 shop units, 8 studio/offices and a dedicated test/pilot space upstairs. Oh, and that lift. Because whatever we save on, we need to make sure people can access the building.
As the strip out goes on, the layers of what was a jewelers are peeled away. Beautiful tiles, flocked wall paper - and years and years of junk. Excitement, fear and anxiety as another skip arrives, one of dozens over the course of a six week clear out.
An older man, leaning on his cane, stops and looks in.
‘What’s going on here?’ he asks.
‘Space for creatives,’ I pipe up. ‘Entrepreneurs.’
He waves his cane in the air.
‘Great. Just what this place needs.’
All right so. That’s good enough for me.