A new community down by the canal
Ambitious mixed use regeneration scheme on town’s canal bank
A NEW development has created a community of like-minded but diverse companies in the once dilapidated Canal House in Loughborough.
The ambitious mixed use regeneration scheme, which officially opened its doors in September, was established by entrepreneur Raffaele Russo, a Loughborough University graduate and founder of property specialist Loc8me.
It is the latest business venture for the ‘neighbourhood’ group, which includes projects such as the Jason Works building in Clarence Street, Loughborough, and branches of Peter Pizzeria in Loughborough and Leicester.
The Canal House is a three-story building on Loughborough’s historic Canal Bank.
It remained empty for most of this millennium before being transformed into top quality workspaces with nine luxurious apartments on the upper floors.
Resident businesses have access to a communal break out area, meeting and presentation areas and hot desk spaces can also be rented out by the week or month for those not requiring a more substantial base.
Canal House manager Sonya Watson said: “We have always aimed at creative, bringing artistic businesses together.
“We have got a media company, an arts company, a photographer, but we have also got other small businesses.
“A lot of them are start-ups or are very early in their careers.
“The open plan is to encourage a community really instead of being behind closed doors in a stuffy office, it is about being able to talk to other people.”
Sonya said much has been made of getting the right mix in, and giving people the opportunity to work together.
“The whole thing is about people working together in a community so here and at Jason Works we will meet, we will have pizza, we have a social on Friday, we have done chocolate truffle making, pancake making,” she said.
“In the past we have had people come in and give talks. We do it during the day and then at Christmas a get together.”
The shared space is also used by Bom Bom Patisserie, the second cafe opened by former Great British Bake Off: The Professionals contestant Marta Child.
The cafe means the public can share spaces with the businesses resulting in some surprising interactions and again bringing that community feeling.
Sonya said an additional benefit is that a lot of people who visited Bom Bom have made enquiries about the co-work spaces.
One of the first resident businesses to take a space is owned by freelance video producer James Poole.
The 31-year-old, originally from south east London, graduated from Loughborough University and has been working in the local area ever since.
He said: “We have been here for three weeks and the minute I walked in I already felt the value of this space.
“Loughborough is a very interesting town, in the community many people would leave with lots going to London.
“I have always been a little bit more open and sometimes you should push to grow something yourself.
“The camaraderie here, the sharing of knowledge, I know I can go and ask what do you think of this?
“We do not have to have symmetry in what we do, it’s just the fact that you can pop down to those guys and have a chat.”
James also has great things to say about the management and owners and the feeling of involvement in the development of the building and planned events.
He said: “They are very open to what this is going to be. How we are going to make it better so you feel like you are part of an investment in the future.
“This is my first time in an office space and you are helping define it - just because there isn’t something here doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make it.”
Paul Ince, 43, managing director of LikeMindMedia marketing company, explained his reasons for relocating the company from its former premises.
He said: “We needed to grow our own space, then our friends at Graff.io told me about this place.
“We started to really talk about what the vibe could be like here, what the atmosphere would be like, how it would work if there was a photographer, a videographer in a place where the layout is conducive to collaboration.
“This place allows us to do that, to build those relationships.”
Andy Harper, 39, head of creative technology at arts shop Graff.io and managing director Steve Barradell, 43, both echo those thoughts.
Steve said: “We are already doing collaborations with the illustrators that design Bom Bom coffee cups.
“Loughborough has quite a local creative heritage and we want to shout about the talent and where we came from.”
Graff.io moved to this location from the Jason Works site and was previously based in the Belgrave area of Leicester for about 13 years.
Andy said: “Twelve years running a small family-run art business, we eventually grew it and grew it and made it into a manufacturing business.
“The more you grow it the more responsibility you have.”
Both being local, Andy said they had been looking to work out of Loughborough for a long time.
“We would always look for old places because the old hosiery mills have such great light, but there are not so many in Loughborough. Then Raff showed us this place.”
Steve added: “We saw it in its rawest form about a year ago.
“At the minute it’s starting to feel really good, we have had a lot of visitors, a lot of interest and local support.
“Most of our business is online and e-commerce isn’t getting any easier, so you need to find other angles and helping up and comers is what we have been doing for years.”
Andy said they were now looking more to the future.
“It’s pooling resources and it feels like moving into this next generation of the future of living,” he said.
“On a Saturday people come in here and have a coffee with their kids and end up talking to the creative director of an agency and saying my daughter is interested in doing some work experience, it just kind of happens.”
Andy said they would like to see a move away from the mobile technology that is inextricably intertwined in our everyday lives.
“One of the most important things about this is getting away from this technological world and actually getting out and having real human interaction,” he said.
“It’s exploring what being a 21st century art shop is and the other guys who are involved in this building are so interested in the future of where we are going as a society.”
Reflecting on what has been achieved, Sonya said: “When this building came up we saw it as a massive opportunity.
“It’s a brave concept for Loughborough which has been accepted really well by the community.”