Meet the people that call Hamilton House home

Filled to the brim with social enterprises, small businesses and more than 200 artists, the once-derelict Hamilton House is a melting pot of arts, trades and cultures fused with a resilient community spirit. In total, Hamilton House is a workplace for more than 500 professionals, with an estimated 3,000 people passing through its doors every day.

Coexist is the organisation behind the building that nurtures artists and grassroots organisations by way of cheap rents and collaborative problem-solving. They have played an instrumental role in the revitalisation – or gentrification – of Stokes Croft, depending on how you look at it.

But the future of the organisation and the tenants they look after is under threat since the owner of building, C&C, confirmed it will be going up for sale. With property developers from London licking their lips, it’s a race against time for Coexist to formulate their bid for the building before May 2017, which must include how they plan to raise the £6 million they need.

A creative haven with an uncertain future, Bristol24/7 took a walk through the winding corridors of Hamilton House at this critical moment in its history to meet some of its residents and better understand what is at stake.

The five stories that follow couldn’t be more different, but what unites them is a sense that, without Hamilton House and without Coexist, their tales would have unfolded in a very different way.

DMAC UK

“We were one of the first collectives in the building when it was given to the community,” says Kabbo Ferdinand of DMAC UK. “It was a shell, no windows, floors ripped out, wires and asbestos everywhere. But we knew that this was going to be it, a magical space of movement.”

Hundreds of locals come through the door every day for an impressive array of classes ranging from Bulgarian folk dance and tango to acroyoga and African drumming (which, I’m told, is overheard by everyone in the building). Teachers and students alike come from all corners of the globe, and accomplished dancers passing through Bristol are invited to give one-off masterclasses.

The dance collective have also been a catalyst for collaboration across the building: “We cross-pollinate our skills in this community. We don’t always work for money and we don’t always get paid, but we donate skills, support each other, and try to integrate with what everyone else is doing.”

This includes sharing their studios, which they built from the ground up, with other tenants: “We’re proud to say our studios are inclusive. In other places, people don’t mix as much as they need to. But we always encourage that.”

With regards to the building’s sale, Kabbo is apprehensive: “It is a good thing that everyone is now aware of the sale. But it’s very disturbing. Even though we’re eight years into this project, we’re still at the first step of the process. There’s so much more we can do with this building and we have some great ambitions. But there is the reality that we might have to move.”

Kabbo thinks that most of the options that would allow Coexist and its tenants to buy the building go against their ethos, and this weakens their position in the face of big business. But crowdfunding and finding investors are two options that could prove successful.

The only certainty for him is that if Coexist wins the bid in May, there will be quite the party to celebrate.

Misfits Theatre

Misfits Theatre is a group formed by adults with learning disabilities, which partly funds itself with performances at conferences and special events, and helps its members build confidence and a sense of self-worth.

They run training in association with Bristol City Council, have a series of showcases at Hamilton House, and host creative workshops around drama and movement. In doing so, an often marginalised group can become professional performers, walking into the spotlight based purely on the merit of their abilities.

The Misfits are well known within the building and collaborators include DMAC and the Original Spinners, a clown-inspired dance improvisation collective. The community links also extend well beyond the building itself, as demonstrated by their raucous monthly club night at the Trinity Centre.

But the benefits of being a tenant at Hamilton House extend beyond the resident melting pot of talent. Tony Holdom, company manager, believes that the community spirit and its location are also important for members of the group.

“Our aim is to bring people with learning disabilities into the mainstream, to be seen and valued,” Tony says. “And Hamilton House is a great stage to do that. It is a really accepting community and a welcoming atmosphere.

“Historically, people with learning difficulties have always been pushed to the edges of society, in church halls or community centres in the suburbs, away from people, and they have bad experiences there.

“But it’s not like that here, in the centre of town. People are visible, and celebrated for who they are. The confidence our members get from being here means they walk taller.”

Imayla

Imayla, which means “thank you and well done” in Nigerian language Igbo, is a social enterprise for children founded on the belief that interacting with nature is essential to their health and well-being, particularly in a city where many lack the means or know-how to do so.

A key driver in the organisation’s development was Natural England research demonstrating that certain groups visited national parks in disproportionately small numbers; these were mainly young people, people with disabilities, and people from ethnic minorities.

It was in light of this that the project was born, offering intercultural activities based around the environment, health and well-being, and the creative arts. They include residential trips to the countryside as well as events held in Bristol’s green spaces and city farms.

Silvia Vincent, event & engagement coordinator, cannot understate how useful it is to have more than 500 people in the same building in terms of human resources: “We ask the children we work with, ‘what would you love to do?’ and then we come back to this building and ask if anyone knows how to do metalwork or whatever it might be.”

The chances are, as you can imagine, someone always does.

Free from the weight of problems at home, children and their families from deprived areas in east and central Bristol are given a chance to build new friendships, try new things, and venture to places they would otherwise only have dreamed of. The parents, meanwhile, receive support and advice on the options available to them.

Imayla’s vision is to establish a rural project, a Coexist outpost in the countryside with easy access by public transport. And given how adeptly Coexist has transformed Hamilton House into a thriving community, the organisation hopes the same may be possible further afield.

Programme manager Fiona Castle feels positive about the prospect: “Hamilton House is full of people who are excited, enthusiastic and passionate, which is a real tonic. Times are difficult, but this place tops up your optimism.”

Hannah Sunny Whaler, sign writer

Hannah is a sign writer, one of only five professionals in Bristol that work in this historic trade. Fittingly, she recently painted a travelling shoe shiner’s box, full of tins, brushes and polish. She laughs at the fact that the interaction, involving two such forgotten trades, could easily have happened 200 years ago. 

Sign writing nearly died a death in the 1980s when businesses increasingly turned to vinyl lettering rather than hand-crafted signage. But thanks to the resurgence of retro shop fronts, evident along Stokes Croft outside Hamilton House, sign writing is often becoming the first port of call for local businesses.

Hannah notes that there tends to be a correlation between small businesses investing in handpainted signage. This is partly because they have other small businesses in mind, and partly because when designed and painted by hand, signs have a different energy to them. In sharp contrast, on many identikit high streets across the UK, big corporations prefer one-size-fits-all branding.

“Sign writing is quite unusual, it’s a niche, and what I do is based around small businesses in the community,” Hannah says. “So working from this building is important. Coexist is part of Bristol and Stokes Croft. People connect with it.”

Hannah is particularly grateful to Hamilton House for their inclusivity and affordability: “It’s really important to make resources affordable and available to people when they’re at this grassroots level of their business. I would not be where I am now if it weren’t for the affordability of the space. It grants people the ability to develop their business, rather than locking them out…”

“It’s a fun melting pot that doesn’t take itself too seriously. A lot of studios insist on being arty and exclusive, but here it’s open and involved.”

Bristol Bike Project

The Bristol Bike Project began in 2008 in a back garden, with founders James, Lucas and Colin collecting bikes and giving them to asylum seekers. The following spring, the organisation moved into an old data centre in Hamilton House when there were scarcely any other tenants.

“It was full of junk, nothing was organised,” says workshop coordinator Henry Godfrey. “But it felt like there was a huge amount of potential.”

The project soon branched out, giving old bikes to people who were homeless, off work for health reasons, or struggling to get into work. Now, people from all walks of life benefit from the work the team do there. Services for the general public like cycle maintenance courses for children, women and trans people, as well as repairs and bike sales, have proved a useful source of funding that lets that work continue.

Bristol Bike Project seemed to time their establishment with the recent resurgence in cycling; it was also no doubt helpful that they couldn’t have chosen a better city. Bristol became the UK’s first Cycling City in 2008, encouraging investment in the project from Bristol City Council and the Sustainable Transport Fund.

Nowadays, 25 members and volunteers keep the workshop busy, especially as they are the designated bike fixers for the entire building. In return, Coexist gives the project a very fair rent, financial help and moral support. They are, Henry says, as far as possible from a landlord who is focused exclusively on profit.

“We are worried that Hamilton House might be sold, and it does make it difficult to invest in this space if we feel like we might lose it,” adds Henry. “We’re still here and we still really believe in this building, so we’re going to carry on, cautiously. But the thought of losing it is terrifying.”

This Christmas, if you’re loathe to purchase your own Christmas Tree, you can hire one from Hamilton House and Bristol Bike Project will deliver it to you by bike, free of charge.

Read more: Stokes Croft: Seven years in six minutes