New Creative and community hub to open in St Anne’s

Former council offices that have stood empty for more than a year are set to be transformed into a new creative and community hub.

Prior to the pandemic, St Anne’s House acted as temporary shelter for people facing homelessness in Bristol but, with the setup unsuitable for social distancing, Covid-19 rendered the council-owned block unused once more.

It has now been revealed that work has been ongoing behind the scenes to turn the neglected building into a place that can both serve the local community and provide a space for artists in the city.

Bricks, a social enterprise that initially launched with hopes to take on the Trinity Road Police Station, will be testing the new venture over the next year with a view to taking on the site long-term.

The project is steered by St Anne’s Arts Action, a group of residents formed to shape the idea and ensure it meets local needs and ambitions, and it has received funding from Arts Council England.

https://twitter.com/bricksbristol/status/1384464113074532362

“We want to champion Bristol artists’ voices and connect them with the communities they live amongst, supporting creative energy outside the centre,” said Jack Gibbon, the director of Bricks.

“All our lives have changed this past year to living and working more locally – and we have all been reminded of the value of community connections. It may seem counterintuitive to open a venue in the wake of a pandemic, but it is what our communities need: space to come together in a safe way, to connect after periods of isolation, to find new and existing connections. What we are hearing from people is a huge desire to be back in physical space together again.”

Jack Gibbon says the venture will champion Bristol artists’ voices and connect them with the communities – photo by Ellie Pipe

Bricks intends to launch the space on the two upper floors of the building in June and will be providing space for community activities and meetings, exhibition and project space for creative work, co-working space and offices and artists studios.

Originally built as the offices for St Anne’s Board Mill, St Anne’s House served as council offices from the 1980s until 2017 and then stood empty until Bristol City Council and St Mungo’s opened it as the city’s only 24-hour shelter in 2019.

The council intends to develop the site in the next couple of years for housing and some community uses. The Bricks team say they are “championing the long-term vision of St Anne’s House as a truly mixed use development directly responding to housing needs, as well as the critical need for creative workspace and community infrastructure in the area”.

Wendy Calder, a member of St Anne’s Arts Action group says: “St Anne’s has such a great community and so many really engaged people, but they have not had a community space to come together in and to support that energy. We hope that through St Anne’s House we can support some of the great projects in the community to be stronger together.”

One floor of the building will be made into spaces for people to ‘work near home’ and artist studios, while the other will host exhibition and project spaces, rehearsal rooms and mixed use community spaces for fitness and wellbeing classes, events, local group activities and more.

Bricks, a social enterprise with the mission to support local, creative and social enterprise communities thrive in Bristol, is inviting the creative community and local community to get involved with a number of opportunities at the site.

Adding his support, Tim Rippington, a Labour councillor for Brislington East, says: “I am delighted to see Bricks and the council reach an agreement to launch St Anne’s House as a creative community hub. I know they have worked tirelessly to bring this about in the face of very difficult recent circumstances.

“Community space has been sadly lacking in the area for a long time and I am hopeful this project will provide the opportunity for people in Brislington to be able to work from near home, put on and engage with community activities and engage with high-quality creative projects in their backyard.”

Main photo courtesy of Bricks

Read more: Proposals to transform police station into arts and community space