Passions run high over future of Hamilton House

The collective of people who have worked to transform Hamilton House into a thriving community of hope, creativity and enterprise are now passionately fighting for its future.

A rejected bid by custodians Coexist to buy the building, mixed messages from its owner, Connolly & Callaghan (C&C), and talks of seizing back sections for redevelopment have thrown tenants into a turmoil of uncertainty.

It was in the spacious room on the top floor of Hamilton House overlooking Stokes Croft that things came to a head on Thursday, as the community that comprises artists, charities, projects and more, confronted the company that holds their future in its hands.

Passions ran high as members of the Hamilton House community fought for its future

Coexist said they are stuck between a rock and a hard place as C&C emphasise the need to create a sustainable community and argue that the current model is “financially flawed” and seen as of zero value in the eyes of the banks.

C&C refers to three blocks in its plans for the building and says its goal is to secure the long-term viability of the main, Stokes Croft-facing block as a community hub. In order to achieve this, options to redevelop the section that fronts onto City Road are being explored.

The central block could also be earmarked for residential use in the future.

But the company was accused of setting Coexist up to fail by not granting a long-term lease, which has meant that the guardians of the community hub have been unable to secure the grants that could have secured its future financially.

“It feels cruel what you are doing,” artist Alice Tatton-Brown told C&C’s Andrew Baker. “It feels like you are project managing the failure of Coexist.”

She suggested that members in the room form an action group and said, between them, they could work to come up with ideas to save Hamilton House as a sustainable community, something Baker said he would be open to.

Call for a community action group to help find a way ahead for Hamilton House

Just half an hour before the meeting, C&C presented a proposal to Coexist that reiterates the plan to maintain block A as a community hub and offers six-month leases on each block with “suitable break clauses”.

Coexists’s Ari Cantwell said the group is open to negotiations with C&C and acknowledged the support the company has provided over the last nine years, but said they feel left with very few options to secure Hamilton House as a whole for the community.

“This is not about Coexist’s survival, it’s about the community,” she said.

C&C’s head of social enterprise Andrew Baker fielded questions from the community

On why Coeist’s bid to buy Hamilton failed, Baker said: “We had a number of concerns, more about what was missing. Coexist has done some very wonderful things, there is a great community here, but we feel that there is more things that were not in the bid that we would like to have seen.

“We did say we would work with them to strengthen it. We are trying to create a new paradigm.”

One member suggested there was “a huge gulf between the assurances C&C are mouthing and how they are going about things”.

David Saunders, a consultant who has been working with C&C on their social enterprise objectives, said: “Running a community arts centre here is not good enough. There are 200 people on the waiting list. We should be looking at affordable housing and energy. I think there is work to be done to create something more ambitious.”

But Coexist said they were told it would have its bid rejected if it included housing.

The elephant in the room was the elusive Martin Connolly, who started the partnership and ultimately has the final decision, but has remained absent from talks.

Fiona Castle of IMAYLA passionately defended Coexist and all they have done for Hamilton House.

“This building was a shell when we first came here,” she said. “It has gone from strength to strength. This community has taken a long time to build and it’s doing it in a difficult context.

“If we are trying to build a sustainable community, that’s what this is. I come back into this building and it gives me a sense of hope and openness in the face of all that shit going on out there.”

Talk of a community land trust offered further hope that a way ahead could be found.

Bristol Bike Project is one of the longstanding tenants at the back of the building. Its co-founder James Lucas told Bristol24/7 that Hamilton House “has been an amazing place for us”.

He said: “We would be very much at risk. It’s really unsettling for us. We have invested so much time and energy into working that space up into what it is today and it would be a huge undertaking for us to move.”

James Lucas of Bristol Bike Project said they are very much at risk

Speaking after the meeting, Coexist’s Danny Balla told Bristol24/7: “I feel that it was vital for the community voices to be heard and that their concerns are addressed.

“There is a long way to go before C&C get close to providing any sense of security, but I do feel that they are beginning to hear what’s necessary and starting to understand. It was fantastic that the internal community was so passionate about this project.”

Read more:  ‘Mixed messages over future of Hamilton House’