Work on a £1.6m creative enterprise centre at St Neots is now well and truly underway. The £1.6 million building is expected to be completed next summer.
It has been commissioned by Huntingdonshire District Council and is jointly funded by the council, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the East of England Development Agency, whose contribution will provide high grade internal fittings and fixtures, external landscaping, car parking, and possibly renewable energy schemes.
The new building will be four storeys high and is set in mature parkland on the Longsands College campus next to the local Huntingdonshire Regional College site. The strikingly unusual design consists of an exposed concrete frame with a set of light, interconnecting spaces with public rooms and training space on the ground floor and a large shared studio at first floor level. On the upper two floors, creative companies will each have their own ‘hut’, enclosed in cedar, that cantilever out beyond the frame.
A ‘working garden’ on the roof allows broad views out over Priory Park. Thirteen mature lime trees have already been planted in an avenue, creating a focal point and reinforcing the edge to the park.
The new centre will have close links with Longsands College, which has specialist status for media technology, English and information communication technology, and also with the Huntingdonshire Regional College local site, which is a centre of excellence for both manufacturing and management, and has excellent photography and design faculties.
The centre forms part of a wider strategy for the district to nurture new businesses and cultivate specialist skills for local people. Creative industries offer the potential to be a major factor for sustained economic growth in Huntingdonshire. They depend on individual creativity and skill to generate prosperity and range from music through to marketing and advertising, architecture, furniture-making, software development and fashion design.
Councillor Ian Bates, Leader of Huntingdonshire District Council said, “This is a really exciting project. It will provide a unique centre for the focus of creative industries across the region to promote enterprise, training and job creation. It is a fine example of collaborative partnership working providing specialist facilities for our community.”
CABE (Commission for Architecture and Built Environment) is enabling the project and has been instrumental in maintaining adequate funding for the project. Its architects and designers, 5th Studio, are leading the project team that includes environmental engineers, ZEF, Scott Wilson, and Davis Langdon.
The project will be constructed by SDC Special projects, a contractor based in Bedford. SDC were selected by competitive tender.