Worcester City Council has announced that the recently refurbished spaces in the Arches Worcester are to be managed and let in the New Year by the team behind The Kiln, a managed workspace in Copenhagen Street.
The Kiln offers office, meetings, hot desking and events space to small businesses and freelancers (thekiln.co) and the team will bring their experience to this new project.
The Arches-Worcester regeneration, which is part of an investment of over £3 million from central government’s Cultural Development Fund, aims to create a new cultural quarter for the City.
A number of railway arches located between Foregate Street, the Hive and the riverside are being sympathetically refurbished into spaces for creative businesses.
“The Kiln team showed a clear passion and commitment to The Arches Worcester in their proposal and had a good understanding of our longer-term vision for the area,” said Shane Flynn, the Chair of the Worcester Arches Project Board.
“Crucially, their team was able to demonstrate strong and long-standing connections with Worcester’s creative community, which is essential to this brief.”
Under the terms of the Cultural Development Fund investment, the refurbished Arches must be let for creative and artistic purposes only.
The Kiln team will begin marketing the four available spaces at the Arches in the early New Year. In the meantime, interested parties are invited to register their interest at arches@worcester.gov.uk
“We’re thrilled to be part of The Arches project. As Worcester residents, it’s great to see the plan for a creative district coming to life in the city,” said Greg Smith, Co-Founder of the Kiln.
“Since starting The Kiln Coworking Space, we’ve been dedicated to breaking down the walls around the creative community in Worcester, and this is the perfect opportunity to continue on that mission.”
All four Arches spaces have a kitchenette, disabled toilet, and spaces for displays. Accessibility was designed in from the start with all front doors being automated and a level threshold at the entrance.
The refurbishment has been carried out by Worcestershire-based construction firm, Speller Metcalfe.
Several arches in the vicinity have already been independently occupied by restaurants and bars, a brewery, a coffee bar, entertainment and industrial design units.
