Spode Works Set for Transformation – Can it Still Serve Stoke’s Creative Community?
As Capital & Centric prepares to transform Spode Works, Fliss Grant hears from a current and former studio resident about what local artists need to make it work…
When it comes to the development of vibrant new creative and living spaces, Stoke is on the up, as evidenced by the recent opening of the Goods Yard, where swish apartments and a cool coffee shop are just the first step towards something different for the city. Not content with overhauling three town centre locations in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Goods Yard developer Capital and Centric is already drawing up plans for another Staffs-based next project: transforming 10 acres of the iconic Spode Works into a happening neighbourhood where people can live, work and play.
While there is a real buzz around this regeneration and what it could bring to the city, gentrification can be a real issue for the people already in situ when a project like this comes to life. It poses the question: is this beneficial to the current studio residents of the Spode Works, or could it have the potential to drive them out?
The Spode Works is deeply intertwined into Stoke’s culture and history. Once the heart of the UK’s pottery industry, the site consists of several buildings, kilns and workshops coated in a glaze of bountiful culture, offering two centuries’ worth of ceramics craftsmanship that the city is still widely recognised for today. As you weave through the warren of kilns and workshops, you’ll find 11 Grade II listed buildings that encapsulate the architecture of the time and effortlessly inspire.
Capital and Centric have vowed to honour that legacy, with the intent to repurpose the site’s heritage for the next generation of digital design, gaming, animation and other creative industries. Tom Wilmot, joint managing director of Capital and Centric, believes Spode Works is not only a testament to Stoke-on-Trent’s industrial past but also an opportunity to shape its future. “We’re not just restoring bricks and mortar, we’re creating a landmark neighbourhood that taps into the city’s creative energy. This will be a catalyst for attracting new people, new ideas and new investment into the area.” The developer is already working on detailed plans for the site and will be consulting with locals later this year to get their views on this major overhaul.
Currently investing £3 million a week across eight live construction sites across the UK – there are projects in Gateshead, Sheffield, Cambridge and Wolverhampton – Capital and Centric is driving regeneration in towns and cities nationwide, and the Manchester-based developers have already stylishly restored historic buildings like Ducie Street Warehouse and Crusader Mill in their home town. The developers have built a reputation around bold, design-conscious regeneration projects. Injecting life and ambition into creative communities across UK towns and cities, it’s exciting to see them hit Stoke with the Goods Yard. With plans now underway for the Spode Works, there’s little doubt that their work will have a positive impact on the city.
The elephant in the room, however, is how they might approach the artists who already reside in the studios at Spode. After speaking to one artist, the sentiment is that the development of the city is welcomed, as long as the artists are looked after.
Terry Shave, an artist and Emeritus Professor of Fine Art who works from the Spode site, encourages the plans but hopes that he and the ACAVA community at Spode are considered. “As an artist and arts educator living and working here for more than 40 years, I welcome all developments that support the creative sector in our community. However, I have seen in my lifetime too many places taken over by development greed.
Often, ‘gentrification’ removes the very people who made the areas viable in the first place. I fear this might happen in our city if we don’t support and develop creatives where they work and live. These proposed plans, while suggesting support for creatives and arts organisations on site, will remove current studio spaces used by ACAVA artists and crafts workers and build residential dwellings with potentially more than 100 apartments – and no additional parking provided on site. This alone will change the nature and interrupt the natural development of a cultural heritage site.
“While I can see a future based on the proposed plans that will support some creative sector organisations, this must not be at the cost of the artists and craftspeople in the more than 40 ACAVA studios who have been so crucial for the site over the past 10 years. I hope we will be able to continue to help shape the Spode site as a creative asset for our city and the region,” he said.
While ACAVA provides the local creative community with affordable rent at Spode Works – monthly costs range from £164 to £519 for studios sized from 172 to 542 square feet – one former resident told us that the spaces can be chilly, and not all of the windows are in working order. Molly Campbell, head of design at Contemporary Collage magazine (we interviewed her Dad, Les, recently) said, “We moved in during the spring of 2023, but around late September/October it became apparent that there were some pitfalls. The space would get incredibly cold, a few of our windows didn’t close properly and with the temperatures dropping it became increasingly harder to work there in the winter months. I arrived one morning to my desktop monitor being completely filled with condensation from the inside of the screen and had to wait for it to defrost before I could I could use it. And because the floors are concrete, it was a long time before you could warm up – I’d end up leaving by lunchtime to work from home instead. As you can imagine, the temperature had an impact on running workshops in those months too. Reluctantly, we gave up the space in January last year and leased another studio in Newcastle.”
While Campbell is quick to recognise that the former factory site is “a beautiful space,” she told us, “the window situation definitely needs addressing, it needs better heating systems in place and perhaps fully functioning sinks in each space, too.” If the studios are modernised, she hopes it can be done sympathetically and take into account the building’s history.
Campbell is keen to see Capital and Centric work with the artists who already have studios there, and “really listen” to what’s required from their perspective. “The space is a creative hive of activity and it would be a shame for people to be pushed out due to unfeasible rent increases.”
Now based in Marsh Parade in Newcastle, the designer said they’d be happy to be back among the creative environment at Spode. “A good heating system and windows that close would definitely make the space a bit more tempting!”
Regeneration often walks a fine line. From Bristol to Birmingham, creative spaces have sparked initial revival, only to see rents soar, studios vanish and the artists who added so much to the rich culture and history forced out. At Spode, Capital and Centric have the chance to do things differently. Let’s hope that they do.
I'm concerned to see that the plans involve removing the studio spaces - artists and many other creatives' studios are very much needed in the city and I hope very much that better provision (bearing in mind the comments about cold and damp) can be provided in purpose built premises on the same site as part of the redevelopment.
Really interesting article- I do hope the developers do listen to the people already using the Spode site