Coexist Proposal: The Evolution of Another World

Coexist Proposal | May 2017

The Evolution of Another World

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.”

Arundhati Roy

Foreword The work of the last nine years has been the response to an invitation from Martin Connolly to create a vision for a centre of excellence for sustainable communities in Hamilton House. The scene was set for four ambitious friends to create a plan to convert a semi-derelict building into a thriving hub.

Hamilton House was the hardware and Coexist was the operating system. Out of the ashes of the 2008 financial crash a grassroots and agile organisation was formed whose drive and purpose was to show the people of Bristol that another world is possible.

The world in which we live is no less in need of changemakers now than it was nine years ago. It is still very much dominated by systems governed by greed and short-term

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thinking. This is a world in which projects like Coexist need not only to exist but to thrive and mature into ever-expanding spheres of influence and inspiration.

Faced with the pressures of gentrification, and an uncertain future, the community of Hamilton House and its wider networks have given Coexist a clear mandate: Buy Hamilton House so that it can be a beacon for change in perpetuity, build on the incredible achievements of the past, and take this project into new territory. This bid is to open the way not just for the next nine years but for seven generations into the future.

Gordy Wright - ‘Flourish

Drawing from the inspiration of permaculture design and systems thinking, Coexist CIC worked closely with cultural catalysts and changemakers from across Bristol to create a co-inspiration hub like no other. Hamilton House grew into a hive of learning for tens of thousands of people; it helped to catalyse a wave of regeneration in and around Stokes Croft and has been the fertile ground from which so much has flourished. From its radical beginnings as a place for innovation, experimentation and dissent, Coexist has been deepening its roots and professionalising its methods in readiness for a new era of innovation, abundance and changemaking.

Coexist Proposal

Contents History and Vision 6-7 Introduction 8-9 Where it all began 10-11 Coexist in 2017 12 Partnerships 13 Our Community

Building Well-Being and Diversity 24- Being Here for Everybody 25 - Coexist Wellbeing 26 - Embracing ‘Social Prescription’ 27 - Working in Partnership

16-17 Governance and Structure 18-19 Making space for chaos 20-22 Coexist Facilitates

40-68 Case Studies 69-75 Social Impact Research 76-79 Street Surveys 2017 80-81 Valuing Natural Cycles 82-83 Academic Research 84 Benchmarking Space

14-15 The Coexist Vision

Transformation For Changing Times

Appendix

Enterprise and Renewal

85-96 Community Microgrid

28-29 Coexist Co-working hub & Creative Revival 30-35 A Roof-top Eco-hostel 36-37 Hamilton House Retrofit & Carbon Positivity

23 Coexist Connects

All artworks included in this document were produced by artists based within Hamilton House

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Introduction Looking back to the original plans for Coexist, it is amazing to see how many of the original aims have been realised. With the dedicated support of Connolly & Callaghan, Coexist has turned Hamilton House from a derelict building into a treasured Bristol institution.

All of this has been possible through the love and commitment of thousands of souls people who know that a bright future comes from working together; people who choose to put people and planet before personal financial gain; people who believe that together we can make a difference.

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This document is the how, what, why and when for the next generation of Coexistence.

From creative, chaotic and anarchic beginnings, Coexist CIC has grown up. We have done a lot of learning over the years and it is now the time to put it into practice.

Taking on the metaphor of Coexist as the ‘operating system’ and Hamilton House as the ‘hardware’, it is time for an upgrade! In need of new lifts, new boilers, new windows, new carpets and new vision, Hamilton House needs significant investment. Through partnership and innovation we have a plan for how we can bring Hamilton House into the 21st century, providing not only for the community of Bristol, but for people from far and wide.

Daniel Bowler - Hamilton House Mandala

This document is an invitation: an invitation to reflect and celebrate; an invitation to dream with us, and an invitation to stare into the future and see a vibrant and beautiful world.

Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

To realise this evolution and to empower our plans for the future, Coexist requires the security of tenure to leverage investment, fundraise and generate the increased revenues required to service the needs of a bigger, more holistic and more sustainable vision.

This proposal also articulates just a small glimpse of the dedicated and transformative work of the last nine years of communitybuilding in which time Hamilton House has become known as “the beating heart of Stokes Croft�.

desirability of the entire area. Its members now generate over ÂŁ21m of turnover and support over 1260 jobs. This local transformation along with the uniqueness of the Coexist approach has sparked worldwide interest. Researchers, planners and changemakers from across the globe come to document what is happening here.

In these pages we will attempt to capture not only the economic value we generate, but also the priceless contribution being made to the agenda for social justice, wellbeing and resilience.

It is clear that since its bold inception by C&C, Coexist and its many partners, have raised the market value of not just the bricks and mortar of Hamilton House, but the fabric and

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Where it all began In 2008 Coexist developed its first vision for the future of Hamilton House; reaching up to and breathing life into the regional and national strategies concerning sustainable development at that time. Coexist aimed to address four key underlying aims endorsed by the Regional Assembly, and set out by central government:

• Protection of the environment the effective safeguarding and enhancement of the region’s environmental resources, both natural and built, including those which are crucial to maintaining its overall attractiveness as an area in which to live, work and play.

• Prosperity for the communities and the regional and national economy - improving the competitive position of the South West within the EU and internationally to increase sustainable prosperity for all its residents and businesses.

• Progress in meeting society’s needs and aspirations - recognising people’s requirements for good and improving standards of housing and accessibility to facilities; reducing inequalities; and promoting social inclusiveness throughout the region.

• Prudence in the use and management of resources - reducing the consumption of irreplaceable natural resources and making best use of past investment including buildings and infrastructure.

Diagram from Coexist Report - Simon Morton University of Bristol, 2011

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Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

Coexist Vision 2008 • 55,000 sq/ft mixed work space • A cluster of businesses aiming to develop the precedent for sustainable practice • A working model for sustainable development • Sustainability advice bureaux • Exemplar retrofit of an existing building • Cafe/Restaurant and Community Centre • Mixed use events space • Conferencing facilities • Function Rooms • Holistic health centre • Gallery and exhibition spaces • Office - Incubator units and large scale anchor tenants • Workshops and light industrial, educational and commercial workshops specialising in sustainable construction • A systemic and collaborative approach to everything

coexist Hamilton House prospectus coexist cic November2008

Original Coexist Proposal - 2008

Our approach was centred around creating relationships of mutual benefit, valuing collaboration over competition and thinking globally while acting locally.

Campus Redevelopment Proposal / ‘The Red Book’ - Sean Hayne, 2008

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Coexist in 2017 In 2008, the People’s Republic of Stokes Croft (PRSC) undertook an audit on the built environment of Stokes Croft and found over that 30% of the buildings were derelict. Now Stokes Croft is a key part of how Bristol identifies itself as a city, it’s a thriving independent, diverse and accessible local economy. This sits within an area of the city that still rates high on the indices of multiple deprivation and maintains a range of services, facilities and projects that seek to help those that are the most vulnerable and most marginalised.

Hamilton House sits at the centre of this. In March 2017 Coexist began a large scale evaluation seeking to answer the all important question - what has our social, environmental and economic impact truly been? From research into our records, street surveys and census-like questionnaires we have extrapolated the sheer volume and diversity of activity that takes place in the building and what we bring to the local area. (See Appendix 2, page 73-79).

Reach People in Hamilton House have on average 3555 clients, customers, or service users each. This means that each year the work from these people based in Hamilton House

£622k

time, lending of equipment and supporting professional services to community, social justice and cultural organisations.

Over 40% of the individuals and organisations in the building are directly engaged in activity contributing to positive social change equating to 287 people working directly for

positive social change.

Visitor and Events Each year the building receives over 500,000 visits, hosts over 10,000 events and provides over £100,000 worth of free events, talks,

music and exhibitions.

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This is reflected in the 53.6% of

organisations and individuals turnover under £25k.

53.6% 92% Self Generated Income

Contribution to causes and community projects £100k p/year in-kind with free & concessionary space, volunteer

Hamilton House is renowned for grassroots, innovative social causes and startup and fledgling businesses.

Coexist Annual Turnover

reaches over 2.5m people

Coexist directly contributes over

Turnover

15.5% of the activity in the building is nonmonetized.

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Part Time Team Members (13 FT Equivalent)

Marketing, Events, Community Kitchen, Space, Finance, Front of House,

employ in excess of 25 people each and turnover at least £250k per year.

The estimated collective turnover of Hamilton House is £21,000,000 each year.

3 Volunteers Food, Wellbeing and Arts Engagement Projects

1260 450

What is not typically taken into account is the small handful of charities, social enterprises, creative businesses and organisations that

Employment Opportunities Freelance Opportunities

£21m p/year

Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

People in Hamilton House

47 228

373

Therapists

Community Members

28 227

Co-workers

221

People of which orking directly for w Positive Social Change

Artists, Performers and makers in 33 d ifferent art forms

Hot deskers

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90%

Business & Creative Industry Workers

Dance & Physical Movement Teachers/Practitioners

Hamilton House 2017 5 2 1

39

Coworking Desks

1

Dining Room

1

Dance Studios

Events Space with Bar

1 3 100

Wellbeing Studios

5

Meeting Rooms

Kitchen, with 5 Workspaces

126

30 offices 93 Artist Studios 1 Bike Workshop 1 Art Workshop 1 Screen Printing Studio

Cafe Bar Venue

Car Parks Bike Parking Spaces

1

Units which include:

Shop

1

Exhibition Space

2

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Partnerships Coexist is nothing without its partners and going forward this is going to be truer than ever.

Connolly & Callaghan

The Canteen

Other Key Partners

As sponsors, instigators and landlords, Connolly and Callaghan have been our most crucial partner since the project’s inception.

C&C have unwaveringly supported the evolution of the Coexist project and been proud of what Hamilton House has come to represent in the wider world. At this crucial junction in our relationship we are excited by the prospect of having a continued partnership that supports C&C in multiple ways, whilst also meeting the needs of thousands of people who have come to rely on Coexist and the service it provides.

With an initial investment of over £100,000 into the fabric of the building, The Canteen was central to providing a magnetic pulse to the operations of Hamilton House. It became a vital hub that attracted huge numbers of people to the project providing a vibrant space for people to congregate and build relationships. The opening of the Canteen offered a major uplift to the front face of the building with new windows, entrance and deck garden - welcoming visitors, licensees and local residents. The Canteen has been instrumental in making Hamilton House a go-to destination and is a Bristol institution in its own right.

The evolution of Hamilton House could not have happened without our key partners: the Dance Music Arts Collective (DMAC), Drawn In Bristol, The Bristol Bike Project and CoResist.

The sheer amount of creativity, trust, determination, skill and cooperation that our partners provide, enable Coexist to deliver aspects of our vision far beyond what we could do alone. The uplift, maintenance and re-imagining of the project has been a truly collaborative effort, and each of our partners is waiting to see what the future holds for this building before committing further time, energy and investment into the next phase.

As an anchor tenant and key long term partner in the development of Hamilton House, The Canteen has committed to working together more strategically with Coexist, and will continue to build on its social purpose - creating a programme of training and skills for young disadvantaged people seeking training in the hospitality sector. Going forward, The Canteen will also develop a fund for directly supporting Coexist’s social outreach, education and arts programmes.

Amongst the internal community we have internationally renowned artists such as Davy & Kristin McGuire, charities with a global reach such as United Through Sport, cultural projects such as Tribe of Doris and inspirational arts projects such as The Misfits Theatre Company (See Appendix 1, pages 4472).

This proposal aims to reduce the liabilities and responsibilities of C&C as a landlord, while offering a key role as a stakeholder and investor. This journey from landlord to financial partner will empower and simplify the work of Coexist, allowing C&C’s original vision for community hubs and sustainability to be continued whilst releasing capital and facilitating external investment into the future of the project.

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C O N N O L LY + CALLAGHAN

Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

Our Community Cultural Community

Building Community

Community Participation

Over the last nine years, Hamilton House has become a key cultural provider for Bristol as its spaces have been used by a wide and diverse range of performers, groups and organisations. The upcoming Bristol Cultural Strategy sees Hamilton House referenced as key to “catalysing innovation and competitiveness”, and placed clearly within a unique cluster of cultural infrastructure within the city. With affordable space for creatives to experiment, take risks and innovate, Hamilton House occupies a vital role in providing the fertile ground for what is being framed by Bristol City Council as “a city of originators.”

Beyond the arts, Hamilton House exists as a beacon of hope for many of the most disadvantaged groups in Bristol. We have led on collaborative projects with the Bristol Drugs Project, Bristol Refugee Rights, Lorraine Ayensu Refugee Arts and The Prince’s Trust to name but a few. This work has helped to empower isolated and desolate individuals to become part of the community, make sense of their lives, and put in place the next steps towards a happy and healthier future.

Whether it’s via social media, feedback from customers, through our Events Team, conversations at Reception, chats at Community Lunch, or contributions from the floor at our AGM, Coexist actively seek input from our community and networks in order to be alive to the needs and challenges we collectively face. It is through deeply listening in these ways that we endeavour to deliver our services truly for and with our community at the centre of all we do.

Coexist sees safeguarding Hamilton House for the cultural community as essential for realising the city’s vision of how we “invest in our cultural buildings to ensure we leave a legacy to our future generations.”

“Culture greatly improves the quality of life for people across the city, with cultural participation in activities which go far beyond what might be recognised as ‘the arts’. It provides access to ideas, to community, to fun and to employment. It is impactful for confidence, cohesion, health and wellbeing. It is, put simply, the thing that makes Bristol and that offers so much potential for Bristol’s future.”

‘City of Openness, Imagination and Originators - A Strategy for Bristol Culture’ - Tom Fleming

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The Coexist Vision Coexist co-creates spaces and services that best provide for the communities that surround us.

Coexist Core Purpose

• Our aim is to bring Hamilton House into community ownership to secure it as a resource for community benefit for generations to come. The confidence that this brings will lead to a wave of creative potential - kickstarting Coexist’s aspirations for future projects; • As custodians of Hamilton House we feel it is our duty to carry out an exemplar retrofit of Hamilton House safeguarding its culture whilst making it fit for purpose, reducing its carbon footprint, and improving its ecological sustainability; • We are going to take our vision, values and approach to new communities around the UK and abroad through consultation, facilitation and training;

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Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

• We are diversifying our existing offering to the community becoming more accessible to young people, our elders and those who struggle to find a voice in our community; • We are seeking to upgrade our spaces as we continue to evolve our cultural & social change programme of events to fully embody the aspiration to be a centre of excellence in sustainable community; • We will also create a dynamic and inspiring space to host guests from far and wide in a way that supports our wider aims and social objectives.

Kathirina Nyilas - Broad Vision

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Transformation for Changing Times Governance Structure & Ethos Coexist is an agile organisation; reflexive and constantly evolving its praxis. For our governance to be able to meet both our aspirations for the future and the needs of our existing community we need to embrace some changes. In order to meet the opportunity provided by C&C in our bid to buy Hamilton House we are making constitutional changes to facilitate a legal, philosophical and practical shift towards safeguarding the social and financial ecology of the project.

Over the past year we have reflected on our core purpose and how we can best live into it.

We asked ourselves the question: How can our

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Values - Aims - Objectives Vision - Mission - Members

Coexist CIC Enterprise & Trading Arm (Profits Invested into CCBS)

Coexist CCBS Owns Hamilton House Community Asset Lock Community Shares Charitable Status

governance better reflect the many voices of our community, and how can our contribution to the world be fairly represented by our structure?

In August 2016 Coexist began the process of establishing a Charitable Community Benefit Society (CCBS). In the same way as a Community Interest Company (CIC) conducts business in the interests of its community, the CCBS is structured to work for the benefit of its community. The work of a CCBS directly contributes to its community, and it distributes its profits directly into the community it serves.

CIC Directors

Shared Directors

CCBS Directors

Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

The new CCBS will work alongside our CIC and will provide extra community benefits to maximise the effectiveness and efficiency of our work. The CCBS adds an additional asset lock - safeguarding Hamilton House and all capital investment on behalf of the community, whilst also enabling Coexist to issue community shares to raise finance for the evolution of the project and place a proportion of ownership directly in the hands of its members - the community it serves. Finally, this new governance structure offers Coexist the opportunity to benefit from charitable status with access to Gift Aid donations, mandatory business rates relief, stamp duty exemption and some VAT relief.

Harriet Lee Merrion - Move

Using our CCBS, Coexist will launch a Community Share Offer. This is a public invitation to invest in a business that serves a social purpose. It’s different from a conventional public share offer because, rather than profit being the primary motivating factor, the focus of the investment is on the social benefits for the community.

Anyone can buy shares, and anyone who does will be a co-owner of Hamilton House and have a say in its future as a legal member.

While the community share offer is only one part of our funding strategy, it constitutes an essential expression of our intention and integrity.

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Making space for chaos Preserving, resourcing & growing the ‘Ecology of our Community’

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abounds, and it is from with this chaos and creativity that we have nurtured a diverse community treasured by all and admired far and wide.

As systems become streamlined, spaces become ‘optimised’ and the financial demands of the project increase, the need to safeguard time and space for the unknown, unplanned and emergent becomes all the more important. Coexist are committed to “making space for chaos”, encouraging unlikely collaborations and embracing opportunities as they arise.

‘The best craftsmanship always leaves holes and gaps... so that something that is not in the poem can creep, crawl, flash or thunder in.’

Dylan Thomas

Emma Burleigh - Hamilton Honeycomb

The social ecology of our community, building users and practitioners within Hamilton House is inspiring and heartwarming in its diversity. Stepping into The Canteen on a weekday morning you can tell something unique is going on. Imagine the scene: The Misfits Theatre Company sit alongside a meeting about co-housing; artists and festival organisers plot and plan; Bristol’s favourite Big Issue seller - Jeff - is helping the staff set up the chairs on the decking and a delegation of diplomats get their coffees before starting a seminar. The reason for this kind of magic is the value we place on the unexplained, unexpected and happy accidental. Serendipity

Coexist Proposal - History & Vision

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Coexist Facilitates Some of the ways in which we facilitate transformation in the wider world A space for transition

Education

Over the years we are proud to have developed educational partnerships with some of the world’s most influential proponents for transition. Coexist facilitate change in a number of ways, but one of the most consistent ways we do this is to host organisations whose explicit purpose is to foster positive change.

Apart from playing host to all of these world changing organisations we also design, develop and deliver workshops and events that promote ways to build sustainable communities. We are an educational partner for The University of Bristol, The School of Social Entrepreneurs, The Schumacher College, Atlantic College, and Lifebeat UK, not to mention a whole host of local and community based providers.

From hosting many of the initial meetings for Bristol to become the Green Capital of Europe to being included as a case study in their formal bid to the European Parliament, Coexist and Hamilton House has been referenced by policy makers and politicians from Bristol to Brussels and beyond.

Coexist has proudly hosted:

‘What we need as we seek to speed the transition to a more sustainable and ethical economy is tangible examples of what this might look like on the ground, in the lives of ordinary people. This is where Coexist and Hamilton House excel. When the students spend time with Coexist heir range of possibilities expand, as does their conviction that they could be powerful change agents back in their home places.’

Jonathan Dawson Head of Economics, Schumacher College

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Coexist Proposal - Transformation For Changing Times

Social innovation and Transformational Arts Apart from sharing our vision, values and approach for creating sustainable communities, Coexist are also innovators for how to deliver well-being in the workplace. In 2016 Coexist received global coverage for its “pioneering period policy” Valuing Natural Cycles - bringing to the world’s attention the importance of natural cycles and how they impact well-being in the workplace.

This was just one element of an entire programme of transformational arts and social projects delivered by our partner

Research project CoResist. From curating our events spaces with impactful trainings, performances and workshops, CoResist also contribute vital knowledge in deep democracy process, facilitation training and a diverse range of events on ecological action, community activism and cultural cohesion.

One flagship project we have co-developed is Community Focus, whereby anyone can propose ecologically and socially-minded initiatives and draw upon expert support to realise what would otherwise not be possible.

Since first collaborating on the organisation of a world cafe event to explore how to overhaul Bristol’s transport system back in 2008, Coexist has built a strong and ongoing research partnership with The University of Bristol that has made significant contributions to the academic literature about gentrification, alternative forms of community organising and new economics.

We have contributed to countless MA and PhD papers and sit right at the heart of the debate around Neoliberalism and how communities can combat it.

We are currently in the process of publishing our second PhD thesis and Coexist has aspirations to become a key partner in a new initiative that takes higher education out of the ivory towers and focusses on the city as a learning environment.

We are also active partners in the Productive Margins Research Programme funded by Connected Communities that sees Coexist partnering with Bristol and Cardiff universities as well as seven diverse community organisations from across Bristol and South Wales. Over the last two years we have been co-producing research looking into Dissent, Food Poverty, Isolation in Older Age and Social Mapping. (See Appendix 5, pages 86-87)

Pioneering Period Policy - 2016

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Consultation Over the years Coexist has hosted and consulted for many organisations from around the UK and beyond. We’ve hosted leaders and politicians, community regeneration groups, developers and individuals looking to learn best practice or kick-start their own community hub. We are also a favourite destination for civic institutions wanting to learn about emergent models for community regeneration including the Royal Society of Arts and The Academy of Urbanism.

We have welcomed delegations from across the world. In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear tragedy, Coexist hosted a delegation of Japanese diplomats and social innovators who had sought out Coexist and Hamilton House whilst researching cutting-edge models for community based well-being and resilience.

Deepening Practice in the Wider World Last year Coexist helped to fundraise and coordinate a learning exchange programme with Eco-Dharma. Eco-Dharma is a highly regarded retreat centre and ecocommunity in Northern Spain. Through this partnership Eco-Dharma has been able to host and facilitate a full programme of deep ecological learning with activists and social entrepreneurs from across Europe.

This year our partnership with Eco-Dharma will receive a further â‚Ź50,000 funded by ERASMUS. This will afford Coexist the space, support, and expertise to develop Coexist Catalyst - a learning journey explicitly for people wanting to create resilient and connected community spaces that lead to wider change.

Initially Coexist Catalyst will be a two-day program delivered in Hamilton House but over the coming year we shall develop a social franchise that can be offered out to the wider world.

We have identified the Impact Hub as a potential partner for seeding Coexist Catalyst into a global network and are exploring options around collaboration.

CATALYST

Harriet Lee Merrion - Growth

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Coexist Proposal - Transformation For Changing Times

Coexist Connects The relationship between cities and their rural hinterlands is one that is of crucial importance to understanding how we might transition to a more a resilient future. Coinspired and supported by Coexist, The Rural Project: Brockley Studios is a new rural hub that shares many of our aims, vision, and values.

The Rural Project will play host to a programme of educational courses run and delivered by Coexist Facilitates, developing and sharing the Coexist method. The Rural Project will also allow for creative retreats and have spaces for city based enterprises to get some perspective from the natural environment.

Aerial view of ‘The Rural Project’

The Rural Project regenerates land and the communities it feeds. It works with landowners and farmers to reimagine their assets to provide sustainable revenue streams and revive rural communities with resources and space for businesses, for food growing and for learning. It’s first iteration is in Brockley, North Somerset, taking on the lease of three buildings and acres of land with a sympathetic and recently widowed landowner to revitalise her assets to ensure she can

remain at her family home. It is twenty minutes south west of Bristol between two train stations, on a direct bus route and cycle route with disability access on site. It hosts twenty desks and three workshops spread across an old school house, a stable and a big shed.

Membership extends to groups such as Nailsea Social Shedders, brings isolated men together around practical activity, equipment and purpose. Six social enterprises will be in a six month incubation programme supported

by North Somerset Council, Resonance, Bath and Bristol Regional Capital and The Good Economy. Starting with a herb farm for restaurants and the local farm shop and allotment for our members, it will gradually expand our land based activity with partner organisations like Imayla CIC, Wayfarers Forest School, The Mankind Project and Journeyman, using the meadows and woodland for nature connection and more challenging work in the harmonious setting.

The growing will be supported by volunteers under the Green Care Coalition, using horticultural therapy for people with chronic illness and dementia, referred from the local GP and Thrive.

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Building Diversity and Well-being (From the bottom up, and the inside out)

Being here for everybody

In the next phase of the project we seek to address these concerns. The edgy, bustling atmosphere of the Stokes Croft entrance is not suitable for all of our visitors. This is especially true if you do not want to be near to the sale or consumption of alcohol, or if you

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have a need to pick up or drop off a person with complex needs. One essential change we intend to make is to remodel the City Road entrance to create a family friendly reception area. This will make Coexists services immediately more accessible for children, the elderly, vulnerable adults, and those whose faiths prohibit the consumption of alcohol.

Another powerful step will be for Coexist to conscientiously build greater diversity into its governance so that those managing the project look like, sound like, and represent greater cultural and ethnic diversity. We hope that these changes along with extended plans for child support and intergenerational learning will truly make Hamilton House a place for all.

“Too many posh hippies not enough locals involved”

Rosanna Tasker - Sanctuary

Coexist’s intention has always been to be a community project for the benefit of all people irrespective of age, ability, sex, colour, creed, or class. The reality is that it is impossible to adequately meet the needs of all people, all of the time. At Coexist we have tried our best to meet the needs of most of the people, most of the time - but as an organisation we are also acutely aware of where and when we are not able to live into this intention of being here for everybody.

Coexist Proposal - Building Well-being and Diversity

Coexist Wellbeing Developing physical, psychological and spiritual well-being has been a core aim since the inception of the project. The next chapter will see Coexist Wellbeing - our in-house complementary therapies centre - given a central role in the evolution of the project.

We want to promote well-being in everything we do. By creating a larger and more integrated Wellbeing Centre on the ground floor of Block C we will be able to expand and improve the accessibility, diversity and reach of our programmes & services. By building more strategically on synergies with Coexist Community Kitchen, In-Alignment Studios, CoResist and The Bristol Bike Project we seek

to promote well-being in a more connected and multifaceted way - working with people’s rhythms, interests and needs; customerorientated and innovative in approach.

Being on street level and including membership incentives to our community and wider customer base, we will see Coexist Wellbeing flourishing into the next phase of the project. In addition to a diversification of offerings through our existing departments and key partners, Coexist Wellbeing is exploring three exciting new avenues for meeting our aims and objectives.

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Embracing ‘Social Prescription’ Social prescription, or ‘community referrals’ are increasingly becoming an integral part of society’s approach to health and wellbeing. In October 2016 Coexist took part in Healthy City Week - a new city-wide initiative inspiring the people of Bristol to achieve healthier lifestyles for a more sustainable future city. Social prescription is a critical part of achieving this. Coexist delivers this work via our key partners - working both individually and collaboratively to create new engaging events, workshops and activities with the intention of improving the health and well-being of our community.

DMAC CIC (Dance, Music, Arts, Collective) are currently working on a project called ‘Arts on Prescription’. Challenging the norms of how we currently approach healthcare, Arts on Prescription is a model that has been developed in consultation with numerous GP’s, health care professionals and potential partners. Designed initially as a participation process for both patients and GP’s to gain confidence in using the arts for social prescribing, this tried and tested model will be developed as a working structure to take into the wider world. The aspiration is to create a Social Prescription hub in Hamilton House that will not only stand as an example of best practice, but for it to foster real longterm change in the national perception of holistic health care.

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DMAC have also just spearheaded an 8-week pilot project in Eastwood Park Women’s Prison using African Drumming, Song and Ceremony as a path to healing and self appreciation. As a branch to their ‘Arts on Prescription’, they looked primarily at the drum as medicine. Two facilitators working on the Nexus Unit for Women with personality disorders, went in once a week for an afternoon of music, camaraderie and a lot of depth and heart.

A quote from a staff member of the prison said, “they laughed together and they cried together and the sense of sheer humanity in the room was palpable. An impactful and deeply moving session.”

‘It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.’

Jiddu Krishnamurti

Coexist Proposal - Building Well-being and Diversity

Working in Partnership In order to deepen and further the outreach work we provide, Coexist have identified and formalised a number of new key partnerships. These partnerships will address key services which are so desperately needed in Bristol. Our aim is to reduce pressure on over-subscribed public services and significantly challenge the inequalities found in our community and across the city.

Raised in Bristol Working with Raised in Bristol we aim to provide much needed childcare services for pre-school infants. This will support working parents who live in the area, those who have space at Hamilton House, and also those wanting to attend a workshop or event at Hamilton House or nearby.

This partnership is a shared vision based on a collaborative partnership set up to ensure that profits are reinvested into the community it serves - Hamilton House and Stokes Croft.

Providing a regular, market rate, rental income to Coexist - as well as an annual profit share - Raised in Bristol will also provide excellent services for children and families.

It will create local employment opportunities at the nursery, and - by enabling parents to go to work - this model of partnership will be of great social and economic value to the community.

Intergenerational Support: Good Brain Gang

Youth Services: Leading Lights Tuition & CYN The purpose of Leading Lights is to provide educational and well-being services for children, young people and their families facing significant educational disadvantage. It thereby significantly challenges inequality for its clients and community, transforming long term social and economic outcomes, whilst reducing pressure on public services. Leading Lights’ ethos works on the basis of ‘authentic holism’ and an understanding of disability as social creation. Rather than problematising educational, social, physical and mental health needs in isolation, service delivery is designed to reflect the reality that problems emerge and are sustained interdependently and thus often need to be treated interdependently.

Coexist is currently building a partnership to deliver some of Leading Light’s key services directly from Hamilton House, enabling us to further develop our commitment and connection with St.Pauls and surrounding neighbourhoods.

Creative Youth Network is a pioneering organisation that delivers its key services from The Station on Silver Street. Over the past 12 months Coexist has also co-developed arts and well-being programmes with CYN, and this new phase will further develop the partnership in an integrated way - with a greater emphasis on holistic health, wellbeing and empowerment.

Through collaborations with Coexist Wellbeing partners there will be new opportunities for apprenticeship placements for young people from the locality. These youth-led projects will nurture the creativity and dynamism of the next generation of local artists, entrepreneurs and well-being practitioners, whilst providing a much needed resource to our diverse community.

We are currently developing a partnership with Good Brain Gang to provide intergenerational support for people with dementia, their families & caregivers. The aim is to create an activity and well-being centre integrated with our existing services.

The centre will provide an innovative approach to living well in old age, alongside a support system for families caring for adults with the onset of dementia.

The focus will be on helping individuals living with dementia, along with their family caregivers, to retain a maximum quality of life for as long as possible in their community.

The centre will offer a daily programme of meaningful activity and support, creating a setting for “healthy ageing” with a focus on relationships, community, the arts, intergenerational learning/activity, exercise and eating well.

The project aims to support the reestablishment of meaningful roles that give purpose to the lives of our community elders, relieve pressure on family caregivers, and ease recovery from the trauma that often comes with a dementia diagnosis.

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Enterprise and Renewal Coexist Co-working Hub Co-working is in the DNA of Coexist and in order to create a bigger and more aspirational community of social and environmental entrepreneurs Coexist is going to create a 5600 sq ft ‘laboratory for change’. Building on our existing hot-desking community we will create an ergonomically designed and inspirational co-working hub over two floors, maximising cross-pollination within our community.

specific industry knowledge in each cluster, helping to facilitate the perfect conditions for ideas and projects to grow. Habu’s founders have been part of the Coexist story since the beginning and are now making a global impact in the way that community spaces are managed. Through this software and space design partnership we are not only able to improve revenues radically but are also able to create a far more efficient and seamless customer service.

We will partner with Habu in order to optimise the usage of the space and to create the perfect membership model - including industry specific clusters for freelancers, creatives and startups. We will be providing free desk space to community managers with

Energy, Buildings and Spaces

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Food, Nutrition and Wellbeing

IT, Tech and Design

Creativity, Community and Education

Coexist Proposal - Building Well-being and Diversity

Creative Revival Hamilton House has been a story of creative revival. Empty space brought alive by creative souls. As the project has evolved as has the community of artists and creative industry professionals working here. The time has now come to evaluate the needs of this community and to update the way in which spaces are allocated and managed. Through consultation and deep democracy we are listening to everyone’s needs and developing a fair use policy so that we can breath new life into underused spaces.

We believe that evolution and succession should be built into the program. As Coexist explore the acquisition of new spaces to supplement its offering and meet the demands of its waiting list, we will also be working with existing tenants to ensure that as they grow and move on we can offer spaces to new arrivals. It is through nurturing new life into the community that fresh energy can be maintained and the most benefit created.

“Hamilton House is an incubator for small creative businesses, that then grow into larger businesses. Being part of a creative community gave us access to people and ideas, which was hugely beneficial to the development of Shambala Festival, and to new ideas and projects at that time ... This is important because socially minded companies contribute positively to the fabric of Bristol and society.�

Chris Johnson -Kambe Events Hamilton House tenants from 2010-2016

Emmie Van Biervliet - Cuban Dreams

As we move into the next phase Coexist will also be looking at how complementary clusters of creative professionals can make best use of each others collective resources (See Appendix 6, page 88).

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Rooftopia: An Eco-Hostel We are going to build the UK’s first rooftop eco-hostel. Using ModCel designed prefabricated units, using straw-bale technology; the rooftop eco-hostel will provide much needed accommodation for people attending events in Hamilton House and around Bristol. The revenues generated by the hostel will secure the investment needed to renew the roof membrane, create a rooftop garden, and install new lifts, as well as the purchase of the hostel units themselves.

Each of the rooms will showcase inspiration drawn from contemporary changemakers from around the world and feature artwork from artists from around Stokes Croft. While the hostel will be open to all - and will benefit from the rising popularity of Bristol and Stokes Croft as a tourist destination - its primary purpose will be to meet the growing demand of people taking part in programmes and events run in Hamilton House. We have a proven demand from a number of partner organisations who have a regular need for visitor accommodation.

Providing 100 beds over a mix of private family, single, double and shared 6-bed dorms the hostel will also feature space for communal cooking, a roof garden and of course a newly reconfigured co-operatively owned solar array.

Concept imagery provided by

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Coexist Proposal - Enterprise and Renewal

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Concept imagery provided by

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Coexist Proposal - Enterprise and Renewal

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Concept imagery provided by

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Coexist Proposal - Enterprise and Renewal

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Hamilton House Retrofit: Skills for all With around 550,000 people per year using Hamilton House, it’s no wonder it’s in need of some TLC. Coexist plan to give Hamilton House a much needed refurbishment commencing with essential works and hostel installation before moving into an environmental retrofit. We will start by fitting new lifts, boilers and toilets. This will lead the way for the creation of the hostel and outside areas as well as the new entrance. These works will provide many educational opportunities for young people wanting to learn a trade. In synergy with Bristol City Council’s new WORKS scheme and On-site Bristol whose values align with our own; Coexist will be engaging with construction and development providers to co-create opportunities that equip young people with the skills and qualities they need in the workplace.

ModCell who will be building and delivering our roof-top eco hostel, use a Flying Factory model to deliver their projects: a developed system of construction that removes the need for capital investment required to set up a centralised fabrication facility. Instead, ModCell created the Flying Factory system delivery that establishes an entirely localised means of manufacture, using local skills, labour, and materials. This unique pop-up, near-site, off-site method of manufacture has proved so successful that it has been adopted by Skanska and been used to deliver

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modular schools for Bristol City Council and 550 modular M&E systems for the Battersea Power Station redevelopment. The system has the core benefit of creating jobs locally to a project and has even engaged the final building users in the manufacture of their own projects. At Hamilton House the Flying factory will be located 3 miles from the site at Failand and will result in 20 local jobs being created for the duration of the project.

Coexist have also identified a number of potential partners to assist us in the delivery of this important education-exchange: Re:work is a charity which offers training to young people and those wishing to re-enter the world of work with construction being one of their key areas.

Shared Apprenticeships South West are a Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) initiative which works with construction companies based or operating within the region. Apprentices are recruited, trained and managed through the scheme, meaning apprentices have the opportunity for fixedterm on-the-job placements with one or more construction companies or projects during their apprenticeship.

Throughout the refit process Coexist will be providing dedicated space at Hamilton House for both practical and theoretical learning as well as providing a supportive environment for young people involved in apprenticeships to intermix and learn from one another.

This apprenticeship model is underpinned

by Coexists commitment to educational opportunities for all.

Supported by:

Coexist Proposal - Enterprise and Renewal

Carbon Positivity This is the future of renewable energy Inspired by recent works at the Easton Community Centre - Coexist are building a partnership with Clean Energy Prospector.

Together we plan to install a Simtricity Community Microgrid that will transform Hamilton House into an independent, community owned, energy station - reducing our C02 emissions from 216 tonnes to 86 tonnes per year (a reduction in CO2 of 60.2% a year). The centre will capture airsourced heat from the summer sun, store it underground, and release it as heat in colder months to the building. This will work alongside an expansion of the solar array on the roof of the eco-hostel. This community energy microgrid includes the potential for sharing locally generated renewable energy with neighbouring homes, businesses and buildings - creating a network of energy to the community of Stokes Croft (Please see Appendix 7, pages 89-100).

Concept imagery provided by

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Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Appendix 40-68 Case Studies 69-75 Social Impact Research 76-79 Street Surveys 2017 80-81 Valuing Natural Cycles 82-83 Academic Research 84 Benchmarking Space 85-96 Community Microgrid

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1. Case Studies Case 1 - Social Enterprise

Bristol Bike Project We provide bikes and services for underprivileged and marginalised groups, educate people in lifelong bike maintenance skills, increase the reuse of bike and bike parts reducing landfill and create empowering, developmental learning for all.

What are your most important achievements?

The Bristol Bike Project came into being in December of 2008 after project the founders James Lucas and Colin Fan were inspired whilst cycling through Scandinavia. James was volunteering with Bristol Refugee Rights and began to understand the importance for disadvantaged and marginalised people to be independently mobile in our city.

With over-priced bus fares and our reliance on the oil industry, bicycles make perfect sense for navigating and living in an urban environment.

We now work with an ever-growing crosssection of underprivileged and marginalised groups in Bristol, including those within the mental health sector, the homeless, recovering substance-abusers, and detached youth groups, and take referrals from over 50 organisations in and around Bristol. The project is also open to the general public, through volunteering, our weekly bike kitchen, women’s night and maintenance courses.

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Key Achievements in 2016 • 226 ‘Earn a Bikes’ were provided free to those that need them most.

• 1,056 repairs were undertaken during our free Fix-a-Bike sessions, keeping our Earn a Bikes running safely and smoothly.

• 20 people attended The Social Cycle tackling social isolation by getting together to fix and ride bikes.

• 400 women attended our Women’s Night • 620 young people attended our After School Bikes session.

• 347 people contacted us about volunteering at the project.

• 523 people came to our Bike Kitchen session, saving money by repairing their own bikes.

• 240 people attended our cycle maintenance courses.

• 70 bikes were loaned in partnership with Travelwest, helping people look for work, get to work and attend interviews.

• 97 bikes were sent to Calais, Dunkirk and Loire, helping stranded refugees access vital services as well as bikes for children to play on.

• 2 full time and up to 10 part time/ freelance members of staff.

• 50 active volunteers, and a wider network of approximately 200 volunteers.

• Significantly increased the turnover of our trading arm - selling affordable secondhand bikes, offering repairs and servicing and delivering full day maintenance courses - all of which supports and facilitates much of the community work that we do

Where are you heading?

For 2017, we are planning to continue to our community programs, and increasing the frequency of them. Alongside refitting the community workshop, we will spend 2017 continuing to streamline our processes, hopefully allowing us to do more community work, more efficiently! We are intending to begin a training scheme for our volunteers, to improve the quality of our work, and support our volunteers to feel more confident and empowered, or to help lead and to go on to work within the bike industry.

(Cont.) Along with this, we’re expanding our Trading Arm team, and are planning to re-fit the shop to be a better space for our customers, and be able to offer better service and more effectively work. We’re hoping we can build on what we did last year, and keep being fully self-funded and sustainable, by selling more refurbished and affordable bikes.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Being in Hamilton House has really enabled the Project to do what we do. The access to affordable space has helped us build from very humble beginnings and grow until we have become a self-sustaining organisation.

Without the low rates and large space offered

by HH, we would have struggled to do the breadth of work we now do, and would have found it hard to become self-funding while paying commercial rates.

However, more than this, being in HH has tied us very clearly to a broader community than we might otherwise have been. We feel very lucky to be part of a collective, and able to access the support and creativity of the artists, makers and activists in the building. We all support each other in ways both intensely practical (ideas around policies, insurance, fixing stuff etc) and creative (working with artists to make things!) and that’s been a constant help and pleasure.

The central location of HH, right down the road from our key partners, Bristol Refugee Rights, feels so critical to us. It is very important that we are accessible to as many people as possible, especially those who are in transport poverty, who are our focus.

Without HH, we would struggle to afford a large enough space anywhere central, so would be more likely hidden away in an industrial space that would be difficult for our Project Users to access. Our position in HH also makes the shop that we run a viable business: our location is easy for people to drop their bikes in for servicing or to buy new ones. It is an easy space for anyone to find to donate unwanted bikes, the lifeblood of the work we do.

Being a part of HH has allowed the Bike Project to blossom into the beautiful, oily, sustainable, grass roots organisation that we are. The thought of atomising this community is heart-wrenching. Being able to work alongside the other folk in the building, with a sense of shared purpose, has allowed us to give and receive support to help many others do great work that has benefitted Bristol. We’re privileged, and totally stoked to be here.

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Case 2 - Social Enterprise

Imayla CIC Imayla offers fun and learning opportunities for young people, families and groups, combining creative arts and environmental activities inspired by the natural environment.

Mission and Objectives Starting in the Easton Community Centre in 2001 we moved to Hamilton House and became a CIC in 2007. Our aim is to increase understanding, coherence and cohesion and tolerance of differences and what we have in common. We do this by working Across the statutory and Voluntary and Community Sector to deliver services to disadvantaged children and young people and families.

• Primarily in East Central Bristol but also work further afield across the city and in venues across the South West • At a service delivery level and also support strategic development for children young people and families across the city by participation in networking forums and meetings.

• Effectively with the diversity of the population living in our target area and as part of this have a diverse workforce to reflect that.

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What are your most important achievements?

All of what we do, the Wildly Different programme has been particularly successful and we had a great exhibition for 2 weeks in the gallery area here in Hamilton House to draw attention to our work.

Key Achievements in 2016 Obtaining Lottery funding through the ‘Reaching Communities’ fund for our ‘Wildly Different and the submission for a further 3 years for the ‘Even More Wildly Different’ programme.

Where are you heading?

We have 3 years funding and are currently engaged in an Organisational Review process with an Action Plan that will hopefully increase the likelihood of our work after the current core funding finishes in Dec 2019. We work with children in care and those living in difficult circumstances, we wish to continue to deliver effectively with these participants and to continue to influence the city and improve facilitates and services and ensuring those most in need received a fair and equitable access to resources and reach their aspirations and potential Possibly to be part of developing rural project from Coexist, which will improve access and understanding of rural / urban connections, connection with the land and realise the benefits of the rural environment for inner city children, young people and families.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

(Cont.) Develop volunteer work for benefit of our participants and volunteers themselves, currently working on a funding bid for this work to improve social well being, support pathways to employment and training and access to learning and recreation opportunities across the city and wider to those that wouldn’t otherwise gain those.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

It has provided us with an increasingly suitable office and storage space to develop our work.

We also have access to other innovative and committed creative arts and social enterprise organisations. All of this in a central location with ease of access for our participants.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Bristol is an increasingly unequal city. We work with those most excluded to deliver a range of opportunities. We will continue to work through direct service delivery to support access and strategically to improve the circumstances that lead to that inequality. The issues that are currently problematic across the city are costing public and personal finance to be spent less effectively on the problems themselves rather than solving the difficulties.

Imayla and Coexist want to be working to have more successful social fabric that better meets the needs of a wider group of the population which will in turn have more successful and effective and economically societal outcomes for all

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Case 3 - Social Enterprise

Incredible Edible Bristol (IEB) Formed in 2014, IEB work with communities to grow food in unloved spaces, empowering people to take food production and environment back into their hands.

Mission and Objectives To demystify food growing and dismantle boundaries between people and their ability to grow food in Bristol. Work with a broad demographic of ‘community gardeners’, from recovering drug addicts to corporate volunteers, to inspire, promote and coordinate growing projects on unused pieces of land.

What are your most important achievements?

We are an action-led group set on making change happen. In the three years we’ve been active, we have worked in partnership with major Bristol organisations in the public and private sector, including Bristol City Council, Destination Bristol, Great Western Railway and At Bristol. By working with these partners, we have achieved something more ambitious and transformational than a series of branded community gardens; we are changing the

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purpose and feel of the urban realm and influencing how it is designed. The Urban Food Trail, which is an IEB collaboration with Grow Bristol and Bee The Change. This is a route of 14 edible gardens through Bristol city centre at landmark sights, such as Bristol Temple Meads Station, Millennium Square and St Mary Redcliffe Church. The creation and continued maintenance of this trail has engaged 400+ IEB community gardeners, and through partnership with At Bristol, Great Weston Rail and Bristol City Council, has received the kind of recognition and status that traditional community gardens do not.

The gardens located in Millennium Square have become extensions of scientific exhibitions inside At Bristol. Seeds, plants and other materials are now donated on a regular basis by Almondsbury Garden Centre, making this edible garden on the Trail a self-sustaining entity.

Key Achievements in 2016 • The Bear Pit Food Forest in partnership with The Bearpit Improvement Group, St Mungo’s and BCC, IEB are helping to transform this prime, inner-city space, which was previously considered a hostile and intimidating underpass, into a positive, community-serving environment.

• Reducing the vandalism and anti-social behaviour in these areas.

• Obtaining further funding from BCC to address how food growing can dissuade tagging.

• Severnside Community Railway Trail with Severnside Community Rail Partnership, Hannah More School, Shirehampton Greens and The Dolphin School, this is an edible garden trail along station platforms on the North Bristol line.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Where are you heading?

While also maintaining our inner-city gardens, we are hoping to extend IEB’s reach to the suburbs of Bristol and beyond. Next weekend we will be showcasing our work at the prestigious RHS Malvern Spring Festival.

Later this year we’re hoping to start a brandnew, community-focused growing project with resident in Avonmouth.

A long term aim is to become a self-sustaining, community business, growing food in the city on a much larger scale and providing access to urban horticulture training.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

We are surrounded by like-minded enterprises, which is a fantastic way of networking without even trying, and a brilliant way to inspire fresh ideas e.g. recently we commissioned Dave Bain, an illustrator also based in Hamilton House, to create an illustrated map of the Urban Food Trail which has been a fantastic engagement tool for talking to young people and new volunteers.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

It’s phenomenally important for Bristol to keep a community hub like this in the centre of the city. It keeps the vibrant artistic and social enterprise community networked together, which can only make it stronger and more resilient. The arts and social enterprise community are a key component of what makes this city the attractive, interesting and exciting place it is professed to be.

For us, Hamilton House is important in enabling us to work at this level. At the moment there is no way we would be able to afford to base ourselves anywhere else within the city centre. We would lose out on networking opportunities, be less connected to the areas where several of our gardens are situated (very problematic for community driven projects), and have to spend a great deal more of our income on expenses getting people across the city. Logistically everything we do now would become a lot more difficult and complicated.

We are also closer to our work in the Bearpit which is incredibly useful. The significantly cheaper rent we are now paying for office space means that we have reduced our core costs and can now put more resources into our projects.

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Case 4 - Social Enterprise

The Misfits Theatre Company UK We are a theatre and social group led by people with learning difficulties. We are recognised for our role as providers of unique training solutions, working with both private businesses and the public sector.

Mission and Objectives • The advancement of education of people with learning disabilities ranging from those with moderate learning disabilities to those with profound and complex needs in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath and Northeast Somerset and the provision of facilities for recreation of said people in the interests of social welfare and with the object of improving their conditions of life.

• To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people with learning disabilities from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of their learning disabilities and assisting them to integrate into society, particularly but not exclusively by the provision of a local network, support and advocacy group providing creative and social opportunities for people with learning disabilities in Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath & Northeast Somerset.

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What are your most important achievements?

We started in a Day Centre for people with learning disabilities around 1995 and when the Council closed the Day centre in 2005, we moved too and were supported by ACTA a community theatre group in Bedminster. We moved from there to Hamilton House in 2010.

We now: • Put on 12 nightclubs • Run three weekly creative workshops all for people with learning disabilities (PWLD) , • Hold an average of 30 training performances for the public and private sector • Produce 4 showcases of our work to the general public each year.

• We reach about 264 PWLD, 1000 people from the public and private sector and 120 from the general public • Voted the best Big Lottery arts project in 2013.

Key Achievements in 2016 We started new creative poetry sessions and one of the the best projects we’ve ran was an exhibition of our poetry posters in the Bear Pit. Really good response from the public.

Where are you heading?

• To carry on what we are already doing and develop new performances that we can take to new venues like the Wardrobe theatre and the Trinity.

• Have another Exhibition of our members poetry at Hamilton House.

• Increasing the involvement our members with learning disabilities in the running of the Charity and employ more PWLD. • To improve the quality of our performance work and to improve the skills of our actors and to start helping our actors to get acting roles on TV and Films.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Why is the continuation of HH is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

It is really important to be based at Hamilton House, Historically PWLD have always been edged to the fringes of our communities. So to have a home here in the centre of a vibrant community, in the centre of Bristol, welcomed and accepted for who we are is amazing. We have made good partnerships with other artists who work in HH and some are running regular workshops for us. Having rooms we can hire for workshops, performances and meeting and having an office in the same building is crucial to the running of our Charity

We feel it would be a disaster for our Charity.

HH offers us so much that we wouldn’t find anywhere else in Bristol. We are the only Charity in Bristol that offer PWLD social and life skills, through being creative and dancing a lot. More and more services for PWLD are being closed down each year and there is fewer chances for PWLD in Bristol.

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Case 5 - Social Enterprise

The Original Spinners CIC The Original Spinners create performance, run workshops and events based around play for all ages and communities.

Mission and Objectives Our work encourages creative and emotional expression and promotes the importance of dance, play and the arts in helping to make us feel good.

We create positive shared experiences for communities and make dance and performance accessible to as many people as possible.

We aim to make participants in our work feel valued and to send them away with a smile on their face and a sense of enhanced physical and emotional well-being.

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What are your most important achievements?

The Original Spinners began life in February 2010 when we ran a 6 week course in the events space working towards a surprise performance in The Canteen. Since then we have: • Regularly worked Misfits Theatre Company, running movement sessions and creating performance with adults with learning disabilities.

• Created ‘Getting to know the Roma’ - A community led project starting with just 2 families and ending with over 60 members of the Bristol Romanian Roma community delivering a exhibition, performance and celebratory feast at Hamilton House.

• Delivered a performance for 120 primary school children to open their school arts week.

• Ran workshops for adults with learning disabilities, primary school aged children from the Roma community and for people with Parkinson’s disease.

• Been commissioned by Bristol City Council to create a Dance performance for the Harbour Festival - inc. a cast of 38 performers, ranging in age from 4 years-60 years, including adults with learning disabilities too.

• Produced a Christmas performance for a Care Home, with adults with learning disabilities to perform a choreography on the main stage at Bristol Old Vic. • Arranged for 3 Roma musicians who normally busk on the streets to come and play a Sunday afternoon gig in the Canteen.

• Taught dance to people with Parkinson’s disease at Southmead Hospital • Reached thousands of people as audiences, workshop and project participants and performers of our work.

• Implemented a Community Access Support Service funded dance project for primary school aged children from the Eastern European Roma community.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Key Achievements in 2016 We had a quiet time during 2016 due to injury and then surgery, we then almost closed as an organisation, but post referendum it felt like there was real value and importance in the work that we do and that now more than ever we need work that generates happiness, brings people together and celebrates our diversity. In November we held a retrospective exhibition in the gallery at Hamilton House.

We added new directors and have a company mentor to help us with our development as an organisation.

In early 2016 we created a dance performance with the movement group that we run for the Misfits and they performed it on the main stage at the Bristol Old Vic as part of the Open Stage celebrations.

We were invited by Bristol University to deliver a talk about the Roma project that we did for their diversity training weeks, I delivered this along with Claudia, a member of the Roma community who worked alongside me during the project, to over 240 medical students over 2 days.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

It means so much to be a part of Hamilton House. Without the Coexist project I do not think that I would be doing what I do today.

I first had a studio here in November 2009, I was finding my work feet again after having 2 children and did not know quite where my work would go. It felt amazing to be part of something that was just bursting with positive energy and a place where it felt like anything was possible. The affordability of the space has really made things possible too, community arts is not a big money maker so having affordable space is really important. It is great to be in a building that is full of creative people who offer opportunities for collaboration and support. Hamilton House has been so important in enabling The Original Spinners project. It is a space where creativity has flourished and been supported. It has been great to be a tenant in this building for the last 7 years and to continue to be part of this lovely Bristol project!

Why is the continuation of HH is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Hamilton House is special, it is a wonderful project and it feels like the beating heart of Stokes Croft. I can’t imagine finding another wonderfully creative place like it where we can collaborate with other organisations, have the use of the buildings great range of spaces. It is such a great multi use building that it makes it possible to dream up really diverse projects - like the Roma project that began as an arts project and ended with a food celebration.

Everybody feels welcome in the building. I love the work we do with the Misfits and an important part of that is the social aspect meeting for coffee before the session starts, this is really important for them as they have a space where they are included, not separated from the rest of society. For me Hamilton House represents a microcosm of what the world should be like, where everybody is included, everybody feels welcome, the arts and creativity are championed, celebrated and valued.

It would be a shame to end that now and feel it would be a great loss to Stokes Croft. The world needs more places like Hamilton House.

I love Hamilton House and Coexist and I want to see it continue to grow here where it started!

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Case 6 - Social Enterprise

Tribe of Doris Creating opportunities for cultural understanding and a sense of belonging through music, dance, song and ceremony from around the globe.

Mission and Objectives A world sharing and celebrating its cultural differences and its human similarities through the joy of the arts.

What are your most important achievements?

25 years ago an animated group of music lovers and adventurers met on a campsite outside of Bristol to celebrate their love of drumming and culture. Their aim was to acknowledge the drum at the heart of music, recognising the importance of the artists as carriers of cultural authenticity, bringing a little slice of West African goodness to the merry fields of England.

Over the years with lots of loving nurture this small seed has grown into a thriving community. The drum was our inspiration and our focus quickly grew to include all aspects of music, dance and song from across the world.

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Tribe of Doris is not only an organisation but a collective of people who are passionate about engaging with each other and the world around us. Through community events, festivals, a Summer School and gatherings we continue to spread our love of diversity and culture. We have built a loyal following among our creative cultural community, supporting refugee and asylum seekers to pursue their artistry. We work with local community organisations such as Bristol Somali Forum, Full Circle, Imayla, Refugee Women of Bristol, Bristol Refugee Rights as well as established Bristol venues.

Key Achievements in 2016 • Celebrating Sanctuary in Queen Square, Bristol - Celebrating the contribution of refugees to British culture • Summer School - 60 workshops for all ages and abilities in a 5 day festival of culture • Showcase nights • Bristol Women of the World

Where are you heading?

This year we will be continuing our annual programme as above and also delivering new projects such as: • Diverse Artist Network - Empowering dialogue within the culturally diverse arts sector to improve representation in mainstream arts provision, bringing funders, venues, festivals, promoters and artists together over the two meetings.

• Sheffield Showcase • Celebrate event at Malcolm X Community Centre - An event to celebrate diversity in the community of St Paul’s and seeking to encourage ‘intergenerational and intercultural sharing’.

We also have a three year business plan with lots of detail that we are currently working on.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Amazing creative space for like minded people...supportive staff (flexible, generous and caring). Hamilton House is an excellent, progressive model for how to do business in a cut throat world. Thanks Hamilton House, we trust you, love you and believe in you!

Why is the continuation of HH is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Hamilton House is a creative and cultural hub in what was a no go zone in the Stokes Croft heartland. What they have achieved in a few years is remarkable, transformative and inspiring...the best is yet to come!

Keep doing what you’re doing...let this process help develop the individuals and community behind this amazing project.

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Case 7 - Social Enterprise

United Through Sport Set up in 2004 to use sport to draw alongside young people to improve education, build life skills and raise health awareness.

Mission and Objectives To give young people from disadvantaged communities the chance to come together in a safe environment to receive extra support in life as well as having fun through sport, with the added health benefits this creates.

What are your most important achievements?

From starting small in one community in South Africa, we have expanded our operations into 6 countries, working with more than 20,000 children a year. This provides both a decent meal to many children each day, whilst providing them with improved educational and sports opportunities. We have supported more than 80 children to receive a top level education with some now at the age of being in university; something that they would not have had the opportunity or ability to achieve if United Through Sport had not supported them.

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Our young people represent their national teams in netball, rugby, tennis, hockey and football. On top of this, we have sent 1000s of international sports coaches from the UK, Europe, North America and Australia to our projects sites to assist with our coaching sessions, giving them a unique cultural experience and supporting them within their own career development.

“We have also taught many children to swim in countries where the drown rate in young people is extremely high as well as sending 10,000s of items of sports kit into communities that have very little.”

We recently built a 4G football pitch in Ghana, a first of its kind in the country and an astroturf pitch in a township school in South Africa that we use as one of our after school locations, helping to improve the facilities of the school and the upliftment this creates in the area.”

Key Achievements in 2016 • Securing more scholarships at top schools and colleges for our young people.

• Registering our own football and hockey teams in Argentina.

• Building the astroturf in Astra Primary school in of Port Elizabeth, South Africa.

• Supporting more development work in St Lucia and working alongside the National Rugby Team.

• Encouraging an increase in UK sports students at universities taking up our sports management internships and supporting the growth of the charity.

• Maintaining an extremely strong relationship with Team GB and the Olympic Association who have massively supported our efforts.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Where are you heading?

We would like to establish more fundraising units alongside our beneficiary locations as we currently have the UK, Netherlands and the USA. We would like to see more and more young people from the UK and other countries participating in our volunteer projects abroad.

We would also like to do more in the UK to support our local community in Bristol as well as Nationally.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

The community at Hamilton House and the like-mindedness of its people is hugely important for us at United Through Sport.

There have been a number of occasions to share and get advice from other charities within the building and also the extended network this has created for us in the city.

The building is also located in a part of the city which is crying out for support and more engagement with organisations such as ourselves so its positioning is vital for this connection.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

The continuation of Hamilton House is central to the ethos of United Through Sport. There is huge diversity and a positive energy from the tenants that make up the heart of the building and it’s this dynamism that keeps moral and staff motivated in what we are doing despite many challenges we face in running an organisation. It also supports many creative people, start ups and the types of enterprise that make the place an exciting and proactive environment to be based in. On top of this, we are within easy reach of local schools, colleges and universities that we work closely with as many of their students participate in our local and international volunteer projects.

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Case 8 - Independent Business

The Canteen Create an everyday magnetic space for the enjoyment of local food, music and arts.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

It was created at the same time as Hamilton House as a place where everybody in the building and the surrounding community would feel welcome. It has since become one of the most significant gravitational pulls not only for Stokes Croft but for Bristol as a whole.

The Canteen is a genuinely unique multiaward winning institution representative of everything that makes Bristol the kind of city people want to live in - dynamic, independent, pushing the boundaries, responsible, ethical and for everyone.

Whilst we have never measured the numbers of people who come to the Canteen it is busy every single day of the year and I would assume between 150,000 and 300,000 visitors a year.

The generation of artwork such as the Breakdancing Jesus, charitable support of Action Against Hunger, local sourcing of almost all our food and drink ingredients, the fair treatment of staff, responsible disposal of waste and Bristol’s best sustainable, natural and biodynamic wine list delivers The Canteen one of the highest ratings possible from Sustainable Restaurant Association and puts us in the top 1% of ethical restaurants in the country.

What are some of your most important achievements?

Where are you heading?

We do live music 7 nights a week which from Day One has been free to enjoy and always will be. This commitment to giving artists a stage costs the company in excess of £100k per annum.....that’s how much we want to support local musicians in Bristol and to enable people to enjoy free entertainment.

In 2007, The Canteen was crack den. In the last 8 years we have developed a business that employs 30 people, provides free music every night, where everyone can afford to eat healthy and sustainably sourced food and drink. Imagine what we could achieve in the next 8 years....?

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We want to be part of the continued evolution of Stokes Croft and Hamilton House. To become even more ethically minded and to source our ingredients from local farms we have invested in. To maintain an even stronger seasonal ingredient focus. To develop our reputation as a free music venue. To incubate staff members to train and grow in their skillsets even more than what we already do. After almost 10 years in business right now we are good - but we could be great.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

It means everything. Hamilton House, Coexist and the Canteen are one big progressive organic globule. Coexist is a word that I frequently use to describe the very reliance that we have on each other. Like a stool, if you remove one leg it tips over. We need all three legs in order to remain upright and to see what this incredible institution can do in the next 10 years.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

There is nowhere else like it. People throw the word ‘community’ about without often having really experienced what it actually means to be part of something that really binds people together. Hamilton House, Coexist and The Canteen are the beating heart of Stokes Croft and represent an unparalleled level of community engagement and support for each other. The very essence of breaking new ground is for the outcome of a group of people to be greater than the sum of its parts. This is why people work in teams, to deliver something that they can’t do on their own. What Hamilton House and The Canteen can offer is unique, extra-ordinary and the combination of hundreds of people all pulling in the same direction is nothing short of magnificent.

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Case 9 - Independent Business

Davy and Kristin McGuire

Ltd.

Award winning creative studio designing unique visual experiences through art installations and theatrical projects.

Mission and Objective To make our imaginations tangible.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

• •

We started as a small company in 2013 and just grown since then.

What are some of your most important achievements?

• Helpmann Award - Best Visual Theatre Production for The Paper Architect (Australia) • Japan Space Design Association Award Precious Moments. (Japan) • Ginza Association Division Excellence Award for Precious Moments. (Japan) • Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award The Paper Architect (UK) • We have had numerous television appearances internationally and been commissioned by The Royal Shakespeare Company, The Barbican, Barneys New

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•

•

York, Mikimioto Tokyo, Elle China to name a few and recently advert for Courvoisier screened at cinemas Nationwide.

We made an installation for Harrods in 2014.

We have had a sellout Christmas run in London for our stage adaptation of Howls Moving Castle. Our Theatre Show the Paper Architect has toured to London Australia and Taiwan. Our show The Icebook has toured to France, Germany, Romania, Denmark, China, Japan, USA, Spain, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Portugal, Holland.

“Magical and exquisitely crafted, Kristin and Davy McGuire’s miniature model universe is full of visual wonders.”

Guardian “The Paper Architect is as delicate as a poem by Keats, like someone pressing on a pressure point you didn’t know you had... a stunning, bittersweet meditation... a teleportation to a Garden of Eden and an astonishing evocation of the most elemental emotions: the weight of desire and the unbearable sadness of near-

forgotten nostalgia.” The Londonist • “Mesmerising and groundbreaking...

Howl’s Moving Castle will be talked about as the first show from a very talented creative team which will go on to do much bigger things. ” The Public Reviews

Where are you heading?

Touring Paper Architect to Taiwan, Making a Statue Come to life, Touring Ophelia. It’s difficult to tell as there’s always so much going on.

We have a massive project for Hull City of Culture, a new multimedia theatre project for London Mime Festival, a possible music video with a big international animation company. A collaboration and partnership with a company that make exciting new projection technology (we are not allowed to say who). Touring many other pre existing projects and installations.

To crystalize a few new pieces of work that are in the pipeline.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Hamilton House has been the best place to be I can think of. It is full of friendly, inspirational and positive people and it makes my heart sing. I have been around the world several times and have found no other place like it.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Hamilton House is our home. It is unique and there is no other place like it. It is a special place. We love Hamilton House and will be eternally grateful for the support of Coexist.

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Case 10 - Independent Business

Drawn in Bristol and Made in Bristol

(Make Space Ltd)

Provide illustrators and other desk based creatives an affordable, supportive and inspiring space to create and build sustainable businesses and creates events and retail opportunities that celebrate, showcase and promote local visual artists.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

The studio was formed as a result of Hamilton House being established in response to a lack of affordable studio space in the city.

We started with 8 illustrators and now accommodate 30+ occupying almost all of 1B. Made in Bristol needed an new office so I moved that aspect of the business to Hamilton House a couple of years ago to work more seamlessly with DiB and the artist community.

What are your most important achievements?

The studio has housed many newly graduated illustrators that have now set up shop independently both locally and across Europe.

We have a very strong link with the Falmouth university that is consistently maintained over the years.

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In the Studio - Maintaining a full, dynamic space throughout the year.

Made in Bristol - Despite being on maternity leave Made in Bristol hosted 4 direct selling events at Colston Hall and opened a Christmas shop featuring the work of 40 artists over 30 days.

Where are you heading?

Once we have more clarity about the situation at Hamilton House we aim to rebrand the studio and relaunch with a group exhibition and In addition to our seasonal Made in Bristol events and shop we are working in partnership with the museum on a new event celebrating studio pottery and other more traditionally inspired craft.

We also aim to foster a relationship with UWE offering a graduate program for illustrators, we hope to expand our studio to accommodate more desk based creatives and offer more events, educational opportunities and business services to the studio members. I also hope to relaunch the agency part of our project - Drawn in Bristol.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Hamilton House is vital to the studio’s success.

Without it 100+ illustrators would have had no professional home for their business and our wider network would not have affordable access to screen printing facilities.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Without it there would not be a studio dedicated to desk based creatives in a communal setting. Our members love the opportunities that working alongside similar businesses has provided. If the alternative is to work alone, in many cases this is the only option, so many collaborations and projects would never have come into fruition.

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Case 11 - Independent Business

Habu Ltd To support creative hubs and coworking spaces with amazing software that removes the burden of admin.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

We moved into Hamilton House without a founded business and are now on business #2.

We have 5 employees and are servicing the needs of customers around the world.

What are your most important achievements?

Habu is an ongoing project in being a tech startup. It’s also my favourite because it’s offers genuine benefits to spaces such as Coexist that enable them to concentrate on what they do best - which is providing spaces and opportunities to freelancers, creatives and to startup / scale-ups.

As Eudaimon (our previous business), we worked on some important projects around Bristol that both brought new green public spaces to the city, and had strong educational elements. In 2016 we expanded our team to 5 people and released a globally available product.

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Where are you heading?

Scaling up our business. That’s expanding our team again and growing our customer base.

Our vision is to be a high growth company that continue to adds value to our customers.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

As founding tenants in the building having moved in on 1st Jan 2009, Hamilton House represents a lot to us. It’s where we have grown our businesses, networks and as people.

Having been very involved in the early stages of Hamilton House decision making and management, we really wouldn’t have had the insights or experience to have founded Habu. The space and the people involved in it have been integral in helping us develop solutions for creative spaces that enable them to concentrate on what they do best.

Hamilton House have also critically supported us through tough times and been very understanding and forgiving when we were in very lean financial times. Without that, we wouldn’t being in the positive position that we are currently in.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Hamilton House is our material and spiritual home. It’s also a critically important place for both Stokes Croft and the broader Bristol creative community. We’ve grown here, and we still have the opportunity to grow further within this space. Hamilton House offers us great flexibility and truly affordable office space that means we can continue to increase the number of employees that work with us. It also has positive impacts on our whole team’s happiness in being part of a dynamic and active community.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Case 12 - Independent Business

Tokyo World To create community art/music events within the Bristol area.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

We were at the very start of Tokyo World and organising a one day event for 10,000 people.

However this year we will be organising an event for 20,000 people over two days.

What are your most important achievements?

Every year is the same apart from the event has grown in size. It’s always enjoyable and our offices at Hamilton House are definitely a contributing factor in our success. It’s really quite unique to have so many creative businesses all helping and working together albeit in different fields at times. In 2016 we successfully managed to sell out all tickets with an increased capacity which ensured the sustainability and future of Tokyo World for 2017.

Where are you heading?

Hopefully we will continue working out of Hamilton House. Grow the festival into a camping event and continue to create amazing moments and magical memories for people of our world. As previously mentioned Tokyo World will be held over two days rather than one at Bristol’s Eastville Park on September 23rd/24th .

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Quite a few other businesses that work closely with Tokyo World are also based at Hamilton House and the creative energy is very important for us when we are organising the festival as most of what we do is a lot to do with the energy around us which brings the creative thoughts and processes we need to keep Tokyo World further immersive and creative.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

A large number of our customers live and work near Hamilton House. It’s probably the most unique and iconic, creative workspace in the whole of Bristol.

Tokyo World would be completely lost without Hamilton House as there isn’t another building/work space we would find the same connections and businesses all subbed in one building within the Bristol area.

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Case 13 - Independent Business

Hana Sunny Signs Producing traditional hand painted signage for businesses big and small.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

• ‘TACTILE’ Joint pop-up Residency/ Exhibition at Lunar HQ in Hackney, London. (Spring 2017)

When I first started at Hamilton House I had just left my part-time job in hospitality, and was taking the tender first steps into developing my business into something which could sustain me as my total source of income.

The affordability and practicality and instant sense of community was invaluable to me at that point in time.

Where are you heading?

What are your most important achievements?

• Bringing the recently completed ‘TACTILE’ Joint Residency project to a location in Bristol.

• Attendance of the National Letterheads Meet 2017 in Oslo, Norway.

• Collaborative Signwriting Zine project of Oslo & Amsterdam Sign Trip.

• Contributing a piece of artwork into the first ever all-female sign painting exhibition to be hosted by the Pre-Vinylite Society in Chicago.

• Potential job (currently pending) painting a 4 storey stairway mural for The Wing, a new hostel being built at The Station for homeless young people and travelling hostel stayers.

• Potential collaborative project (currently

I’ve had the pleasure of painting for some very unusual one-off businesses - from my studio I have painted a travelling shoeshiner’s box, signage for a street food welsh/italian pizza van, and produced signs for people all over the country. It’s also been my 24 hour base for the more intense projects creating work for numerous exhibitions in the last year, for local Bristol based organisations and for those further afield. Some of my key acheivements this year have been: • ‘Fairground’ Solo exhibition at Tinsmith’s, Ledbury (Summer 2016) • ‘Seaching for Words’ Solo exhibition at Line Gallery, Stroud (Summer 2016)

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I hope to continue my mission exploring hand painted signage, looking at how it can benefit and provide businesses of all kinds with the personality and creativity that digital signage lacks, and where this stands in the bigger picture of our modern day high street. Some of the immediate projects are:

mid-application) with another Bristol based painter for a community mural in Corsham, Wiltshire.

• Application for an in house artist residency on the Grand Union Canal, funded by the Arts Council & Rivers and Canal Trust .

What does it mean to be in

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

I take pride in being part of the varied, creative, slightly bizarre community of Hamilton House. It certainly is a ‘house’ or ‘home’ for me - it is rather a sanctuary, somewhere I can lock down into my own world and also a place to come for some social creative time and to open my mind to other people’s projects and interests. During my time at Hamilton House I have developed close relationships with some people on my floor and bonded with others within the building.

Being surrounded by so many wonderful, mad creative people of all abilities and ages has totally opened my eyes to where my own work stands in the world, seeing it through many peoples eyes and in many different lights.

On a practical level it’s given me a physical grounding and foundations from which I’ve been able to take on projects and keep pushing my business further.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Hamilton House offers me an affordable, open, flexible and local working environment where I can base myself. I live 5 minutes walk away, I love the people I share a floor with, and feel safe and proud to be housed within that building and part of everything it stands for ethically and socially. Hamilton House (Coexist) are a moral and heartfelt organisation with genuinely good intentions, and they do so much for so many different kinds of people in Bristol - the artists and businesses based within the building are just a fraction of those who need Hamilton House - the community kitchen, DMAC and all the workshops and classes serve all of Bristol with open arms. I honestly do think that everyone/ anyone feels welcome in that building.

Hamilton House is ran by an incredibly hard working team of really dedicated people who actually want to do the right thing for an area which needs as much heartfelt help as it can get, especially now, where it seems the place is getting gutted for it’s surface value of alternative creative spirit. That creativity is kept nourished by it’s community, who are slowly getting squeezed out - and if we are not careful it will soon all be lost, leaving yet another a gentrified shell behind. If Hamilton House can break this trend, hopefully it can send out a shockwave of positivity and solidarity to all the other creative & social communities facing similar threats!

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Case 14 - Independent Business

Case 15 - Independent Business

Littlebig Ltd

Where The Wall

Booking agency for musicians

Arts promotions & cultural ambassador role within Bristol tourism

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

When I moved in I was a sole trader working independently. Now I am an organisation employing 3 other people.

As a small business expenses have to be kept minimal to be able to afford to pay staff.

The working space that Hamilton House has provided at a support rate has really helped this to be possible.

It started as an idea and the organisation

The office/studio space in Hamilton House has been very valuable during the years.

What are your most important achievements?

• Having many artist performing at international festivals such as Sonar / Glastonbury / Amsterdam Dance Event etc.

• Taking on 3 Employees • Increased profit of 20% since last year

Where are you heading?

Our aim is to continue to improve company efficiency and profit. Ideally to increase workforce further and represent more artists.

I’d like the company to grow into 10-20 people working within the organisation

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Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Without it I would have to setup an office at home and I’d have no connection with other businesses within Bristol. Hamilton House provides a hub for Stokes Croft businesses to grow, by doing so it helps the economy in BS1.

Without it local shops and cafes would suffer.

took about 5 years to grow, and about the three years before that to set up

What are your most important achievements?

We host 100s of people each year offering tuition in the arts and run a strong social media presence. We have been awarded: • Best International Experience Award • Best Visitor Experience In the Bristol, Bath & Somerset tourism Awards 2016/2017.

• Trip Advisor Certificate of Excellence 2015, 2016.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

We work a lot in Stokes Croft so the location for us is extremely important. The relatively affordable rents also make Hamilton House essential.

An essential resource for the diversity of the independent culture in Bristol.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Case 16 - P artner

CoResist Mission & Objectives: CoResist is a collective of artists, activists and educators dedicated to producing transformational performance work and inspirational workshops.

They believe that the arts and nature are vital in creating a paradigm shift towards a better world. With this in mind, they seek to make compelling and empowering work to help realise change for an ecologically sustainable, equitable, creative and compassionate society.

Where was your organisation when you started at Hamilton House and where is it now?

CoResist began out of a desire to see Coexist take on an active role in curating inspiring events, and a tension between the implicit hierarchies and the desire to explore flat structure and collective decision-making processes within the arts. What has evolved is a small, agile collective that has been instrumental in the development of Coexist’s Events Space, and a partnership that delivers an exciting and radical programme of transformational arts and social activism.

Through the partnership Coexist has delivered over 200 bespoke events tailored to the community’s interests and seeking to meet the social and ecological challenges we currently face. CoResist has contributed projects and events around issues of Nature

Connection, Ecological Regeneration, Community Cohesion, Political Literacy, Sustainable Travel, Social Justice and Renewable Energy to name but a few.

CoResist have collaborated with Sustrans, Bristol Drugs Project, University of West of England, The University of Bristol, The Creative Youth Network and many more organisations on innovative arts and social justice projects.

The partnership has also seen Coexist take a greater role in upgrading its facilities and position in the city as a key cultural provider.

What are some of your most important achievements?

Working with First Nation communities from The USA and Canada, and collaborating with Bristol artists and activists supported by the UK Tar Sands Network, CoResist delivered a creative protest at the BP AGM in 2015. This gained international coverage and brought about a meeting between community representative Derrick Evans affected by the ‘Deep Water Horizon’ oil disaster and BP Chairman Carl-Henrick Svanberg.

Media Link: https://www.no-tar-sands. org/2015/04/bp-attempts-to-silencecommunity-resistance-to-bps-extremeenergy-at-annual-general-meeting/ Other key achievements include creating two genuinely life-enhancing arts groups for refugees and asylum-seekers through

our Community Focus Programme. The feedback to the dance and music groups has been genuinely heart-warming, and this is epitomised by the following example: “ I Really would Like to give Feed back about Today. Was another great day for me ! It Changed all my Life in the UK... I didnt have any purpose to Live for, But Music Came and brought me back to Life... Bristol is diffrent Now. Every Wed. I go back to be Happy, Jolly and my daughter Said Mummy you are Very diffrent Today. What made you So happy?! Thanks Ever So much for your Project its Really Unique and Almost Life Saving... Abdulla had Sever Depression Since Last year That i know him... and he was Laughing Laud Today... i Never Seen him So happy . He Comes to BRR always upset and Nagging about the British System being So Tough and he CanT fit in... Muhammed was jocking and happy. I was my Real Character again ! I missed this Since i Left iraq... Thank you Tonny “ - Refugee And Asylum Seeker Music Group Attendee

Where are you heading?

CoResist is expanding its programme of transformational arts, affecting greater change in our local communities and empowering more and more people that come through our events, workshops and trainings.

Over the next year we seek to further enhance the effectiveness of our trainings and in the future, through collaboration with

other organisations in the building, locating Hamilton House as one of the Key Arts Providers for Bristol.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Hamilton House and Coexist have been synonymous with CoResist since its inception. Coexist is primarily concerned with ‘coexistence’ and, in earlier years, did not have the capacity to be overtly political or take action on issues of importance. CoResist was launched to compliment this ethos with a dynamic group that could respond actively to resist ideas, policies or activities that are detrimental to the health of our communities and our planet.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House important to your organisation, the work you do and for the wider context of Bristol?

Without the counterbalance of Coexist and the base of Hamilton House, CoResist would be unbalanced and dislocated from its community and mandate for action.

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Case 17 - Independent Business

The Big Mountain Design To collaborate with talented artists, illustrators, animators, graphic designers and set designers to produce innovative designs. To keep or service prices low, giving clients an alternative price point to set us apart from other expensive design agencies.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

I started the company 2 years ago and employed a junior designer a year and a half ago. We came to Hamilton House around this time. Hamilton House has provided us with a solid base to run the business and we have managed to grow the company considerably over the last year. We started with approx 2 projects running at one time, now we have approx 20. We have branched out into our space, allowing us to employ a third designer and have worked with multiple creatives throughout the building on collaborative projects. Without Hamilton House we would have struggled finding suitable creatives to work with. Some of our achievements since being here are: • Employing our first employee and to have trained him to become a competent designer who is now an invaluable member to the team.

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• Designing window displays for Wholefoods supermarket, increasing the products sales in64%.

• Having approx 8 large projects running with Pepsico: an interactive game for Pepsi and Dorito, another window display for NAKED smoothies, a sampling area to be toured around 10 UK universities, a Bus Stop poster campaign and POS graphics throughout Sainsbury’s.

• Designing an exciting drive-in-cinema display for PopChips, a frozen yoghurt bar for The Coconut Collaborative.

• Designing a new website for The Living Wage (involving 4 designers in Hamilton House).

• Produced illustrations for the BBC (involving 3 creatives in Hamilton House).

We are hoping to expand our team in Hamilton House and are looking forward to potentially having many more collaborations in the future.

Where are you heading?

To fully employ another member to the team and start promoting our business (all work so far has been through word of mouth).

We want to push our work standards so we are producing even more innovative designs. To collaborate with more creatives throughout the building to keep our work fresh and exciting. To make contact with other small creative business owners, it would be beneficial to speak with more small company owners to see/hear how other people run their creative companies. We are also running a series of still life shoots to photograph our work in fun, interesting ways to make our portfolio more exciting.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Hamilton House’s affordable rent has allowed us to put any profits back into the business.

Smaller overheads also allow us to have employees (paying wages etc) and to have a bit of money to go towards design outings such as design conferences etc. Hamilton House provides an amazing base for communicating and networking with other talented designers and artists.

Why is the continuation of Hamilton House is important to your organisation, the work you do and Bristol?

Hamilton House offers me an affordable, Hamilton House will continue to be helpful as it will allow the company to grow and employ more people and collaborate. Networking is a big factor, it is really important for us to collaborate to be more of a unique design agency. Being in the heart of Stokes Croft means we are close to printers, our suppliers and the workshop (where we collaborate with carpenters and makers). Stokes Croft is a constant inspiration for our work - to be around street artists, other creatives and studios. We plan to grow our business of Bristol based clients and being in the Stokes Croft Hub will provide an invaluable base for these opportunities.

Hamilton House is very important on so many levels for so many people. It seems a huge shame to chuck this opportunity away for the sake of new accommodation or less rewarding projects. Many people here have their lives intertwined with Hamilton House and it seems like such a waste see this disappear.

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Case 18 - Independent Business

Platform Live Ltd A Bristol based events company who organise, book and promote music events and club nights as well as providing consultancy services to other events companies and venues.

Where was your organisation when you started at HH and where is it now?

We moved into a small office space in Hamilton House around 5 years ago as a 3 man fledgeling events company. Since then our company has grown around 400% in terms of annual turnover and moved into a larger office space within the building. We employ around 10-12 local individuals on a part-time and freelance basis to assist us with events. We also took on our first full-time staff member around 2 years ago and we’re in the process of recruiting a second full- time member of staff in addition to the company directors.

What are your most important achievements?

ISince January 2017 we have personally managed or been involved in over 23 events already (with an approximate footfall across all these events of roughly 40,000 people in just under 4 months). And in 2016 we also took on consultancy contracts with 2 of the highest profile independent venues in the UK.

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Where are you heading?

Onwards and upwards; to continue a measured expansion and work towards managing a number of our own independent festivals.

What does it mean to be in Hamilton House and how has this helped support the work you do?

Hamilton House is a great location for us and has been a fantastic resource for our business.

The rent is very affordable, and the building is a hub of interesting and useful contacts and connections that we can work with on many different aspects of our business. The building is in an ideal location within central Bristol to host meetings etc and the Canteen provides a great venue for these.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

2. Social Impact Research It has been a long held aspiration of Coexist to understand what activity is generated in the building, who is participating or benefitting from it and what is the overall impact.

Why? • To understand and learn from what we do • To communicate and share our learning with others • To inspire our staff and volunteers and community of building users • To support funding applications and investment in the project • To help us to make an even greater difference This is a lengthy process and notoriously difficult. When applied to a project the scale of Hamilton House it needs to be undertaken iteratively, to plan, implement, feedback and adapt.

In April 2017 we undertook a survey of the licensees in the building to start seeing who we are and what basic measurements we can find. This was sent out to approximately 700 building users, with 138 responses.

Licensee Survey We also undertook a street survey, which offered an insight into some of our local residents, workers and people passing through. This was undertaken by the permanent building users and over 3hrs gained 150 responses from the surrounding streets of Hamilton House.

This is based on 138 responses, which represents 20% of the population of Hamilton House. The respondents to this survey were 67% Studio Licensees, 23% Office Licensees, 1% Dance Teachers, 9% Therapists. This approximately reflects the current breakdown of building users.

This is the beginning steps, we have started to collect equal opportunities and diversity information from our community of service users and we are slowly building in indicators into the operations of the building so over a period of 2-3 years we can build up an illuminating set of insights, statistics and testimonials about the level and breadth of impacts that the activity within this project helps to generate.

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What’s Do People Do? In Hamilton House there is 75 different professional occupations. Within the field of arts, performance and makers there are over 33 different art forms in the building. About 72% of the respondents work in the creative industries and over 40% of the building state there work directly contributes to positive social change.

By Floors in the building these occupations are:

• 1C - Music Production, Artist Agency, Animation, Projection Mapping, Installation, Design, Photography, Nutritionist, Food Publishing, Restaurant Management, Venue Management, Vocal Training, Radio Broadcasting.

• 2B - Web Design, Charity Fundraising, Print Maker, Animation, Textiles, Event Production, Art Tuition, Fashion Design, Illustration, Architecture

• GC - Sculpture, Stained Glass, Screen Printer, Body Artists, Wellbeing Therapy, Painting, Textile Work, Bike/Transport Social Enterprise, Social Property Development.

• 2C - Sign Painting, Cartoon Illustration, Art, Painting, Printmaking, Graphic Design, Product Design, Illustrator, Community Art, Textiles, Jewellery Making, Illustration, Event Production, Upholstery, Poet.

• 1B - Local Maker Agency, Retail Management, Electrical, Academia, Publishing, Brand Management, Advertising, Marketing, Illustration, Film Making, Public Screen Printing Facilities.

• 3B - Cultural Tourism, Animation, Installation, Painting, Theatre, Wedding Planning, Event Planning, Community Engagement, Fashion Designer, Illustration, Sculpture, Photography,

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Theatre Production, Illustration, Graphic Design, Film Production, Puppetry, Screen Printing, Academia, Research, Stage Design, Interior Design, Product Design.

• 3C - Printmaking, Painting, Architecture, Writing, Music, Theatre Production, Tipi Making/Hiring, Community Food Growing, Audiobook Editing, Theatre, Illustrator, Sex Toy Fabrication, Filmmaking • 4B - Clowning, Performance, PWLD Arts Charity, Theatre, Artist Investment, Textile Design, Graphic Design, Painting • 4C - Coworking Management, Software Design, Artist Management, Charitable Ticket Sales, Environmental Event Organising, Locksmith, Website Management, Youth Work Connecting People with Nature, Community Engagement, International Sports Charity, Green Event Support, Builders, Photography

• 5A - Event Production, Festival Management, Graphic Design, Art Direction, Music Production, Music Tutoring, • 5B - Sustainable Communities Management, Education, Software Development, Zero Carbon Transport, Festival Management, Web Development, Interior Design, International Campaigning, Life Coaching, Data Management, Environmental Consultancy, Personal Fitness, Music Producer, Property Development, Arts Development, Rural Economy Development, Nutrition, Documentary Production, Marketing, Refugee Services • 5C - Social Property Development, Architecture

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

When People Joined Hamilton House has retained people through the years from since the day it opened its doors, and still retains a consistent demand for Hamilton House by local business, social and creative enterprise and practice. The current waiting list for artist studios stands at 215 people.

Why People Choose to Come Here?

When asked what the primary reason for choosing Hamilton House out of Practical (financial, location, professional opportunities), The Facilities (studio types, room discounts, brand association etc), and Social motivations (community, belonging, values) over 51% stated it was for Social reasons.

Looking at all the social reasons given, these break down into 5 main categories.

Community - that feeling of being part of something, took account for over 50% of the reasons to come to HH.

Drilled down a little further, this social motivation breaks down into 5 main categories, Creativity, Community, Atmosphere, Socialising, Ethos.

Community, being part of something bigger, accounts for 54% of those social motivations.

Whilst affordability and location is an important secondary reason to choose Hamilton House as a place to work we have found through a small bench marking study of the cost of other studios organisations in the region, that Hamilton House studios sits comfortably in the middle of this market.

Creativity

Community

Atmosphere Socialising Ethos

To be inspired

a sense of being part of something bigger

Connection to space

To mix social Vision activity with work

Collaborate

diverse group of people

Ambience

Make friends

Values

Volume of artists and creative people

Being part of Bristol’s Friendly creative scene

Meet new people

Ethics

Surrounded by inspiring people

Supportive

My mental health

What it stands for

Connect with different people

Kindness

New to bristol

Activism

to not work in isolation

Welcoming Buzz Energy

When People Joined - Graph

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Does your work contribute to Carbon Reduction?

28% of the respondents said their work directly contribute to carbon reduction.

These include:

Environmental Where are they and how do they get here?

20% of the people live within 1km from Hamilton House and over 44% come from between 1km and 3km from the building.

40% of the respondents cycle to Hamilton House and a further 34% walk.

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• Business models that dictate sourcing 100% of materials from recycled products • A Sustainable consultancy business • Eco developer that helps reduce a family’s carbon footprint by 40% • Community renewable energy building • Geographical area carbon footprint reduction • Collective community building use means less energy is burned than in small units • Improvement of environmental performance for construction projects • Having a client base of sustainability projects • Editorial platform that promotes nature • Sustainable textiles, • Promotion of ethical businesses, permaculture etc.

• Work exclusively with natural art materials • Promote locally sourced food • Help people with solar panels/recycling projects

• Support and educate sustainable methods to live/work, • Promotion of local economy projects • Sustainable building design • Forging discourse through artistic practice and inspiring connection to land • Maps of sustainable learning to promote green developments in the city to primary school children • Supporting thousand of local producers to sell within their own city, • Environmental filmmaking and investigations • Mentoring environmental activist, • Work with sustainable and renewable companies • Through meditation to help people examine their own lives and the place within the world leads inexorably to more thoughtful living • Improving local environment and using Fsc graded materials • Urban green public projects i.e. floating ballast floating and indoor planting projects to improve air quality, • by making gardens in the public realm where once spaces were lost and unloved with the community to create beautiful productive gardens.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Personal Development About 14% of the respondents offer volunteering, internships or apprenticeships, in their practice and 33% of them said they’d be willing to explore this further.

Locality and Connectedness

45.1% agree that their understanding or behaviour of environmental issues has been influenced by interactions within Hamilton House.

This has predominantly been through interaction and discussion with other people in the building, through events such as community lunch or directly through exhibitions, talks and workshops that they have attended in Hamilton House. This has also included campaign work that takes place within the building such as Green Peace but also includes incidental conversations with Canteen staff about local food production.

We asked how many other organisations the people in the building collaborate with, Partnered with or work directly with i.e. other charities, schools, suppliers, distributors etc. Locally, Nationally and Internationally.

80 people responded to this question, extrapolated to the 700 people in the building this could reach as high as 16500 bristol connections, 6659 national connections and 26320 international connections not including customers and service users.

Bristol

UK exc.

Bristol

International exc. UK

1888

761

3008

Community Lunch is a vital component in the connectedness in the building. The ability for all the compartments of Hamilton House, to come together, eat and share conversation on a weekly basis is a key activity for generating that sense of interconnectedness and encourage collaboration in the building.

In Parallel to the primary reasons people choose Hamilton House as a place to work, people come to Community lunch primarily to meet new people and feel part of something.

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Activity in Hamilton House

Activity in Local Area

Enterprise and Employment

What take place in the rear of the building (private studios) is highly connected with what takes place in the front of the building (community centre). 25% of the respondents attend at least one activity per week not related to their work and a further 35% attend at least one activity or event per month.

When looking at how the building users connect with the activity in the surrounding Stokes Croft Area 38% attend at least one event per week and a further 29% attend at least one event per month. Only 3% state they never participate in the local activity of Stokes Croft.

Turnover in the building

Our Building users also said that on average they have 11 interactions with people in Hamilton House outside of their work life.

15.5% of the activity in the building is nonmonetized.

Hamilton House is renowned for grassroots, innovative social causes and startup and fledgling businesses. This is reflected in the 53.6% of organisations and individuals that turnover under £25k per annum.

What is not typically taken into account is the small handful of charities, social enterprises, creative businesses and organisations that employ in excess of 25 people each and turnover at least £250k per year.

The estimated collective turnover of Hamilton House is £21,000,000 each year.

From the respondents of the survey, we have a range of businesses and individuals who are not engaged in the commercial aspects of their activity. I.e. hobbyists, adult learning etc.

These range from £0 to £600k per annum.

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Of those who are commercially active the majority (53.6%) have a turnover under £25k per annum. The next approximate quarter have a turnover of £25001 - £100k = (23.9%) There are a mixture of Creative Ltd , Social Enterprise and Charities in the building that earn over £250k with the average of the top 5 in the building being £418k.

A big majority have seen a significant rise in turnover. We have an examples of people coming into the building in 2008 not even legally constituted, now employing people and turning over £600k. 20% of the respondents get 100% of their income from the work carried out at Hamilton House and 50% get over half their income from the activity carried out at HH. The adaptability of space here has allows people to be accommodated as they increase their activity or staff requirements or through periods of decreased activity. (shown through why people have moved in the building).

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Based on the amount of clients, customers and services users of the respondents of the survey, people have approximately 3555 each on average (used a truncated mean, clipping the top and bottom three of the range). The range is from 0 - 1m.

People can come into the building through low risk ad hoc methods, mainly through shared space or Hot Desking and through being part of a well connected community, conversations, interactions, internal waiting lists and advertisements, better suited space arise allowing for expansion, or shared space.

Looking at whether the services or activity the respondents are providing are for specific groups of marginalised or people with specific needs. We work with a diverse range of people within the city.

Extrapolated to the users in the building, this would represent a connection with approx.

2488500 clients, customers or service users benefitting from the products and services created at HH. (method) Employment - HH currently has an employment rate of approx 1.8 FT eqv. Per person 700 People = equivalent of 1260 FT equivalent employment opportunities from the regular users of the building.

450 freelance opportunities per year

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3. Street Surveys April 2017 What do you think the impact of Hamilton House has been?

‘It has massively improved the area - there are so many brilliant cafes, yoga studios and charities based around HH now and this just wasn’t true of before Coexist started their invaluable work.’

‘HH has a very impact social impact on the local activity. It brings like minded, friendly, environmentally positive people together to work, train, socialise and care for each other. This includes massively supporting the homeless community It’s a great hub and brings lots of different people together in a positive way.’

‘Massive. It is the central hub for community activity in Stokes Croft and I think a lot of local businesses are somewhat reliant on the hundreds of people who visit the building every day.’

‘Hamilton house is clearly a great hub for freelancers and creatives in

Bristol. Its importance to the area is massive.’

plays a crucial role in the local community.’

‘HH has given the area a stronghold of an identity, one that provides a supportive platform for arts, creative thinkers, solo-entrepreneurs / startups.’

‘Huge impact. Ham House draws in a huge amount of people, I feel it acts as a central hub/meeting place, where people in turn spill out into the local area using the locals cafes, bars and shops.’

‘It has a huge impact. It provides a base for activists, creatives and socially conscious people to meet, get excited, have ideas and then share these’ ‘Huge impact in offering space for arts and workshops for the local community.’

‘A lot. Gives it a creative, non corporate buzz.’

‘I think it has a huge impact and contributes to the general buzz of the area. I’m sure it brings a lot of people to the area as well.’

‘Not sure what this means but HH

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‘Big hub of ideas, networking, availability.’

‘Very positive, I always feel more connected because I have a studio there.’

I believe HH has had a massive impact on businesses in the local area.’

‘Hugely positive: a powerful community hub.’

‘Hamilton House is seen as the ‘hub’ of Stokes Croft by many people and provides a considerable amount of space for events and services Hamilton House has a strong impact on local activity.’

‘I think it is one of the hubs of local activity.’

‘A big impact as they offer a range of community priced and friendly activities that lower income local may not be able to avail of otherwise A hub of activity and knowledge offering places to meet informally or formally.’

‘I think that Hamilton House has had a huge, positive impact on local activity.’

‘Provides a creative hub for everyone

‘Offers affordable studio/work space

‘Huge, think it has totally transformed the area, brought people together from all walks of life.’

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

to professional independants.’

‘Hugely. With so many people working and visiting Hamilton House every day, it is a great meeting point where people will then branch out into the local activities, bars, cafes, social, health and fitness groups. So many shops, bars and cafes have sprung up since Hamilton House grew.

The area is thriving.’

‘It is an hub. Its location helps a lot, being at the centre of Stokes Croft.

Also a lot of people are “attracted” by the Canteen and through them they are informed of what happens in other levels of the building.

Tonnes. It feels like the social and creative centre; it’s drawn positive people and projects. The area is dramatically different since it opened.’

‘I provides a hub of creativity that spills out into the local area Positivity, energy and financial contribution to an otherwise deprived area.’

‘A huge positive impact. An affordable creative space that affects the environment around the building by being a hub for people to carry out and develop their skills, passions and wellbeing. Being a tenant here positively affects my mental health and this therefore affects my impact in the surrounding community. HH is an accepting place, welcoming to all members of the community - creating a positive environment keeps local activity positive.’

‘Amazing space, a real hive of activity that should not be lost. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.’

‘I believe it has a massive effect on the local community. 5 floors really make a change and provide so many different services, activities, programmes and projects positive — provides scale for alternative stuff.’

‘It’s a fantastic hub. I just can’t participate in much because I have a child and very limited time.

It’s a hub, somewhere to meet and hang out with friends.’

‘Incalculably positive.’

‘It acts as a kind of central community and social hub. It feels like a linchpin in Stokes Croft, where hundreds of different kind of people congregate for different reasons.’

‘I think it works well as a hub for the area - people gravitate towards it and it is very easy once you’re there to find out what is going on locally.’

‘Provides large-scale hub of alternative Stokes Crofty goodness Hamilton House creates a meeting/ projection hub of creative activity and ideas which is invaluable to the growth and ethos of the local community, as well as its burgeoning economy.’

‘The House is important as a meeting place hub for health dance and many activities.Graffiti lovers have great Banksy and crucifixion mural outside and has fruit herbs and veg in raised beds outside.’

‘It’s a great place for artists to meet and collaborate. The Canteen is a hub for gigs and great nights out.

Brings in money to the local area.

Hamilton House is a hub of life and culture, it makes Stokes croft feel safe and it makes me feel welcomed and wanted and included. It’s presence is invaluable to me, and so much love and creativity radiate from this one place.’

‘Brings people to the area which boosts and supports local trade/ shops/bars/restaurants and creates a diverse neighbourhood.’

‘Brings creatives to the area to boost economy for independent shops etc.

It is a hub for the community and brings a sense of security.’

‘An phenomenal change - giving artists, creatives, and small businesses the most affordable place in Bristol to work and make a community. The knock-on effect of this community, through our presence and use of local businesses (creating both jobs + entrepreneurial opportunities), as well as through events organised by the community (creating dialogue, and knowledge sharing) is incredibly vast.’

‘Lots of businesses within HH are responsible for providing creative experiences and events.’

‘Hamilton House is a hub for lots of different kinds of activity: social, dance, art, and much more It’s the pulse of Stokes Croft, it’s a second home, a meeting place, a Base, a safe place, Bristol wouldn’t be the same without it let alone Stokes Croft.’

‘A very large positive one It’s made a huge impact on the area.

In those 8 years I’ve been renting a studio, it’s become an inclusive, interactive and cultural centre that offers activities and events to the most diverse range of members of the public, is dealing positively with less advantaged people and is an active source of information on a wide range of subjects.’

‘Massive draw to the area. Huge activity hub.’

‘It provides a critical mass of people in the area that support a wide range of activities in the wider area It provides the most amazing workplace, social hub and creative hub to the people of the area.’

‘Network for people who care. support for individuals trying to do things differently.’

‘It brings people into the area.’

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‘A huge impact. it’s the heart of the area.’

‘Huge. There is such a huge amount of creative work and business taking place there and so many people coming to use the services provided.’

‘All of that contributes incredible positive energy to the area in countless ways. I can’t imagine how much impact that has.’

‘Large impact, always enjoy the range of people going to and fro much networking goes on in this building. Connecting with other local initiatives. The flow of people also makes this area much safer and so many more events are popping up in the area. I feel people come to HH to find out what’s going on allover Stokes Croft through our events board, posters and reception.

I am aware of an impact but I don’t personally feel it.’

Its been very important in creating an environment that supports alternative enquiry and events. It acts like a large tree in permaculture , all the smaller plants can thrive in its shade. It’s made the area a desirable place to be and practice anything from selling coffee to building political momentum for change and developing a new arts practise.

Several people have commented on how much HH has enriched the area from what it was before, It

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has something for everyone, it is a key place for arts, entertainment, self development and progressive conversations.’

‘It provides a really important space The area around stokes croft is definitely a lot better, it’s a lot more sociable, and is less scarily than it use to be.’

has brought more variety to the area I think Hamilton House has completely transformed Stokes Croft. The area as a whole has improved dramatically in the last 6-8 years. All the people that work in HH and attend events there have led to more cafes and bars etc opening and brought trade to the local shops, post office, etc. + led to more people being in the area at night and the Stokes Croft area in general feeling a lot safer and more vibrant than it did say 10 years ago.

HH has had a direct effect on this improvement I think it’s part of Stokes Croft’s shared cultural currency and a widely recognised byword for Bristol’s arts and activities.’

‘Great hub for so many activities and people - highly positive impact.’

‘It’s a fantastic boost to the local economy and community.’

‘Mostly making the area feel livelier and more socially cohesive/ interrelated.’

‘To answer this question it’s a very vibrant space bringing huge value in terms of music, art, ideas, creative arts, environmental discussion and activity, connectivity between people/ socialising, therapy, health and wellbeing and good food in the Canteen and the community kitchen work, quality space to meet, support/ encouragement for start up ideas and innovation, aspirations and dreams(!) within the building and a positive impact and management of the edgier side of Stoke Croft life It brings people to the area enhancing the opportunities that other businesses have.’

‘It brings so many people together.

It’s an incredible hub of creatives and individuals and I think defines most of Stokes Croft.’

‘It’s an amazing community.

Absolutely focal in terms of social, artistic and health hub.’

‘Hamilton House is a central, focal hub for Bristol. It’s had a huge impact. I would be dismayed to see it close. It’s integral to the culture and community in this area.’

‘It has been the catalyst for many activities springing up in the area &

‘Huge, it’s the hub of stokes croft It’s a central hub for so many different people and organisations. It supports local activity outside of HH as well as its own.’

‘It creates networks for local practitioners and artists, and it engages the wider community with its programme of public events and social activities.’

‘Hamilton House totally transformed this area.’

‘I think it has a massive impact.

People come to Stokes Croft to get involved in the classes at Hamilton House and have a great night out with their friends in the canteen dancing to a free band.’

‘It brings people together - it is a meeting point, not only for those working in the building but for visitors too. It provides a place for people to come and enjoy activities, whether new they are new to it or developing an experienced skill. It provides an affordable space for people to have discussions and develop new ideas and ways of thinking. Somewhere to host performances and workshops.

It is the heart and soul of Stokes Croft.’

‘A centre for meeting and communicating.’

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

‘It is the social, creative and ethical hub of Stokes Croft, loosing it would leave a dent in our community.’

‘It is a community hub - there are so many activities for local people including classes, therapy, music, talks and more. It is a place to collaborate and share ideas, help each other grow and support each other. I don’t think there would be as many independent businesses in the area if it weren’t for Hamilton House as it attracts a lot of people to Stokes Croft.’

‘I think it is the blossom on the ancient tree of Stokes Croft. Cut the trunk and the blossom will die.

I’ve observed it really bring this derelict area to life.’

‘It’s a place to meet not only like minded people, but also to expand knowledge on sustainable future and alternative methods.’

‘It has a high impact being the creative hub of the local area.’

‘Brings creatives and small businesses to the area, many make use of local shops/cafes etc.’

‘Incredibly important. It offers an exciting range of activities, that bring in people from all over Bristol, who use the local amenities.’

‘Offers a huge range of opportunities in the local area.’

‘All of the interesting, thought provoking and challenging creative work happening in the local community orbits Hamilton House the way planets orbit the sun. It is at the centre of a thriving community culture.’

‘If Hamilton House was not there, there would be no local activity.

It is an attraction for people of a range of ages in a quiet “students” area.’

‘Huge - HH is a catalyst for activity in Stokes Croft.’

‘Huge. It has certainly been integral to allowing development to happen for independent small businesses in and out of the building, therefore creating cafe culture, retail successes and demand for housing and better development all-round.’

‘It feels like an important and vibrant hub which brings vitality to the area.

It is a great hub and support for Stokes Croft, and for me personally has created a fantastic working community that has stopped my isolation, and connected me to some fantastic co-workers.’

‘I think it is a key player in the local community and is a central hub of activity. It draws on all walks of life and brings a sense of community to Stokes croft.’

‘Hamilton House is an essential hub of Bristol’s creative life - It provides a place for creators to work and is a valuable asset to the community.’

‘The impact is varied and significant.

There are many organisations in Bristol and nationally that could be (relocated anywhere and remain much the same. Hamilton House is not one of these organisations, It seems to me to be dependent on its location, Stokes croft and Hamilton House have grown together, and together they create something greater than the sum of their parts.‘ ‘It’s a hub, brings people together, provides a refuge and social hive I think it is well used and much needed.’

‘Hugely beneficial impact - a cultural hub of activity in the heart of stokes croft.’

‘Very big in the ‘alternative community’ i.e. people who are a bit more self-aware than the norm It is the heart of it.’

‘A very positive one.’

‘It’s a creative rejuvenating hub that radiates outwards hub, meeting place, centre for self development.’

‘Big socially and culturally It’s a core part of what happens in the area.’

‘I think Hamilton House provides incredible resources for local activity and community. It provides a safe space for people with disabilities, people learning languages and helping Bristol people feel more integrated. It brings people together in being creative and active in the community. It also provides an invaluable workspace for over 700 people, who might not be able to operate their independent businesses without it.’ ‘it’s a central hub for Stokes Croft music, arts, and rented office space are all vital.’

‘A huge positive impact. You only have to look at the amount of people using the building on a daily basis and the different characters it supports. The building is not stale by any means and I have never worked in a more interesting and varied environment.

There is a positive energy around the place that my international business partners have also expressed when visiting which is extremely positive.’

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4. Valuing Natural Cycles On the 15th March 2016 Coexist and CoResist hosted ‘Pioneering Period Policy: Valuing Natural Cycles in the workplace’ - a half day seminar led by Alexandra Pope. The seminar presented a radical new model of the menstrual cycle, designed as an asset for individuals and their organisation.

Pioneering Period Policy: Valuing Natural Cycles Seminar Summary Cycle awareness is a mindfulness tool for women and men. The Pioneering Period Policy seminar leads the way in guiding decisions and fostering a positive approach to valuing the menstrual cycle; celebrating and supporting the true efficiency and wellbeing of people within organisations.

The menstrual cycle is a stress management and self care tool that also offers a clear model of the creative process and sustainable living for women and men. When a woman is aware of the energy dynamic of her cycle, and values and works with it, she has a more effective and efficient means of managing her energy and time. This has benefits for personal wellbeing and harnessing optimum creativity and productivity in the workplace. In short, cycle awareness is a mindfulness tool for women.

This resource in women is unrecognised and

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unvalued. For centuries women have endured shame, ridicule and embarrassment and been deprived of education and positions of power because of the cycle. While this historical worldwide disempowerment has shifted to some degree today for many women in the world, until women everywhere can comfortably talk about their cycles as healthy and positive we are all in some way diminished.

a liability or a problem, or as women getting ‘special treatment’.

While this conversation is focused on the menstrual cycle, it forms part of a larger debate about honouring cycles in general – circadian, ultradian, seasonal etc., and cyclical consciousness as a model of sustainability – individual and organisational.

The purpose of this policy initiative is to create a positive approach to menstruation and the menstrual cycle, that empowers women and men, and supports the effectiveness and wellbeing of the organisation, to restore the menstrual cycle as the asset it is.

The seminar formed part of CoResist’s ‘Rights of nature, Rights of the human’ season and was a ‘Community Focus’ event led by Bex Baxter. After the seminar, Alexandra Pope and Bex Baxter facilitated a session which drafted a Natural Cycles policy for Coexist.

The policy was developed over several months and is currently in its trial phase at Coexist CIC.

In the past any proposal to allow women to for example have time off at menstruation has been derided by men and women alike. In this context, menstruation has been seen as

Since March 2016 Coexist have received over 100 media enquiries, and 14 months after the launch Coexist are still being cited in the media; worldwide.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Examples of media coverage Print: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3471011/Company-reveals-plans-offer-period-leave-women-month-create-happier-work-environment.html http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/02/uk-company-introduce-period-policy-female-staff Radio: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03l84gx http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/03/01/period-policy-company-bristol-coexist_n_9354208.html http://cattitudeandco.uk/period-leave-positive-change-menstruators-everywhere/ http://www.stylist.co.uk/beauty/uk-company-to-offer-period-leave-to-all-female-employees-during-their-monthly-cycle-menstruation-leave-policy-coexistbristol-bex-baxter http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/12179486/Company-becomes-first-in-UK-to-introduce-period-policy.html

TV: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b071y69l/bbc-points-west-02032016 http://www.itv.com/thismorning/hot-topics/should-women-be-give-menstrual-leave http://www.cityam.com/235839/coexist-in-bristol-is-first-uk-company-to-offer-period-leave-to-its-female-staff

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5. Academic Research Essay List featuring Hamilton House and Coexist

Academic Nate Eisenstadt (2013) - The ethos autonomous space: paradoxical experiments in everyday liberation Social Centres and an Everyday Anarchist Praxis. University of Bristol.

Larner W, Moreton S (2012) Regeneration, resistance, or resilience: The Co-exist Project.

Unpublished paper presented at ‘In, Against, and Beyond Neoliberalism’ Conference, 21–23 March, University of Glasgow.: The Coexist Project Japhy Wilson, Erik Swyngedouw (2014) The Post-Political and its Discontents: Spaces of Depoliticisation, Spectres of Radical Politics.

Simon Moreton (2014) Spatialities of Collaboration: Emerging Practices in Creative Urban Economies Paper title: Beyond space: co-working as mobile discourse.

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Michelle Brady, Randy K. Lippert (2016) Governing Practices: Neoliberalism, Governmentality, and the Ethnographic Imaginary.

Michael Buser & Jane Arthurs (2013) Cultural Activism in the Community - Connected Communities Kitty Webster, Naomi Millner, Productive Margins Collective (2016) Who decides what’s in my Fridge? An overview of the Productive Margins Food Project. Bristol University.

Russell James (2011). Inspiring Change.

Sawaday Publishing Ltd. F Frenzel (2014) Value Struggles in the Creative City: A “People’s Republic of Stokes Croft”?

Government / Commercial Case Studies Reference Portland Brown - Hamilton House Case Study The impact of Discretionary Business Rates Relief in Bristol Bristol City Council and Arts Council England Final report September 2013 Bristol Energy Cooperative Solar Panel Doc 2012 Culture, Creativity and Regeneration in Bristol Three Stories Final Report June 2013 Peter Boyden Consultants Discovering Britain - Royal Geographic Society

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Misc.

Open Letter RE tesco 2010 https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/05/bristol-conundrum-gentrification-danger-poor-really-stretched-stokes-croft-george-ferguson Stokes Croft Reference - Bristol Central Area Plan http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/big-plans-better-city-life-stokes-croft/story-11243327-detail/story.html Banksy Locations & Tours Volume 2: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and By Martin Bull, Banksy http://www.maindee.org/blog/art-and-place-making-in-stokes-croft-bristol-be-brave-and-think-long-term https://www.theguardian.com/money/2012/jun/29/lets-move-to-stokes-croft-bristol https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/11/bristol-enclave-and-spiritual-home-of-banksy-threatened-by-yuppie-flats-plan https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/26/stokes-croft-protest-tesco-rioting https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/mar/02/uk-company-introduce-period-policy-female-staff https://www.white-design.com/architecture/all-projects/hamilton-house-stokes-croft/

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6. Benchmarking Space First it starts with understanding. Over the past 12 months we have been implementing research into how the space is used and what we can do better, who we reach and who we are yet to engage with. This has been done through research and consultation both with licensees in the building, by engaging the public outside and by drawing from the ecology of studios, hubs and organisation that we reside within.

One step has to been to review the studio and office usage and explore how, when and why people use it and to make sure we are still fulfilling a need within this community and that it is being used and managed responsibly.

This has to take into account the huge variety of people and individual needs from our community of users.

This included but not limited to: • Professionals (Generate the majority of their income from the work conducted in the building) • Touring Work (Can spend multiple months away from Bristol) • Retired Artists • PT professionals with supplementary Jobs • Mental Health / Physical Health • Parental / Childcare / Pregnancy

These were created by undertaking: • Research and conversations with 7 Bristol/Bath studios about their approach to attendance and current attendance rates • Consultation with studio holders through floor meetings, email consultation, group face to face feedback sessions • Daily random (AM/PM) snapshot headcounts and unit occupation tallies We also benchmarking exercises on regional studio rates when considering when to implement rent increase to know where we stand in the wider ecology (FYI in the middle).

We are becoming more capable and committed to gaining a better understanding of who we are as an organisation and as a community of building users. In the past 12 months we have conducted:

The outputs have been the: • Implementation of a fair use policy for licensees setting out minimum usage and communication of absences.

• Revision of contracts to make the licensees more aware and accountable for their use of space.

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• 1 Public Street Survey, delivered by our community of building user in Stokes Croft

• 1 Creative Public Intervention exploring disruption and development in Stokes Croft (CoResist) • 1 Building wide user survey to 700 people • Integrated multiple social impact indicators into the daily operational activity of the building • Developed our equal opps and diversity monitoring for employee applicants • Integrated equal opps and diversity into the induction process to new licensees and temporary space users.

This approach helps us fulfill one of our core purposes to best provide space and services that people genuinely need and to help maintain both a competitive and accessible offer whilst remaining financially responsible.

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

7. Community Microgrid

Proposal from

Hamilton House community microgrid Produced for Co-exist by Clean Energy Prospector - May 2017

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Proposal from

Traditional Model

Central generation

National Grid

National energy supply company

Customers

Community microgrid A community energy network for sharing locally generated renewable energy Customers

Community energy supply company Local generation and storage

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National Grid

Green generation

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Proposal from

The community microgrid process

1. Planning

2. Construction

3. Operations

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Proposal from

Hamilton House community microgrid A Simtricity Community microgrid will transform Hamilton House into an independent, community owned, power station.

4 main elements:

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1.

Community energy supply company

2.

Electrical microgrid with battery storage

3.

Heat pumps with seasonal storage

4.

Maximised solar PV production

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Proposal from

Ownership model

CEPRO

Bristol Energy Coop

Meter point Third party owner

Li-ion battery

Solar panels

TPO

Public grid Imports

Exports

Seasonal thermal store

Electricity network

Customers

Air source heat pump

Heat network Customers

Co-exist

CEPRO

Community Energy Supply Company

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Proposal from

Electrical microgrid with battery storage We install new electrical distribution boards and where applicable a battery storage system to store solar electricity The microgrid links multiple solar arrays electrically supporting efficient sharing of solar and storage

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Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Proposal from

Heat pumps with seasonal storage We would deliver a CHOICES Energy Centre fully funded from the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) over 20 years An array of vertical boreholes under the Hamilton House carpark create a seasonal thermal energy store with a useful asset life of up to 100 years

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Proposal from

Hamilton House community microgrid Optionally extend renewable heat and power supply to the surrounding community

thermal storage

Increase HH solar array to 60kW and link surrounding community solar roofs into the microgrid CHOICES Energy Centre and microgrid

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Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Proposal from

Before and after cost and carbon savings

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Proposal from

Achieve a two-thirds reduction in heating emissions

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Coexist Proposal - Appendix

Proposal from

Element

Cost estimates1 to HH

Finance notes

Microgrid and battery

Microgrid £25-30k

Microgrid costs may be mostly offset by building retrofit2 builders work costs.

Battery £0

Battery (if applicable) to be financed by CEPRO.

Solar panels £0

We would typically offer PV finance from Bristol Energy Cooperative.

Maximised PV

Optionally it may be prefered to buy the panels directly.

Seasonal thermal store and heat network

Store £175k Network £15-25k

We would arrange 30-40 year finance. RHI3 payments would cover the first 20 years and we anticipate energy cost savings would cover remaining years.

Heat network costs may be mostly offset by building retrofit2 boiler replacement costs

CHOICES Energy Centre

£0

Financed by CEPRO and fully funded from the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) over 20 years

Hamilton House Community Energy

Management fees £130 / yr / building plus energy standing charges

Metering, billing, maintenance and company administration by CEPRO.

1.

2.

3.

Compensated by lower energy charges

Costs are indicative only Work is proposed in the context of the planned whole building retrofit Renewable Heat Incentive - subsidy for renewable heat delivered into a heat network

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7. Community Microgrid Definition of Carbon Positive Carbon positive moves beyond carbon zero by making additional ‘positive’ or ‘net export’ contributions by producing more energy on site than the building requires and feeding it back to the grid. Carbon positive projects can make significant contributions by helping to address the carbon intensity and damaging impacts of past building practices and lifestyles, and by offsetting situations where carbon zero homes are not possible.

While carbon zero is considered to be today’s benchmark of best practice, carbon positive buildings will play an increasingly important role in the future to limit global warming.

When ‘carbon positive development’ becomes the norm, it will be standard for all housing to offset the carbon emitted to make the house and produce the food, goods and services consumed in it, during its operational lifespan.

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(Cont.)

Coexist Proposal - Appendix

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We would like to say a special thanks to Hilary Sudbury, Brian Titley, Craig White, Alison Weir, Rich Gundry, and Tom Beale who have all played an important part in making this bid a reality. We give deep thanks to the Big Potential for funding us through this process. It is also important to thank our colleagues and the incredible support we have received from the wider community, not least our loved ones - the support of whom embodies all the reasons why we are working to make this new vision a reality. Finally, a massive thank you to all those who have faith in what we do, without you we wouldn’t Coexist!

Emma Fallon - Molecules To Man

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