Empty shops given new lease of life by Meanwhile
As the number of empty shops grows, the Meanwhile project is reanimating vacant spaces using art, craft and community enterprise.
Launched by the Asset Transfer Unit, the first projects to receive funding from Meanwhile will open during August.
Empty shop windows in Margate will be adorned with papier-mache representations of the types of shops local people said they would most like to see on their high street and a former casino in the town centre will be transformed into design studios to boost the creative economy.
Meanwhile hopes to fund a further five projects before September. Proposals under consideration include an enterprise hub for young people in Cambridge and a people’s supermarket in Brixton.
Meanwhile’s remit during its first phase is to ‘explore, develop and test’ ways in which empty shops and city centre buildings can be brought back to life.
‘It’s about finding out what the challenges are and developing a mechanism that makes it easy to happen,’ says Eddie Bridgeman, director of Meanwhile.
In early August it will release a manual to help groups interested in renting out a vacant shop for community or social purposes.
- September's issue of New Start will feature a Learning Zone article on the re-use of empty shops
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