Groundbreaking Salford arts hub on horizon as Hot Bed Press buy Casket Works from council for £80k
A printmakers in Salford will buy the lease to their 30,000sq ft Victorian mill home to create a one-off arts hub, SalfordOnline.com can reveal.
Hot Bed Press (HBP) is one of the leading print workshops in the country, and the biggest open-access print workshops in the UK.
They offer courses in etching, screen printing and relief printing, working with everyone from schoolchildren to PhD students from across the North West.
The community arts organisation have called Casket Works on Cow Lane home since 2006.
But the building, owned by Salford City Council, is in desperate need of repair.
After long negotiations the organisation managed to secure the sale of a 250-year lease for a market value of £80,000, with the proviso that they will spend hundreds of thousands of pounds bringing the building back up to scratch.
Artistic director Sean Rorke, 49, revealed the plans exclusively to SalfordOnline.com.
“We’ve had three-year leases here on Cow Lane since we moved here in 2006.
“There’s a backlog of maintenance, especially with the roof and windows, and we’re buying on the basis that we can make the best of the space on offer.”
It’s thought some £400,000-£500,000 will be needed, but Hot Bed Press have permission to go after an Arts Council grant to cover the 100% of these costs.
“We do have an ongoing operating budget as a backup,” said Rorke, “but the council have been reassured we have the ability to carry out these works.”
Deputy City Mayor Councillor David Lancaster said: “This Victorian building, a former engineering works, proved difficult to let until HBP took space there 10 years ago.
“Since then the collective has gone from strength to strength and become locally and nationally recognised.
“We have therefore agreed the sale of a long lease, subject to HBP repairing and refurbishing the building.
“Existing tenants will be able to remain if they wish. Thanks to their longer lease, HBP may be able to secure arts funding, which is not available to the council, to contribute to carrying out this refurbishment.
Tenants in the building include a metal fabricator and tinsmith who has been working on Cow Lane for the last 40 years, as well as artists studios and a Community Transport Hub on the ground floor.
Around 250 members age 16-70 from all over Greater Manchester, and as far away as Scotland and Wales, pay a membership fees to be able to use printing equipment and other facilities for as little as £3 per hour.
“Original printmaking is coming back because people are finding the limitations of digital,” said Rorke.
“We have 150-year-old presses that we’re keeping going; I can look out of my widow and see people printing in a time-honoured way. There’s one artist composing traditional letter press down the hall as we speak.
“We teach people everything from the basics to advanced techniques in printing, both in tradition and contemporary ways, giving them the tools to be creative artists.
“These are skills which are no longer being taught in colleges: what we’ve created here is a degree course experience which is a role model for print workshops across the UK.”
It’s understood up to 6 new jobs will be created as HBP increase the number of courses they offer.
An addition two jobs will be created by the move by 2016, and Hot Bed will need to employ up to four new freelance tutors to carry out the extra classes.
“As an arts organisation buying our building is a huge step forward,” said Rorke.
“It means we no longer have to look over our shoulder and it gives us the confidence that we’re going to bring the building back up to scratch.
“Our plan is to working together in a forum with the likes of Castle Gallery and Islington Mill to create a much bigger arts infrastructure in Salford.
He added: “This will mean a sea change in the perception of Salford arts organisations working together, heralding a new profile for arts organisations around Salford.”
