Introducing the Coachworks Ashford
The designer behind Pop Brixton and Peckham Levels to bring creative minds and expressive flavours to Coachworks Ashford
Before even sitting down to a slurp of Kent-roasted coffee or nibble some native nosh, the ‘cene team found itself waving and hollering to faces it has seen all over the county. This connect between forward-thinking and creative folk has been happening for some time, but rarely all in one spot. On our way to meet Carl Turner, the visionary behind Coachworks Ashford, it was pretty clear to see there was interest in this place, and from people who bring the buzz.
It’s no surprise really, considering Turner’s background in designing the ‘go-to’ places of south London - Pop Brixton and Peckham Levels (now operated by Make Shift https://www.makeshift.org).
For those who may not know, these are the painfully cool mixed-use facilities converted from unused spaces (Peckham Levels used to be an ugly multi-storey car park) to allow small businesses to flourish.
They are filled with both artisan food and drink producers and coworking spaces for anything from graphic designers to jewellers… and Ashford is next.
With space for a sponsored resident artist and a programme of events to draw in local revellers, the old Coachworks is on a very new road. We spoke to Carl Turner to find out more.
HI CARL, FIRST, LET’S FIND OUT HOW YOU ENDED UP IN ASHFORD.
Ashford Borough Council had this collection of buildings that were quite run down but in a really prominent location opposite the station and wanted to make a change in the way Ashford is perceived... becoming a more creative space or providing space for more creative people.
They actually ran an architectural competition to find a design team, and that’s how we got involved in the project.
We decided to enter and got shortlisted, and went on to win it.
Firstly, we came on board as designers, and I think because I was also the designer of Pop Brixton and Peckham Levels, and worked with Spark York, we had the right experience. As a founder of both of those, I also had an operational understanding of how these spaces work.
SO, YOU NOW OPERATE THE SITE TOO?
The conversation was there from the beginning as to who was going to operate the space.
The council had a budget for the whole project for fees and building, (which stands at around £850k), which is a good amount of money but for a renovation of this size, really quickly, it is probably not quite enough money. If we had gone out to open market it would have cost substantially more.
The conversation after getting through planning was how to make it all work. We have a history as a group of architects, we call ourselves ‘Thinkers & Makers’.
We hatched a plan with the council, for us to take it on as a ‘design and build’ project, so we would design it and take on the responsibility for delivering it within the fixed budget.
We agreed to set up a local company called Coachworks Ashford Ltd to run it. That’s an entity that has taken a lease from the council for five years and we have agreed a revenue share from what is earned from the site and we effectively curate what happens on the site.
WHAT IS COACHWORKS ALL ABOUT?
We are really working with a social enterprise mentality to create an atmosphere, offering an affordable work space.
Traditionally, these types of work space are called incubators or accelerator spaces, where we will try to pull in local talent and the kind of people who may struggle to start a business out in the marketplace where rents are high and you have to sign up to a really long lease.
We are creating a mixed-use space, which has a public element and a private element for those who work here.
This is a very different type of space and there isn't anything else like this in Ashford at the moment.
OKAY, WE CAN SEE THE ATTRACTION OF THE BAR AND THE PING PONG TABLE, BUT HOW DOES COWORKING ACTUALLY BENEFIT SMALL BUSINESSES?
These places are for people to try their business out. Moving it out of the spare room and into a more professional environment but with large costs.
The idea is that businesses will start cross-pollinating and they will grow faster because there is a captive audience of ideas and other businesses to bounce off.
We have the work spaces with different entry levels. So, we have desks where you can buy bundles of 10 days, it works out at £10 to have a desk here for the day. Or you could jump up to a small studio which can fit between two and four people in. They are £400 a month all inclusive.
Then we have other studios which are £600, and then £1,000 for the whole top floor. It’s about creating a range of different sizes and spaces to make it into a real hub.
WE CAN SEE THAT COACHWORKS IS NOT JUST ABOUT GETTING DOWN TO BUSINESS, WHAT IS THAT BUILDING ACROSS THE YARD?
The Hot House (the old Youth Theatre), it’s a covered contemporary market building. It will house a number of food and drink vendors and a programme of events that will spill out into The Yard.
We will start with it being open Thursday and Friday nights and all day Saturday and Sunday.
On Monday and Tuesday evenings we might do private events there.
But you will be able to go in there every day to take your coffee, or if some of the outside food vendors are open you can take it in there. It will become just a hang out space for Ashford. We want it to be a new public space living room or lounge for Ashford.
WHAT ELSE IS ON-SITE?
We have also managed to take an element of the Old Corn Mill (the third building on the site) which will be a coffee shop run by Macknade. That’s going to open at 6.30am every day and try to catch the commuter market. They are going to showcase coffees from different local roasteries, which there are actually quite a few of in Ashford.
We will also have a distribution point for Kent Food Hubs, for organic farms in Kent, so a food collection point. They are going to also hold markets here - the first one is organised for the 6th and 7th of December. We have discussed organising a vegan market perhaps once a month because we are seeing a lot of requests for vegan food and alcohol on social media, so we think there is a good market for it.
IS THE YARD SOLELY FOOD-AND-DRINK-LED?
No, we’d love to have a barber here, for example. One of the units we are chopping in half because some of the traders are super-micro businesses which don't need much space. So we have a cake maker and a pasta-making company who are going to take half of that container each to make it more financially manageable for them.
They aren't necessarily going to sell from those units, but use them to make their products. They are working from home at the moment, and being here makes it more convivial and can use the unit to showcase their business.
But it could easily be a barber or we’d love to get someone making beer on-site or bread bakers, and we have room to expand into. It’s a mix of ingredients.
SO, WHAT IS THIS ROOM WE ARE IN NOW?
The space we are sat in now is the ‘Artist in Residence’ space. The council have just put out a call to offer this as a sponsored space to an artist for seven months, to produce some Ashford or Kent-inspired works. We have built the unit especially for it with big windows so that people in the Yard can see what the artist is creating.
AND WHAT IS THE NEXT PHASE?
We need to get people to see that we are open four or five days a week, that it is no longer a building site and that everytime they come, there is something good going on here with a rigorous events programme - music, film, dance and more.
We have already been talking to the likes of Picturehouse about potential outdoor screenings and have also seen Revelation Ashford and the following that they have, too, so we are really keen to team up with local offerings.
For more information visit https://www.coach-works.co.uk