Green light for new £1.5m Southport Enterprise Arcade in huge boost for creative, digital and tech sector

Plans for a new £1.5 million Southport Enterprise Arcade have been given the go ahead. 

One of the major ambitions of the Southport Town Deal project, it will see the conversion of the four-storey Grade II Listed Crown Buildings at 9-11 Eastbank Street into a new high tech, collaborative and affordable workspace for small businesses. 

The ambition is to diversify Southport’s economy, provide a greater number of skilled jobs, and create more opportunities to allow young people to stay in their home town. 

The transformation will create a vibrant CreaTech sector in Southport town centre, offering flexible and adaptable workspaces in a bright attractive environment for both new and established digital, creative and tech business people to work together. 

The project will utilise upper floors which were previously occupied by Sefton Council, along with the former Gallary cafe bar and grill and the former Friend Mobile shop on the ground floor. 

The project for the 15,000 sq ft site is being made possible through £1.5million funding through the Southport Town Deal with design work being carried out by K2 Architects. 

The transformation of the building will “offer opportunities to attract mobile businesses from the creative, digital, and professional services sectors” when it opens, with work due to take place this year. 

Last year the Government awarded £38.5 million for investment projects in Southport through Town Deal funding. Other schemes include the new Marine Lake Events Centre, which will replace the former Southport Theatre and Convention Centre; a water and light show on Marine Lake; and ‘Les Transformations de Southport which will see public realm improvements in the town centre. 

Town Deal funding has already supported the Southport BID scheme to install 300,000 lights along Lord Street and the conversion of Southport Market into a food, drink and events venue. 

Planning permission has now been granted by Sefton Council for Southport Enterprise Arcade to go ahead. 

In his report, Chief Sefton Council Planning Officer Derek McKenzie said: “The refurbishment of the buildings and bringing the floor space back into use would provide more footfall to the area and contribute to sustaining the vitality and viability of the town centre. 

“The proposed external works would be sympathetic, and the new shop fronts would be an improvement on the existing frontages. 

“Therefore, the proposal would enhance the character and appearance of the Listed Building as well as the Conservation Area. 

“Overall, the refurbishment works would help find the optimum viable use for the building that is compatible with the long-term conservation of the heritage asset. 

The site of the proposed Enterprise Arcade in Southport. Photo by Andrew Brown Media

“The proposals would help to support the local economy and regeneration by bringing the building back into use.” 

The Crown Buildings were constructed in the mid 1920s, replacing an earlier 19th century block of shops. 

They surround Cambridge Walks and Cambridge Arcade, which will see £400,000 invested by Sefton Council this year to renovate the Victorian canopy above it. 

The ground floor of the Crown Buildings would remain in commercial use, with two existing units, the former Gallary Grill cafe and the former mobile phone shop next door, amalgamated into one cafe. 

Just around the corner, on Corporation Street, IT solutions firm Techedia is about to unveil its £1 million new HQ, creating 75 new tech jobs. 

The hope is that the new Southport Enterprise Arcade and Techedia will encourage others to follow, diversifying Southport’s economy from being tourism led with mainly semi-skilled and seasonal employment opportunities to one that is attractive to talented, highly-skilled workers. 

The Arcade will boast “a lively open-plan café space” on the ground floor. The first floor will host a single anchor office unit. 

The second floor will contain growing spaces designed to accommodate businesses with 4-12 employees while the third floor will be home to individual co-working spaces and start-up workspace for businesses with 1-2 employees. 

The redevelopment is being led by Sefton Council with the design work being done by K2 Architects. 

In their submission, they said: “Southport has struggled to adapt to the shifting culture of social and economic attitudes of the late 20th Century. Consequently, it has experienced a gradual economic downturn, the long-term impact of which has been significant. 

“Its population is becoming increasingly concentrated at the older end of the social order, while the younger, economically active population are migrating to the cities for a better quality of life.

“Southport’s natural environment and built heritage offers enormous potential in addressing the debate on what a lifestyle focused on health and wellbeing should look like in the 21st Century. 

“However, it currently lacks the basic workspace infrastructure to successfully deliver on the live, work and play narrative that drives modern towns and cities. 

“Southport has the potential to offer opportunities to attract more mobile businesses from sectors other than tourism, such as the creative, digital, and professional services sectors. Understanding what attracts these firms and the wider link between amenity value and economic development will be critical to ensuring successful outcomes for the Town Deal.” 

Sefton Council appointed K2 Architects in late 2020 to prepare a RIBA Stage 1 Initial Project Brief, exploring a range of workspace options for Crown Buildings, aimed at creatively inspiring a change in the town centre’s entrepreneurial landscape. 

This study formed part of Southport’s successful Town Deal application.

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