Huddersfield Media Centre leads way to recovery
Jun 6 2009 Huddersfield Daily Examiner
Huddersfield Media Centre leads way to recovery
THE lessons learned in Huddersfield following the 1980s recession are set to help other towns and cities recover from the current crisis.
Delegates from across the UK and Europe will attend a three-day event next month to find out how the town’s disused mills and factories were converted to provide workspace for creative businesses – and new jobs – in the wake of a decline in traditional industries.
The “summer school” will include tours of Huddersfield’s Media Centre – where the event is being held – and Dean Clough in Halifax.
The Media Centre complex, on Northumberland Street, was once home to a plumbers’ merchants, but has been transformed into a thriving base for 130 creative businesses – covering areas such as marketing and design, architecture and interior design, video and film production.
The complex includes one of the greenest business centre buildings in the UK, which was opened by the Queen in 2007.
Media Centre chief executive and course leader, Teo Greenstreet, said the complex had helped to make Huddersfield one of the most renowned “creative clusters” in the country.
“The initiatives that emerged following the collapse of heavy industries have been an essential part of the survival and revival of northern towns and cities like Huddersfield,” he said.
“The Media Centre was one of several projects to come out of the Huddersfield Creative Town Initiative, a project delivered using European funding to stimulate economic activity through creative enterprise and to respond to a demand for creative workspace within the town.
“Since opening in 1995, the Media Centre has provided a home to at least 300 creative and digital companies with approximately 500 people employed within companies at the centre at any given time.”
Said Mr Greenstreet: “As in the 1980s, the places that recover fastest will be those that engage now with emerging sectors.’’
It is hoped that delegates will take away tried and tested solutions to boost recovery from the recession in their areas.”
Speakers at the event – which runs from July 6 to 9 – include Simon Hill, executive director of regional development agency Yorkshire Forward; Kirklees Council chief executive Rob Vincent and Pat Kane, author of The Play Ethic and a member of 1980s pop band Hue And Cry.
The event, entitled Entrepreneurship, Workspace and the Local Creative Economy, is a joint initiative by The Media Centre, Kirklees and Barnsley councils, Sheffield-based Creative Clusters and Yorkshire Forward.
Go to www.creativeclusters.com
