From abandoned mini-cab office to design studio
In February 2020, on a cold and wet afternoon, we went to visit 88 Springbank Road on a bit of a whim. It had been advertised with one photo of the outside and no other information, but after hunting for a permanent studio space for a couple of years, we thought we should look.
Almost four years and many headaches later and we’ve finally moved in!
The journey to get to this point was somewhat complicated by the events that unfolded in March 2020, meaning that it took a year from the first viewing to actually hold a set of keys. That was followed by the discovery that the electricity had been removed from the building and that it was fairly structurally unsound.
Half of the ceilings had collapsed, there was water in the basement and a couple of old metal posts holding up a mysterious steel beam in the basement. But there was potential: a huge shop window on a high street and a massive basement which, whilst full of water, had the potential to house an incredible textile workshop space.
Anyone who has attempted to build anything will know that buildings have ways of surprising you, and this one was full of surprises. The first one was how quickly you can completely destroy a building (windows, walls, and floors gone within a month—we’re to keep the tunnel effect until October 2023).
The building is designed to EnerPhit standards which means it is highly insulated, with triple glazing, a heat pump and MVHR system to keep fresh air moving through the building. Working to these exacting standards has at times been a frustrating battle, it is new (very good) technology but not standard so every decision was preceded by a battle.
The workspace at the front has been completely transformed by lifting the floor of the studio to create a light and airy basement; this basement is where all the messy work will happen; it houses a screen printing bed and a wash booth, hundreds of metres of fabric and a lot of ink. We have brought natural light into the space by moving the staircase and installing two glass light wells at the front and back of the building. In the middle of the renovation, the basement felt like a dead weight, but now it is our favourite room, and I still can’t quite believe the transformation.
We officially opened the doors to the newly named Springbank Studio on 18th May 2024, with our first open studio event and a very elaborate cake to celebrate the occasion. Below are some images that we will return to time and time again as a reminder of how much we achieved in that very long year (or four) to arrive at a permanent studio space.
