After helping to spark the renaissance of Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, Baltic Creative CIC is looking to replicate its success in Southport. Tony McDonough reports
Baltic Creative CIC helped turn Liverpool’s forgotten Baltic district into a thriving digital and creative hub and now it is being tasked with repeating the feat in Southport.
Sefton Council is investing £1.5m in its new Enterprise Arcade project. Located in Crown Buildings in Southport town centre, the facility will be a 15,000 sq ft hub for individuals, freelancers, enterprises, and independent digital sector professionals.
Now it has named Baltic Creative CIC as the preferred operator of the Enterprise Arcade. Supported organisations such as Southport BID, the Enterprise Arcade is part of the Southport Town Deal and is an attempt to diversify the town’s economy.
Not much more than a decade ago the Baltic Triangle district of Liverpool, just south of the city centre, was a deserted wasteland of old docklands warehouses. Today it is a thriving district of creative and digital businesses as well as bars, restaurants and homes.
Along with Elevator Studios, Baltic Creative CIC kick-started the regeneration of the district. Baltic Creative offers 120,000 sq ft of commercial space and is home to 170 businesses employing around 600 people.
Dr Fiona Armstrong-Gibbs, chair of the Baltic Creative board, said: “It has long been our ambition to replicate the success that we’ve had within the Baltic Triangle. It’s great to have reached this stage with Sefton Council and its plans for the Enterprise Arcade.
“Outside of Liverpool city centre, there is a real shortage of appropriate work and collaboration space for digital and creative businesses to flourish. We’ve seen first-hand the benefits that creating this kind of environment can bring. We’re looking forward to exploring what a Baltic Creative space in Southport could look like.”
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Cllr Marion Atkinson, Sefton Council’s Labour Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Skills, added: “This is a key project for the regeneration and economic diversification of Southport’s economy.
“The Enterprise Arcade will incorporate Crown Buildings and vacant retail units on the ground floor of Eastbank Street. The new repurposed workspace will join Southport’s regenerated and already successful market in demonstrating how new life can be brought back to these fantastic buildings.
“Our Enterprise Arcade will be the ideal location for a whole host of start-up and growing businesses and individuals.”
Any businesses or entrepreneurs interested in taking space at the Enterprise Arcade can contact info@baltic-creative.comor or call 0151 708 2840,