© Philipp Ebeling How Creative Estuary helped Hadleigh Old Fire Station reimagine its future.
Communications Officer Lauren Relf spoke with Sue Willis, Trustee of Hadleigh Old Fire Station (HOFS) CIO, about how Creative Estuary’s support has helped the organisation build confidence, rethink its ambitions and plan for the future.
Tell us about your organisation:
Formerly an operational fire station built in 1931 and decommissioned in 2009, HOFS was refurbished and opened as artist studios and the communication hub for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in July 2011. HOFS was managed by arts education Charity, the Association for Cultural Advancement through Visual Art (ACAVA) until 31 March 2023. At the end of 2023 HOFS gained charitable status as an independently run arts organisation, acquiring the lease on the site in early 2025 – securing the future of HOFS until at least 2030.
HOFS offers a creative space that encourages involvement in all artforms and opportunities for lifelong learning – a welcoming place to develop creative practices, incubate creative SMEs and grow new audiences. HOFS aims to be a vibrant arts centre at the heart of our community by providing creative and cultural experiences that enrich lives, combat isolation and promote well-being.
How did you become involved with Creative Estuary?
Our relationship with Creative Estuary began following an unsuccessful application to the co-commission programme. Rather than ending the conversation there, Lorraine Cox reached out to explore how Creative Estuary could support us in other ways. We were introduced to Creative Estuary’s Assets and Place Manager, Caggy Kerlogue, who visited us, took the time to understand our organisation and helped us identify where support would have the greatest impact.
How did Creative Estuary support your organisation?
We had been toying with the idea of physically developing the organisation’s site because we are based in an old fire station with a huge car park, and many people still assume we are a fire station. We wanted to make the site more welcoming, visible and better connected to the community. Creative Estuary helped us appoint architects, LSI.
LSI were brilliant at seeing the site in a completely new way. They gave us a whole new set of concept drawings showing how we could develop the site, including ideas that would have been way beyond what we could afford. The drawings have been really useful and have informed a lot of our thinking, from colour schemes to small details that we would never have had the conviction to take forward ourselves.
Part of the plan was to green some of the tarmac that makes up our huge car park. We have taken this forward in a community-led way, inviting local people to help build a container garden. It has made the site more welcoming and encouraged more people to find out what HOFS does, with many getting involved as volunteers. Much of this came out of our conversations with LSI, which was really exciting.
How did Creative Estuary support your wider organisational development?
Creative Estuary’s gave us the confidence supported us to think more strategically about what we wanted to achieve through our programming and our role within the local area. It also helped us engage more confidently in conversations with the council and around the regeneration plans being developed for the area, ensuring we could better advocate for our place within those discussions.
We started talking to Rachel Dingle, who had previously brought her pantomimes with Show Up Productions to our site. Rachel was keen to develop ideas with us, and we were able to offer her a freelance contract to help shape our programme. Rachel transformed the way we were thinking through conversations, experimentation and trying out new ideas. Creative Estuary’s support gave us the confidence to test these approaches and move them forward.
Subsequently, we’ve appointed two more part time staff, Alice and Hannah, who between them assist with events, marketing and day-to-day operations.
What impact has this support had on the organisation?
We are now completely unrecognisable from where we were a year or so ago.
Although we were already quite well connected within the wider creative community, Creative Estuary definitely took us two or three levels higher. The support helped us think more ambitiously about our site, programme and governance, and gave us the belief to take forward ideas that we might otherwise have left on the drawing board.
What’s next for HOFS?
We recently spoke with Creative Estuary about strengthening our governance and developing our board, and they commissioned Lucy Medhurst to support us with this work.
With Lucy’s support, we are now looking to diversify our trustee board and build a broader range of skills and experience within the organisation. At the same time, we continue to use the architectural concepts developed through the project as a roadmap for future improvements. One of the key recommendations was to upgrade our toilet and kitchen facilities and address environmental considerations, which are now priorities for future fundraising efforts.
“Creative Estuary has been transformational in our organisation, and we are very grateful for that.”
“Creative Estuary is delighted to continue its relationship with HOFS and support the organisation’s ongoing development. HOFS is a valued part of our network, and an essential creative force for regeneration in South Essex.”
