Custard Factory

Devonshire House (left) - The Custard Factory

The Custard Factory in Gibb Street

Devonshire House

The Custard Factory is an arts and media production centre in Birmingham, England (grid reference SP078864).

Located on the redeveloped site of the Bird's Custard factory in the industrial district of Digbeth, it is home to a community of businesses, primarily with an artistic and media slant, but also including entertainment venues and regional offices of national charitable organisations. They include the Medicine Bar, Punch Records, Fused Magazine and the Tindal Street Press, and the Birmingham branches of the National Trust, the Press Association, Royal Town Planning Institute, Terrence Higgins Trust, and Prince's Trust. The project was set up by Bennie Gray.^[1]

Development

The Custard Factory complex is set in five acres (20,000 m²) of factory buildings, originally constructed by Sir Alfred Frederick Bird (1849–1922), the son of Alfred Bird (1811–1878), the inventor of egg-free instant custard. The architectural firm commissioned to design the building was Hamblins. The architect was Augustus William Brenchley Macer-Wright who married Ellen Kate Hamblin, known as Jenny, who was the daughter of the man behind the Architect Firm's name. At one time, a thousand people worked there.

After the Bird company's departure to Banbury in 1964, the buildings were redeveloped from 1992, in two initial phases. The architect for the redevelopment project was Birmingham-based Glenn Howells Architects. The redevelopment of the Custard Factory began in January 1992 when the project was given £800,000 as a City Grant Award. This public sector funding levered in £1.6 million of private sector investment for the refurbishment of 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m²) of redundant buildings, providing 145 units for use by artists, designers and communicators. The first phase created around 300 jobs, half of which were previously unemployed. By the completion of the Custard Factory project, it is anticipated that a total of 1,000 jobs will be created.^[2]

Phase one consisted of the refurbishment of Scott House which is now home to a community of hundreds of media companies, artists and small creative enterprises. The loading bay was turned into a lake around which the developers installed around 200 studio workshops above the ground floor - plus on the ground floor a café, meeting rooms, dance studios, holistic therapy rooms, art display cases in the foyer and a larger gallery space called "The Gallery" at the rear, a record and clothes shop, sculpture (a huge iron dragon crawls up the exterior of the Medicine Bar), and fountains within a central pool area which is sometimes emptied to allow for dance music events. The Medicine Bar and Kitchen have provided a stage for many musicians, DJs and rappers. A 220-seat theatre was also provided, inspired by the Custard Factory Theatrical Company who first asked for space at the Custard Factory before the project commenced.^[3]

Phase two - originally named 'The Greenhouse', but now 'Gibb Square' after the Gibb Street location - was completed opposite the Custard Factory in 2002. It focuses on new media and media businesses. It includes a hundred studio/offices, a ring of poolside shops, galleries and restaurants plus the Green Man, a 40 ft (12 m) high sculpture by Tawny Gray - a huge structure made from vegetation and stone, standing next to a large water feature and overlooking the alleyway that divides the Custard Factory from the Gibb Square development.

Zellig

In March 2007, the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, announced new funding for the Custard Factory of £9.6m, to open 100 new office and workspace units. The result was Zellig, a restored grade II listed building, featuring a new sculpture, the Deluge, by sculptress Toin Adams and opened in May 2010.

The Zellig offices and studios have brought about an influx of young British creative businesses that have made this site the home to their successful companies and brands. The Zellig is proud to host and represent brands such as the HOUSE OF BLAK which is the host company for the network of brands blak™ [Full service cretaive agency featuring web design, corporate branding, smart phone application design & graphic design firm] ctrl+creative™ [creative artist management and promotion firm] Twenty Two™ [Fashion Distribution & Fashion E-Boutique] the Zellig also hosts International Designer Jewellery label Jewel Heritage. Whose hand crafted, locally produced jewellery has been featured in publications such as Elle and Vogue and a lot more.

Co-located media training

The presence of the Custard Factory has enticed two media training agencies to locate nearby. The old Trades Union Studies Centre, very near, is now a media and arts annexe of South Birmingham College with a new building alongside it. In 2005, the VIVID media centre moved from the Jewellery Quarter to a site very near the Custard Factory.

About 800 yards (730 m) away from the Factory is the new "Progress Works" complex, opened in 2005 as part of the Custard Factory quarter, on Heath Mill Lane. "The Bond" complex is also a short walk away.

Three-quarters of a mile north is BIAD, the largest British university art & design teaching and research centre outside London.

Nearby entertainment and shopping locations

Many different events take place at the Custard Factory, from music nights to theatre, poetry readings and storytelling. Located nearby are two renowned music venues, The Sanctuary (formerly the Digbeth Institute) and AIR, home to and owned by Godskitchen the trance superclub. The Custard Factory is close to the Old Crown pub, a half-timbered building dating from the 15th century; Digbeth Coach Station, Birmingham's main coach travel station; and the Bull Ring which is Birmingham's main shopping centre, with its landmark Selfridges building. The Custard Factory itself boasts its own retail section home to many independent stores.

Occupants

Notable past and current occupants include:

• [House of Blak] Blak // Ctrl+Creative // Twenty Two
• Fused Magazine
• Cartoonist Alex Hughes
• Maverick Television
• North One Television
• Punch Records
• Rhubarb Radio
• The Gadget Show

References

1. ^ bareau.tv/press.asp, linked from custardfactory.com
2. ^ Roberts, Peter W.; Hugh Sykes (2000). Urban Regeneration: A Handbook. SAGE. pp. 68. ISBN 0761967176. 
3. ^ Stratton, Michael (2000). Industrial Buildings: Conservation and Regeneration. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0419236309. 

• £10m expansion at Custard Factory hints at greater ambition for Digbeth

External links

• House of Blak - Blak//Ctrl+Creative//Twenty Two
• [http://www.custardfactory.com/ Custard Factory
• 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the Custard Factory site

Coordinates: 52°28′31″N 1°53′03″W / 52.4752°N 1.8842°W / 52.4752; -1.8842