THE VISION

The Imagination Refinery is all about retaining a public asset and making it work more effectively, and more imaginatively, as a cultural hub for our local community through a mix of reuse and redevelopment. It is an idea that is transferable and replicable. We believe that the Sandham project will be influential and helpful to communities and councils across the UK as they face the need for new ways of thinking about the public estate.

At the core of the vision is a sharing economy model whereby space is traded for time and public service, creating a hub of the likeminded, start-ups, social enterprises and community ventures. Those who can pay rent for space will be invited to do so, those who can’t will pay in time and skills, developing new and better facilities on the project site, helping to manage public places in The Bay and providing curricular support and extracurricular enrichment to Bay schools, particularly the adjacent Sandown Bay Academy (to which the Sandham Middle was once closely linked).

Over 30 organizations have already expressed an interest in being a part of the first intake of tenants, including 3 universities (Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Glasgow), artists, musicians, sports and health clubs, new businesses and social enterprises.

The creation of a new neighbourhood, built around the community hub of the Imagination Refinery is both an enabling scheme and an opportunity to put immediately into practice, and exemplify, the design-led public space concepts founded on a ‘cultural quarter’ that are central to the redevelopment project.