New campaign to save Summerhall complex
Campaign to retain city-centre home for artists and businesses
A new group, #MadeinSummerhall, has been set up by 110 artists and businesses at under-threat Summerhall, to campaign to retain their city-centre homes, which make up 60% of of the Summerhall complex.
The group is concerned that the other residents will get forgotten in the media focus on the Summerhall Arts initiative which, as we reported here, provides a short-term reprieve for the Summerhall venue but is only relevant for the public-facing elements of the venue: the arts, entertainment, food and beverage offers.
Summerhall. Pic David Springford
#MadeinSummerhall has welcomed the news that the main performance and exhibition spaces will be retained for a few years at the capital’s cultural hub – which has been reported widely in the media.
However, the group emphasises that Summerhall is not solely a public entertainment venue, but is home to more than 110 businesses, artists, makers and science and tech innovators using a close network of studio spaces, offices and workshops.
Together these rent-paying tenants – most of them on short-term leases with a minimal termination period – occupy 60 percent of the 130,000 sq ft city centre site.
corridors
In a release published today, Thursday 1 August 2024, they say: “Endless corridors weave through the old Dick Vet school buildings where potters rub shoulders with scientific instrument developers, and cartographers are neighbours with award-winning animators.
“It is feared all of these spaces will disappear when the site is redeveloped.”
The seven blocks of the Summerhall complex were put on the market in May by Oesselmann Estate Limited, an Isle of Man-registered company. A closing date for bids has been set for 18 September, 2024.
Barney and his teenage daughter, pictured during Covid. Pic: Peter Dibdin.
The property’s particulars say the urban site offers “endless” refurbishment and redevelopment options, including “residential, boutique hotels, offices and student housing”.
Lindy McNair, owner of resident business ModernPrints.co.uk says: “It is terrific news that the public-facing venues will continue at Summerhall for the next few years.
“However, that is just the tip of the iceberg – and beyond that are literally dozens of businesses and artists who together have evolved over 13 years into an entrepreneurial arts and science-based ecosystem right in the heart of the capital. It’s like a small, vibrant, cultural village.”
city of culture and innovation
#MadeinSummerhall tenants range from well-loved brands such as Barney’s Beer through to award-winning filmmakers, photographers and artists, including children’s book illustrator Kate Leiper and BAFTA winner Will Anderson.
Tech unicorn Skyscanner began its life at Summerhall and, during Covid, Edinburgh Hacklab, Scotland’s largest community maker space, came together with other Summerhall businesses to form Shield Force, to supply 60,000 3D-printed face shields free of charge to the NHS.
Rebecca Milling and Lindy Mcnair Pic: Peter Dibdin
Commercial and creative photographer Peter Dibdin, who has a studio at Summerhall says: “The cultural life of a city needs more than its venues – in fact it would be nothing without the creators and makers who make Edinburgh a city of culture and innovation.
hollowing out the city’s cultural core
“It is vital that places like these remain in city centres – more than 95 percent of Summerhall residents travel here by foot, bicycle or public transport and it would be a loss to the city if this highly integrated ecosystem were dispersed to remote workshops on the periphery. It feels like hollowing out the city’s cultural core.
“Now our #MadeinSummerhall group has been established, we will be highlighting the breadth of activity that takes place here – both culturally and economically – with a campaign running throughout the Festival and beyond, with a call to the city’s leaders to recognise that the richness of a city is not just its venues and that Edinburgh will always need artists, entrepreneurs and creators at its heart.”
Links
#MadeinSummerhall website: www.madeinsummerhall.com/
#MadeinSummerhall Instagram: @madeinsummerhall
Summerhall Residents A-Z: www.summerhall.co.uk
The various elements of Summerhall. Summerhall Arts has three-year leases on rooms in the Main Building and Pub/Distillery Block. Image: sales document for Summerhall.
ENDS
