Toffee Factory opens its doors as part of the North East’s Love Architecture festival
June 20, 2012
The Toffee Factory opened it’s doors for a very special building tour on Friday 22 June as part of the Royal Institute of British Architects’ (RIBA) new festival of architecture, Love Architecture.
Visitors joined Tim Bailey, founding partner of Xsite Architecture to look behind the scenes of Newcastle’s newest and award winning centre for creative businesses.
Lisa Tolan, Centre Manager of Toffee Factory, for Creative Space Management said:
“When we opened our doors for the very first public tours in May we had over 2,000 people visit The Toffee Factory. This tour as part of Love Architecture is the opportunity to join us for a very exclusive look behind the scenes and learn about the conversion of former sweet factory into a home for contemporary creative businesses.”
Toffee Factory provides creative and digital studio space for growing businesses. Its contemporary office spaces, which opened in December 2011 in the refurbished Maynards Toffee Factory located at the mouth of the Ouseburn Valley, is now home to twenty creative businesses. The refurbishment of the old Victorian factory was led by xsite architecture, an Ouseburn based practice. It has produced a blend of bold design and exposed brickwork and has already scooped a number of architectural and design awards, including Project of the Year, Regeneration and highly commended in Design and Innovation and Commercial categories in the North East RICs awards.
Toffee Factory builds upon the Ouseburn Valley’s existing ecology of creative businesses and is a gateway development that connects the valley to the cultural regeneration of Quayside.
The mouth of the Ouseburn has always been a site of free trade and enterprise in Newcastle. The building was first erected by Newcastle City Council in 1864, truncating the Victoria Tunnel, which had been closed in 1860. It became a Toffee Factory in 1895, owned by John Vose who sold out to Maynards in 1904. The business operated until the mid-1960s, following which it gradually fell in to disrepair. When the work began on Toffee Factory, the original structure was on the point of collapse.
The Love Architecture Festival ran from 15 – 24 June 2012 and offered the chance to get involved in a host of activities, including many events specifically for children and families with activities ranging from building tours, cycle tours and exhibitions.
“Thanks to all the staff for helpfulness, we knew we could be confident about all the arrangements and a warm welcome for our guests.”
Ouseburn Trust
