Your support in buying the building...
...will open up great possibilities for the future. Here's what we want to do:
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- Own and operate the building as a community-owned social enterprise which lets out workspace at fair rents.
- Conserve the building through a rolling programme of repairs and grant-aided restoration.
- Ensure existing tenants stay, maintaining and creating jobs and offering training in the traditional trades.
- Attract more tenants into the renovated areas and support start-up businesses.
- Develop a centre of excellence for traditional crafts and offer training in these skills.
- Offer public access to the Works through open days and training events.
- Develop the heritage potential of the site within the context of a working environment, to enable the public to see 'how things are made' in an active setting. - .
Our vision for the future...
"...is that Portland Works will be a physically sound, fully-occupied building owned and managed in a democratic way by its tenants and supporters. It will provide affordable workshops and studios for craftspeople and the creative industries and for small business start-ups. The management will be responsive to their needs, fostering opportunities for education and promotion of the heritage values of the Works, along with support for workplace training and apprenticeships. We envisage Portland Works playing an important role as the centre of a hub of similar developments in the neighbourhood of Little Sheffield and beyond."
quote from Portland Works business plan, 2011
This vision is incorporated in our Share Offer, which we encourage you to read.
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“The Portland Works project caught my eye when I was browsing the Sheffield Telegraph on a recent visit back home..... I had no hesitation in pledging to support the share issue, and I hope that many others are keen to participate as I have done.”
David Campbell,
Chief Executive Officer, Grant Thornton Johannesburg and former Managing Partner in Grant Thornton Sheffield