The Hub
The hub is a community owned space that is used to bring local people together to address the priorities for Whitley Bay. It is located at 158 Whitley Road, Whitley Bay, NE26 2LY.
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Whitley Bay Big Local bought the building in November 2021 with a plan to develop it into a community owned asset. Today the hub is a multi-purpose community space with a cafe, garden and meeting rooms. But it hasn't always been that. Here you can learn a little about it's history, the changes we've made, and our plans for the future
The building was purchased for the local community, thanks to a grant received from the Government Department of Levelling Up and is managed by Whitley Bay Big Local. Our shared ambition is to convert the building into a fit for purpose community hub and 'near zero emissions building. We have recently completed two major projects and several others to bring the make the building work as a centre for communities.
The first major project was completed in January 2023. The works replaced the aged felt roof with a modern UPVC surface. We have upgraded the insulation and added a 23KWp solar array to reduce our running costs and reduce our impact on the world around us. The modern UPVC surface allows us to eventually keep plants on the roof and is recyclable at the end of it's life. The solar array produces all of the electricity used at the building, unless it's dark or raining, or covered in snow. Surplus electricty is sold back to the grid. Thanks to our funders - Department of Levelling Up, North of Tyne Combined Authority and Local Trust for their support.
The second major project was completed in June 2023. This project converted the ground floor of the building into a fit for purpose community hub. It created new accessible doors into the building and into the garden. A corridor was created to allow direct access to the upper floors. Accessible WCs were added to the ground floor. A kitchen/cafe was added and the garden was refurbished and tidied up. The ground floor is now a much more welcoming space and we are seeing more and more people coming in every day. Thanks to all of our funders who made this possible - Co-op Foundation, Biffa Award, Local Trust, Joicey Trust, SIB Group, North of Tyne Combined Authority.
Other projects have included the replacement of a very old boiler with a modern condensing gas boiler. This has seen a reduction in heating bills of almost 40%.
We have created an activity space on the first floor, which is popular with toddler groups and larger meetings. There is also a meeting room, 2 offices and a co-working space on the first floor.
The top floor is now split between an office for another charity (Depaul) and community rooms. On the top floor we have create a counselling room and a large community workshop that is popular with arts groups, sewing groups, classes and community drop-in activities.
The hub is now a fit for purpose community space, but we continue to seek grants and donations to apply the finishing touches. In future we plan to develop the garden and insulate the walls to reduce our impact on the world around us.