The Flourish Hub above Heaton Chapel Station, part of ‘Action Stations,’ has developed as a result of the regeneration project led by the Station Alliance (Northern Rail, Network Rail, TfGM, GMCVO and others) in partnership with Flourish Together CIC.
Our small, yet ambitious award winning social enterprise, provides specialist social and community enterprise support services, consultancy and training – reinvesting our surpluses in supporting diverse women as a force for social change and creating a strong and inclusive social economy.
Flourish Together’s social business model at Heaton Chapel combines creating a community hub with office space for 3-4 VCSE organisations as well as a member based co-working space and meeting room hire. We also provide a series of enterprise training, wellbeing support services and wider skills development and social opportunities from the bijoux centre above the station.
Since launching the Flourish Hub in July 2023 we have welcomed over 220 people through the building and headlines of some of the social value we have brought to the space includes:
Economic Investment:
- We have raised in excess of £110,700 has been raised to plan, operationally open and test trade the space (£10,000 National Lottery £20,000 Postcode Lottery, CDL £2,500, Neighbourhood Ward Grant £1200, £2000 Equipment Sponsorship, £60,000 Reaching Communities, £15,000).
- Of this £35,700.00 has been invested in feasibility planning, research, fixtures and fittings and £75,000 is to be invested in training, employability and skills programmes and wellbeing support over a 3 year period.
- 2 new jobs have been created and 3 existing jobs are supported with access to affordable office space through this expansion. Plus we have a volunteer team of 4 people who have provided in excess of 200 hours when costed at £10hr equates to £2,000.00 in volunteer time to date.
Wider Local Economic Development and Support:
The Flourish Hub has a commitment to provide support for Social Enterprises and Community Businesses Locally examples of impact to date include:
Providing affordable office space for 2 other social enterprise tenants within the Hub:
PIE CIC (Pursuing Individual Excellence) supports children and young people to achieve their full potential, transition from primary to high school well and support those who are underachieving through the GCSE years to raise their attainment, final grades and social skills to make them ‘Future Ready’ for both life, adulthood and the workplace.
PIE have a staff team of 4 and have recently taken on a 5th employee all based ad hoc at the Flourish Hub in their own office
Waymarking CIC is a small consultancy supporting communities to lead local regeneration where they live and work. They run programmes and community consultation and co-design activities primarily around enabling community-led and community-focussed planning, regeneration and economic development.
They have a staff team of 2.
A TOTAL OF 10 PEOPLE WORK ACROSS THE TENANTED OFFICES.
Providing affordable, accessible co-working space: given our co-working rate equates to £2hr and the venue although on the first floor without lift access, is on great transport links with a catchment stretching into Manchester, Stockport and Cheshire and fulfils a shifting trend for people working from home more post covid and refraining from travelling into the city centre where travel and parking costs are highly prohibitive especially for start ups, VCSE organisations and women facing hardship who are the core market for the Flourish Hub. Since opening we now have 8 ad hoc co-working clients including 2 small teams, averaging 220 co-working hours per month /Dec-Feb.
Providing affordable room hire to community organisations: freelancers and start ups
Our meeting room hire has provided support to a variety of small businesses, VCSE organisations and individuals, ranging from mental health practitioners, yoga instructors, software developers, musicians, charities and more.
Currently around 8-10 hours of pro-bono space per month is accessed by VCSE organisations equating to an investment of £150 per month ( £1,800.00 per year) – something we review and balance with the financial income needed to sustain the organisation through fee paying organisations and groups.
New Business Starts are a future indicator for The Flourish Hub as with Flourish’s core programme seeking enterprise ideation, start up and growth as outcomes they will be able to track those who have been supported directly through courses and training at the Hub into venture creation as well as wider employability and skills creation. In the region of 10 social ventures have been started within a 5 mile radius of The Flourish Hub thanks to intensive support provided by Flourish Together – these are led by people we have come across as a direct result of being at the Heaton Chapel Hub. A wider 30-50 have been supported as part of wider Flourish Activities with a 5 mile radius within the same period.
Training programmes and events
Digital skills development courses – including software training, accounting support, social media and marketing, video editing and podcasting are training themes which have been offered.
Social Enterprise Development training including – finances and budgeting, legal structures, peer support.
3D printing courses – in collaboration with 3D 360 we Flourish have brought their community facing 3D printing training courses into areas which had not accessed this training before. Over 30 members of the Flourish network have accessed the free 3D printing training both within the Flourish Hub and across wider community sites. All of whom have gained a free 3D printer on completion of the course (worth £300+ per printer) equating to £9,000.00 investment into communities.
PAT Testing Training course Flourish secured funding to provide a free and accessible PAT testing course, which was also received with high demand and culminated in a cohort of 9 men and women from the local community completing the course and all achieving certifications. Plus, we secured additional funding to buy 2 PAT testers aimed at helping community organisations, groups, charities and social enterprises to improve their track record of PAT testing to comply with regulations. A small PAT testing collective has been formed with a view to starting monthly events a bit like a ‘Repair café’ for local people and VCSE organisations to access this service in an affordable way.
In addition to the above, below are some of the wider core training activities offered to date at The Hub (with the value of these courses which have been free at the point of access):
- Digital / Flourishing Mondays
- Number of Beneficiaries: 23
- Hours of support: 84
- Value: £2,950 based on £35/hr tutor support as a baseline
- Flourishing Friday
- Number of Beneficiaries: 4
- Hours of support: 16
- Value: £560 based on £35/hr tutor support as a baseline
- PAT Testing
- Number of Beneficiaries: 9
- Hours of support: 72
- Value: £1215 based on £135 per trainee course cost
- Flourishing Futures Finding Financial Security event
- Number of Beneficiaries: 25
- Hours of support: 4
- Value: £560 based on £35/hr x 4 advisors as a baseline. Additionally, one attendee saved £4,000 in mortgage fees she would have otherwise had to pay by renegotiating and setting up a bridging loan as a result of the support at the event.
- Christmas Craft Sessions
- Number of Beneficiaries: 17
- Hours of support: n/a
- Value: Paid for by attendees. 3 free places offered at £30 each (£90).
- 3D Printing
- Number of Beneficiaries: 27
- Hours of support: 114
- Value: £13,500 based on £200 course and £300 printer
- TOTAL
- Number of Beneficiaries: 80
- Hours of support: 286
- Value: £22,785.90
Investment in the local and / or social economy through our supply chains
We have purposefully purchased any catering, additional marketing support and training/consultancy services through local ventures, social enterprises and women led businesses. Since last July we have purchased in the region of £5,000 in goods and services from the local/social economy.
Environmental Commitments and Impact
Along with the structural environmental improvements by the Alliance, Flourish purchase a high proportion of vegetarian and vegan food, minimise packaging through social enterprise caterers, recycle all items which can be from within the Hub from tenants and co-workers. We have also added an extra layer of insulation to minimise heat loss and seek to work with the Alliance to improve the look of the space with both rebuilding of the wall and will create some planting to improve biodiversity.
Health and Wellbeing Improvement
Flourish have a sister project ‘Pop-up spa and Retreat’ which is a not for profit organisation supporting people to prioritise their health and wellbeing, plus also offers accessible and affordable holistic therapy training out in the community. The Flourish Hub plans to provide an accessible, community focused health and wellbeing service and over 60 members of the local community have accessed affordable holistic therapy treatments to manage stress, chronic pain and boost wellbeing over the past 3 months as part of a pilot to test the market and space for such services. From March 2024 there will be a weekly Wellbeing Wednesday and a monthly Sunday Spa Experience. Further testimonials can be provided
Future opportunities and projections
-Increased work, programmes and support for ex-offenders
-Increased chronic health conditions managed and wider health concerns managed and prevented
– Young people engaged through creative projects, music, social action projects and digital skills development. Plus wider involvement with those being home-schooled.
-Accredited holistic therapy training being delivered from The Hub
-Environmental improvements- additional bike racks, planting and working with the Station Alliance to arrange for the unstable wall to be rebuilt.
** Following on from the success of the Heaton Chapel Hub, we have another Hub on the horizon, also in Greater Manchester. If you would like to find out more and / or be part of the consultation to shape the new Flourish Hub, email info@flourishtogether.org.uk. **
