Historic Hartlepool building providing a base for start up businesses

Mansion house Greenbank at Stranton was originally the home of Colonel JW Cameron who ran and eventually bought Cameron’s Lion Brewery in the late 1800s.

It later served as offices for Camerons, Housing Hartlepool and most recently community organisation Parents In Need of Support (PINS).

The building is now a bustling base for a number of small and medium sized businesses, charities and social enterprises after being taken over by HartlePower Community Interest Company (CIC) almost a year ago.

The organisation expanded after outgrowing The Energy Hub just a stone’s throw away.

Peter Gowland, a director of HartlePower, said: “We thought it would take three years to fill The Energy Hub 1 but it took 11 months.

"That showed there was a need and we thought we needed to expand.

"Greenbank had been on the market for a couple years and the opportunity came up to move into it and set up Energy Hub 2.

"We are coming up to our first year in April and it’s starting to fill up.”

Tenants include e-scooter operator Ginger, the Hospital of God, Red Sky Gifts, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, benefit service Advice@Hart and L.R Ceramics.

HartlePower offers tenants competitive rents including one month free at Greenbank including broadband and utilities.

The community interest company was formed in late 2014 to lead initiatives to reduce poverty in Hartlepool and support the voluntary sector.

Peter added: “One of the ways of doing that is by giving people a leg up to start their own business.

“We’ve got a real mixture of businesses and charities in Greenbank.

"It meets a need in the community for people want affordable space.”

The 19th Century building is also home to HartlePower project Get Connected, a pay as you go broadband service boosting internet access in communities across the country.

Potter Louise Robinson moved into Greenbank from The Energy Hub.

She said: “It was the perfect chance for me to get a bigger and lighter room.

"I’ve got waiting lists of people looking for classes. It’s a lovely building and is a really supportive community with the other tenants.”

To find out more about what Greenbank has to offer, email: [email protected]

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