Editing Custard Factory

{{Short description|Arts and media production centre in Birmingham, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
[[File:Custard Factory.jpg|thumb|upright|The Custard Factory in Gibb Street]]

The '''Custard Factory''' is a creative and digital business workspace complex, including independent shops, cafes and bars, on the site of what was the [[Bird's Custard]] factory off High Street, [[Deritend]], in the [[Digbeth]] area of central [[Birmingham]], England. 

==Development==
The Custard Factory complex is set in fifteen [[acre]]s (60,000m<sup>2</sup>) of factory buildings, originally constructed for [[Sir Alfred Bird, 1st Baronet|Sir Alfred Frederick Bird]] (1849–1922), the son of [[Alfred Bird]] (1811–1878), the inventor of egg-free [[custard]]. The architectural firm commissioned to design the building was Hamblins. At one time, a thousand people worked at the factory.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} The Bird company [[Kraft Foods Banbury|moved to Banbury]] in 1964.
[[File:Custard Factory Dragon (cropped).JPG|thumb|The Custard Factory Dragon sculpture]]
The Custard Factory project was started by Bennie Gray and substantially expanded by his son Lucan Gray,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Graeme |date=2015-10-13 |title=Custard Factory boss Lucan Gray angered by contract scrapped by his father |url=http://www.birminghampost.co.uk/business/creative/custard-factory-boss-lucan-gray-10246113 |access-date=2022-04-20 |website=Business Live |language=en}}</ref> who owned and ran the project until June 2017.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} A City Grant Award of £800,000 was used to start the redevelopment in January 1992. This public sector funding levered in £1.6 million of private sector investment for the refurbishment of {{convert|100000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} of redundant buildings, providing 145 units for use by artists, designers and communicators. The architect was the Birmingham-based firm, [[Glenn Howells|Glenn Howells Architects]]. The first phase created around 300 jobs. On the completion of the Custard Factory project, an anticipated 1,000 jobs will have been created.<ref>{{cite book |first=Peter W. |last=Roberts |author2=Hugh Sykes |title=Urban Regeneration: A Handbook |publisher=SAGE |pages=68 |year=2000 |isbn=0-7619-6717-6}}</ref>

Phase one consisted of the refurbishment of Scott House which is now home to a community of media companies, artists and small creative enterprises. The loading bay was turned into a lake around which are set 200 studio workshops above ground floor level. On the ground floor itself are  meeting rooms, dance studios, [[holistic]] therapy rooms, a café and a record and clothes shop. In the foyer are art display cases with a larger gallery space at the rear. A huge iron dragon sculpture crawls up the exterior rear elevation. There are stages for musicians, DJs and rappers and a 220-seat theatre.<ref>{{cite book| last=Stratton |first=Michael |title=Industrial Buildings: Conservation and Regeneration |publisher=Taylor & Francis |year=2000 |isbn=0-419-23630-9}}</ref>

Phase two - originally named 'The Greenhouse', but now 'Gibb Square' after the Gibb Street location - was completed in 2002. It focuses on [[new media]] and media businesses and includes a hundred studio/offices plus galleries, restaurants and shops set around a central pool with fountains. The pool is sometimes emptied to allow for dance music events. The [[Green Man]], a {{convert|40|ft|m|abbr=on}} high [[sculpture]] by [[Tawny Gray]] made from vegetation and stone, overlooks Gibb Street.

===Zellig===
[[File:Custard Factory Digbeth.JPG|thumb|Devonshire House]]
In March 2007, the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, announced new funding of £9.6m for 100 new office and workspace units. The result was Zellig (former Devonshire House), a restored grade II listed building, which opened in May 2010 and features a new sculpture, the Deluge, by Toin Adams.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.steelsculpt.com/ |title=Toin Adams - sculpture, statuary, water features, public art, portraiture, steel, concrete and plaster. (Algarve, Portugal) |access-date=18 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110201213849/http://www.steelsculpt.com/ |archive-date=1 February 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Co-located media training==
The presence of the Custard Factory has drawn two media training agencies to locate nearby. The old Trades Union Studies Centre is now a media and arts annexe of [[South Birmingham College]] and in 2005, the [[Vivid (media arts)|VIVID]] media centre moved from the [[Jewellery Quarter]]. Also nearby is Access Creative College in Birmingham, a specialist 16-19 education provider in creative vocational qualifications.

About {{convert|800|yd|m}} away is the new "Progress Works" complex, opened in 2005 as part of the Custard Factory quarter, on Heath Mill Lane. "The Bond" complex is also a short walk away.

Three-quarters of a mile north is [[Birmingham Institute of Art and Design|BIAD]], the largest British university art & design teaching and research centre outside [[London]].

===Nearby entertainment and shopping locations===
Nearby are two music venues, [[Digbeth Institute|The Institute]] (formerly The Sanctuary) and [[AIR (nightclub)|AIR]], home to and owned by [[Godskitchen]] the [[trance music|trance]] [[superclub]]. The Custard Factory is close to the [[Old Crown, Birmingham|Old Crown]] pub, a half-timbered building dating from the 14th century, [[Birmingham Coach Station]], and the [[Bull Ring, Birmingham|Bull Ring]] which is Birmingham's main shopping centre, with its landmark [[Selfridges]] building.

==Occupants==
Notable past and current occupants include:

*[[Huel]]
*''[[Fused Magazine]]''
*Cartoonist [[Alex Hughes (cartoonist)|Alex Hughes]]
*[[Maverick Television]]
*[[North One Television]]
*[[Beer Digbeth (formerly Clink Beer)]]
*[[Punch Records]]
*[[Rhubarb Radio (Birmingham)|Rhubarb Radio]]
*[[The Gadget Show]]
*[[Ocean Colour Scene]]
*[[ASOS.com]]
*[[Rare (company)|Rare]]
*[[Codemasters]]
*[[Gensler]]
*[[Powershop]]
*Birmingham Pilates Studios
*No Basic Bombshell
*[[Fix My Broken Mac]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2010/05/28/10m-expansion-at-custard-factory-hints-at-greater-ambition-for-digbeth-65233-26545553 £10m expansion at Custard Factory hints at greater ambition for Digbeth] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130419053727/http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2010/05/28/10m-expansion-at-custard-factory-hints-at-greater-ambition-for-digbeth-65233-26545553/ |date=19 April 2013 }}

==External links==

{{Commons category|Custard Factory, Birmingham}}
*[http://www.custardfactory.co.uk Custard Factory]
*[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/mapsheet.asp?x=72&y=209&compid=55193&sheetid=10098&ox=3851&oy=2570&zm=1&czm=1 1890 Ordnance Survey map of the Custard Factory site]

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[[Category:Culture in Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Mass media in Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Theatres in Birmingham, West Midlands]]
[[Category:Art museums and galleries in Birmingham, West Midlands]]