A FORMER bank branch occupied by squatters is set to be converted into a collaborative hub for artists and entrepreneurs.

The old Barclays bank branch in Preston Road, Brighton, is expected to become a hive of activity this autumn after a charity unveiled plans to turn it into a creativity centre.

Charity 3Space want to transform the large branch into a flexible co-working area, a well equipped "maker-space", event and exhibition space and a number of meeting and workshop rooms for artists, makers, upcyclers, non-profit groups, early start-up companies and social enterprise groups.

And bank vaults in the basement of the building will be converted into unique studio spaces for resident artists.

The branch closed in January and was subjected to a short-lived occupation by campaigners who renamed the site The Radical Bank of Brighton and Hove before they were evicted.

Now 3space hope to bring that sense of community back to the site but this time with the blessing of leaseholders Barclays.

The charity has been operating for five years, making use of underused commercial space with community groups and business start-ups.

They have already brought new life to 50 empty properties across the UK including shops owned by JJB Sports and Littlewoods as well as converting government buildings including a former tribunal court in London to create new spaces for almost 500 organisations

The charity’s latest project Hatch is in partnership with Barclays with Brighton set to be the second branch transformed, following in the footsteps of Oxford, which opened at the start of the year.

The charity’s head of communications Alice Vaughan told The Argus how previous projects were built around co-operation and collaborative working with different start-ups coming together to brainstorm and solve each other’s problems.

She described the building’s current state as “a shell” with work starting this week on repairs to the interior of the building.

She said the charity was accustomed to setting things up quickly and aimed to have part of the centre up and running by September in time for the Brighton Digital Festival.

Miss Vaughan said the charity had already worked on the Brighton project for months and had been in contact with maker groups in the city for their views with more contacting her every day.

She said: “I’m personally very excited because Brighton has always been my number one target to have a space.

“It is a big space so we will need to have a lot of people using it but it’s a nice challenge to have.

"Bank branches are ideal for us because they tend to be in quite prominent positions, have wonderful frontages and large foyer areas.

"We want to create a space that people will want to use but we don’t have a huge budget and we are mindful that there is no point in spending a lot of money on an expensive fit out when its only temporary.

"We hope that most of the work that needs to be done is cosmetic rather than structural.

"We never like to say how long we will use a space for, we’ve had some spaces for three years and some for three months, but for this project we are investing a lot of time and resources into getting this up and running as an amazing space and so we are here for at least a year and hopefully for a lot longer.”

Anyone interested in getting involved in the project should email info@3space.org