10 years ago, Sun Pier House CIC was formed to support Medway’s creative industries, provide a base for a community of artists and creative businesses, and deliver community projects and workshops. Because the building is split over three floors with no lift access, we have been unintentionally excluding a large part of our diverse community – but this is where it all changes!

In 2025 we will be opening the doors of Sun Pier House to all people, of all abilities, to create, engage and inspire. And its not just a lift we are installing, we are also increasing our studio and creative workspaces, building The Creation Space: a new, accessible workshop room, and improving our entrances and wayfinding, as well as making Sun Pier House more environmentally friendly.

We are now 3 months into the build, the lift shaft has been built up to the first floor, new studio walls have been built, The Creation Space has electrics, walls, a painted ceiling, The Community Hire Space has new walls and doorway and we have become very accustomed to the noise, dust and occasional power cuts!

The windows, doors and lift are on order, and we are looking forward to seeing the 5 new kitchenettes, 3 new accessible toilets and some plaster on the walls in the coming weeks. That saying, it hasn’t been without its challenges, last minute changes and a few more grey hairs.

We are so happy to announce that we have reached our crowdfunding total of £8000 raised, the total reached by a kind donation from the family of Mick Shaughnessy, our long term resident artist who sadly passed away in the Summer – cheers to them.

All of us here at Sun Pier House would like to thank our funders, partners, hires, residents and family and friends for their support, patience and kindness as we continue to balance the juggle of running SPH whilst delivering a capital project of this size – onwards and upwards!

We cannot believe that it has been 18 months since our launch night, 2 years since our successful Arts Council England bid, and 12 YEARS in the making but we have finally started L!FT OFF!

The project is going to be handled in phases to try and reduce as much disruption as possible but our entrance ways will be affected so please call us if you are visiting and unsure – 01634 401549

The first phase will focus on the ground floor, hording off the under croft, building walls for the new Creation Space, closing the ground floor entrance to Sun Pier House and MESS ROOM and…excavation for the LIFT!

And in answer to the question, “when will it all be finished?” – we are hoping to be completed by the end of the year and we are already planning our grand reopening! If you have any suggestions of events or activities you would like us to run please let us know!

Follow us on our social channels for all the renovation updates, photos of us in hard hats, glimpses of THE LIFT and the highs and lows that come with a project of this magnitude.

Seatbelts on….

We secured a large capital grant from Arts Council England (ACE) which is incredible – and thanks to our wonderful community we have raised £8000 towards the £733,000 needed.

We are still accepting any donation, big or small, which will go towards transforming Sun Pier House into an inclusive, accessible and exciting arts space.