Dancer, actor Oscar Anderson is a force of nature in Bristol’s dance scene. Many will know Oscar for his high energy, highly elegant jazz dance performances as part of Bristol’s award-winning dance troupe the Floor Technicians. Others for his much-loved jazz dance classes at Bristol Dance Centre amongst other venues. He is also the longest serving actor in the BBC flagship drama Casualty.

Oscar Anderson in conversation is part of Art of the Possible a series of activities delivered by the Trinity Centre Bristol as part of the restoration of Jacob Wells dance centre.

To register your interest, email info@trinitybristol.org.uk

Opportunity: Development Consultant – Jacobs Wells Baths

Trinity Community Arts is seeking an experienced Development Consultant to support our National Lottery Heritage Fund Stage 2 application for the restoration of the Grade II–listed Jacobs Wells Baths.

This fixed-fee role (£9k, Feb–June 2026) will lead on finalising the Business Operating Plan and 5-year budget, using learning from pilot activity to evidence a sustainable future for this landmark community arts and heritage space.

The consultant will work with the CEO and Trinity Events Team and other project professionals including the capital team to provide “proof of concept” for how the space will work in the future. This is needed to inform key documentation (already drafted) that is required to submit our National Lottery Heritage Fund S2 Delivery Application (deadline 26 May).

Key programme dates

👉 Read the full brief and apply by 31 January 2026, 9am

Image credit: Visual Thinkery

This issue of our built environment and who shapes it is a local affair. Aside from exceptions such as the nefarious demolition of The Crooked House pub, campaigns rarely make national news. Headlines of collapsing schools, public sector strikes and unrelenting cost of living and housing crises can make preservation of our heritage and civic realm appear out of touch and NIMBYist.

"Amidst the minefield of regulations, funding shortfalls, and bureaucratic complexities, the neglect of our shared spaces carries profound implications for generations to come. We must move beyond a meritocracy model and the need to balance our short-term fiscal needs to take a duty of care over the long-term reimagining of a shared civic canvas on which to build our collective future."  Emma Harvey

Context is a cornerstone principle of the national planning framework, yet local authorities find the threat of an overturned decision and the resulting fines too risky at a time when 26 English councils risk of bankruptcy in the next two years [^1^]. Councils have powers to issue enforcement notices for urgent preservation or compulsory purchase of important, privately owned buildings. All too often though, it’s these same councils who are the reluctant custodians of our ageing social infrastructure.

We find ourselves trapped in an ongoing “estates rationalisation” exercise that deprives future generations of the shared spaces that shape the collective narratives of our communities. Research from the IPPR shows £15bn of publicly owned assets have been sold off since 2010. That’s 75,000 civic spaces, libraries, leisure centres, community halls and youth spaces lost. There is funding available to save them; £300 million DCMS Youth Investment Fund and £150 million DLUHC Community Ownership Fund. And yet it would appear only a fraction of these central government funds have been allocated.

These old, often listed, almost always complex buildings are in desperate need of investment after decades of cuts that have de-prioritised preventative preservation. This leaves such projects to save these spaces with an inherent messiness that is just to risky amidst continued rising costs of essential services. Such conditions make it almost impossible for all but a few fortuitous groups to lever funds to save the spaces we love.

While new laws have appeared to protect statues in the wake of the Colston statue's toppling, this protection seems to favour a type of politicised heritage storytelling, rather than building connections through our shared past. Our heritage spaces are being co-opted by those looking to control the narrative as exemplified by the recent case of the Restore Trust's bid to dominate the governance within the National Trust [^2^]. If those who control the present control the past and that past shapes our future, then the erosion of our stake and influence in shaping these narratives poses significant threat, especially if we continue to lose the spaces that allow us to make these stories our own.

The idea that we can only fix the roof whilst the sun is shining risks leaving us with no roofs at all under which to learn how to swim, to dance, to read, to make memories, connections and shared solutions to the problems facing us all. After a decade plus of political storms the ability to define heritage, own space and determine which assets should be preserved feels like a luxury. Distracted with the immediacy of our collective woes, the agendas of all but a few will define who we become.

Amidst the minefield of regulations, funding shortfalls, and bureaucratic complexities, the neglect of our shared spaces carries profound implications for generations to come. We must move beyond a meritocracy model and the need to balance our short-term fiscal needs to take a duty of care over the long-term reimagining of a shared civic canvas on which to build our collective future. Cost-saving solutions that fail to think beyond the current political cycle means we pay in perpetuity. Somewhere, in some form, we always pay.

Emma Harvey, CEO

About this article

Trinity are committed to advocating for shared community and cultural spaces. We are members of Locality and are currently leading an appeal to restore Jacobs Wells Baths in Hotwells.

Read our 100 Beacons report that shines a light on the importance of – and understand the risks posed to – Bristol's community and cultural assets.

[^1^]: The Guardian: "At least 26 English councils at risk of bankruptcy in next two years"

[^2^]: The Guardian: “Vote no to the thinktank pod people trying to body-snatch the National Trust”

Ice Road by Raucous credit Jack Offord. Performed at Jacobs Wells

At Trinity, we are committed to protecting public buildings and spaces and keeping them in the service of the local community. As part of our mission to restore and reopen Jacobs Wells, a former public swimming baths and dance centre into a vibrant community arts space, we have been gathering opinions from individuals with experience of breathing new life into former public buildings. We recently caught up with Kathryn Chiswell Jones of Artspace Lifespace, to share their experiences of occupying public spaces and the opportunities this affords the local community.

"Artspace Lifespace has a special affinity for breathing new life into old municipal buildings. Over the years, we've have occupied two former police stations, two former swimming baths, and even spaces at City Hall itself! Today, we proudly manage five unique art spaces in Bristol and North Somerset, with three of these spaces being municipal buildings that have been creatively repurposed.

Artspace Lifespace’s journey began in a former Audi garage. A site-specific show by sister company The Invisible Circus caught the attention of Bristol City Council’s Capacity Regeneration project team and supported our use of The Island (The Old Bridewell Police Station) in 2007. Our DIY attitude and "get it done" approach mean we can activate buildings quickly and affordably, breathing new life into spaces that might otherwise remain empty. Many of the buildings we've occupied have been council-owned and leased to us at peppercorn or reduced rents, allowing the council to bypass some of the red tape that often hinders transformative temporary use while saving them money by employing us as creative guardians.

It’s no surprise that people feel a deep sense of sentimentality and ownership over these municipal buildings. They’ve often been the backdrop to significant life events—weddings, celebrations, even personal challenges. Visitors to The Arts Mansion frequently share memories of their wedding day there, and we still hear stories from people who either served or were served at the Old Bridewell Police Station!

Municipal buildings carry not only historic and architectural significance but also help preserve local heritage and maintain the character of our communities. By repurposing these spaces, we help reduce maintenance costs and local authorities avoid the financial burden of managing unused properties. Adaptive reuse enables creative and innovative solutions, an opportunity to reimagine and repurpose spaces to meet contemporary needs while respecting the building’s original structure.

Renovating an existing building is often more sustainable and cost-effective than constructing a new one from scratch, but many buildings are often just left empty and deteriorate more quickly than buildings in active use.

"Artspace Lifespace are often described as catalysts for the ‘worthwhile’ use of disused properties. We love being agents of positive change, finding creative solutions for problem properties, and bringing life back to spaces that have been forgotten."

When we heard that Ashton Court Mansion was due to close, we approached the council to offer our management services while a long term solution was found. It was empty for five months before we took it on, and during that short period, the grade I listed door frames had swelled, just one of the common issues that can arise if a building is left empty. Initially, it was supposed to be a two-year temporary custodianship, but it has now stretched to eight years! We love that beautiful old mongrel of a house and it would be hard for us to leave, but its future requires significant investment and a long-term phased restoration plan to ensure it is a community resource for many more generations to come.

Navigating the reuse of old buildings is not without its challenges, from complex bureaucratic procedures to outdated infrastructure, such as outdated electrical systems, plumbing issues, or structural weaknesses. We also face challenges with accessibility in many of our meanwhile spaces. Because our focus is often on short-term solutions and quickly setting up spaces for community use, we lack the funding for permanent accessibility features. Many older buildings were not designed with modern accessibility in mind, making retrofitting costly and complex. One of the great things about municipal buildings is that they are generally designed to be accessible to the public.

Artspace Lifespace are often described as catalysts for the ‘worthwhile’ use of disused properties. We love being agents of positive change, finding creative solutions for problem properties, and bringing life back to spaces that have been forgotten. It’s always bittersweet for our staff and communities when it’s time to say goodbye to these spaces. After all, municipal buildings often serve as symbols of civic identity and pride and become integral parts of community life.

Old municipal buildings are more than just bricks and mortar; they are our cultural heritage, and ripe for creative reinvention. By championing the reuse of municipal buildings, Artspace Lifespace not only honours their storied pasts but also ensure they remain vital parts of our community’s present and future. We look forward to seeing where our journey takes us next!"

About Artspace Lifespace

Artspace Lifespace is a Registered Charity (No: 1168150) that recycles vacant, under-used and problem properties into thriving creative resources. We work in partnership with artists, building owners, property developers, local communities and organisations to secure and re-cycle interesting, unusual and often difficult buildings as vibrant multi-use art venues.

This July, Trinity Community Arts presents Cast Light, a new immersive installation by internationally acclaimed artists Squidsoup, transforming the historic Pump Room at Jacobs Wells Baths into a captivating environment of light, sound and space.

Taking place on 18 and 19 July, alongside Bristol’s annual Harbour Festival, the ticketed experience invites visitors into one of Bristol’s most significant heritage buildings as it undergoes ongoing restoration during the city's annual Harbour Festival. Designed as an audience-led encounter for small groups, Cast Light offers visitors the chance to move freely through an evolving landscape of illuminated forms and spatial sound.

Recognised as pioneers in the fields of light, sound and technology-based art, Squidsoup have created large-scale works experienced by millions of people worldwide, from Burning Man to Alexandra Palace. Their installations have captivated audiences across six continents.

Cast Light is a new artwork comprising an arching arrangement   of towering columns of light accompanied by an expansive soundscape. Installed within the atmospheric surroundings of the Pump Room, the work explores ideas of scale, connection and our relationship with the natural world. The result is an experience that shifts between moments of wonder and quiet contemplation.

“Cast Light began as an exploration of scale, presence and our relationship to the environments we inhabit. The work shifts as people move through it, creating moments that can feel vast and enveloping, but also deeply personal. The title is a nod to the venue - a play on the solidity of the space and its cast iron construction of areas previously never seen before, against the fluidity of light moving through it. The artwork asks you to explore how we appear in the light, and how it transforms the space around us. The Pump Room at Jacobs Wells Baths is a space shaped by human activity and industrial history, and we’re excited to invite audiences into that conversation through light and sound in such a unique heritage site.”

- Squidsoup

The installation is situated in a space that once powered the building itself;. The Pump Room housed the furnace boilers that heated the natural spring waters flowing through Jacobs Wells Baths, making it the operational heart of the Victorian complex.

Visitors are invited to experience both the artwork and the architecture in a setting that encourages personal exploration and reflection.

As part of Jacobs Wells Baths radical citizen-led approach, Trinity Community Arts have created opportunities for local residents to inform its design and development. In recognition of the relationship with its closest members, free tickets for Cast Light will be offered to residents living in neighbouring Brandon House and St Peter’s House.

Cast Light forms part of Trinity’s Art of the Possible series at Jacobs Wells Baths, a programme that opens the site to artists and audiences during its transformation. It is one of a small number of public events taking place ahead of the building’s major reopening in 2029 as a landmark cultural venue and centre for citizen-powered arts in the South West.

The event is proudly presented as part of the Bristol Harbour Festival fringe activity.

About Squidsoup

Squidsoup are internationally recognised artists working with light, sound and digital technologies to create immersive environments and participatory experiences. Their work has been presented worldwide at festivals, galleries and public spaces, earning critical acclaim for its innovative approach to audience engagement and sensory experience.

What the critics say

“The Best Live Show in the World”

Mixmag on Squidsoup’s collaboration with Four Tet

”…a sincere and disarming electronic experience”

The Guardian on Squidsoup

Select slots will feature a live dance performance.

Event Information

Cast Light

By Squidsoup presented by Trinity Community Arts

Dates: 18–19 July 2026 | Private View 17 July

Venue: Jacobs Wells Baths, Bristol

Tickets availble via Headfirst: Booking required | £3

Saturday | Sunday

Part of the Art of the Possible series and Bristol Harbour Festival Fringe programme.

Acclaimed actress Miriam Margolyes took time out of her busy tour schedule to visit Jacobs Wells Baths, showing her support for the ongoing recovery efforts of this historic building. As an early supporter of the campaign, and a patron of Trinity Community Arts, Miriam's visit highlights the importance of restoring Jacobs Wells as a vital community and cultural heritage hub.

“I’m thrilled to have a chance to visit Jacob’s Wells Baths and encourage the Council and my fellow-supporters with their exciting plans to return this listed building to the service of the local Community. This will help so many to have a go - opportunity knocks at last.” Miriam Margolyes

During her visit, Miriam Margolyes met with our team and some of the professional team from PH3 Design who have developed the recently approved planning scheme to restore the space. Planned works include a street-facing main entrance and modernisation of the previously unused ground floor Pump Room, transforming it into a new cafe-bar and studio.

Miriam's visit comes as we complete key milestones for the project, including securing planning and lease completion. This means we can now begin crucial Phase 1 Repairs including works to the main hall roof, funded by £1.6 million secured from the DLUHC Community Ownership Fund and match funders.

We are excited to now be able to move forward with our efforts to bring the building back into use as a multidisciplinary venue for arts, heritage, youth, community and educational use.

We want to give thanks to everyone who has so far shared in our journey to make this vision possible, including our Patron Miriam, Bristol City Council, local stakeholders and the Hotwells & Harbourside Community Association, who led campaign efforts to save the building from disposal.

Completion of the 35-year leasehold is still to be confirmed by asset owners, Bristol City Council.

Find out more about our Jacobs Wells mission:

• Discover our vision for the building to be restored and reopened
• Learn about our Community Asset Transfer offer by Bristol City Council
• Donate to our Fundsurfer to help raise much needed funds for our phased plans to restore the building

Oh Miriam! Live is at Bristol Beacon, 12th July – Click here for tickets

Photo Credit: Abigail Spring

Our plans to transform 19th-century public baths into a community arts venue are “incredibly exciting”, according to Metro Mayor Dan Norris, who commented during unique tour of the building, which has been closed to the public since 2018.

Jacob Wells in Hotwells was built in 1889 as a bathhouse for the poor until the 1970s, becoming a dance centre right up until 2016 - but has lain empty since then. With the backing of community stakeholders we have been on a mission to repair and restore the building.

Its restoration will "rebirth" an important part of the community's heritage, according to Mr Norris, who even heard how a natural spring runs in the building's grounds.  During a behind the scenes tour of the building, that has been closed to the public for five years the mayor shared that "it’s really important locals have somewhere for things like doing art, making music and other activities so that we can really make a difference in the same way that this building has made a difference in the past. These plans are incredibly exciting.”

“I know how passionately local people feel about changing that, and saving the building for community use. Just as it was repurposed back in the 70s - from a bathhouse to a dance studio - with a bit of tender loving care, we can breathe life back into this historic space." - Dan Norris, Metro Mayor for the West of England

Bristol City’s Council's announced its decision to offer us a 35-year CAT lease earlier this year and are undertaking a detailed series of specialist surveys, funded by the Bristol-based Nisbet Trust and others, as well as undertaking emergency works to halt any further damage to the roof due to water ingress.

The momentum to restore Jacobs Wells saw a significant boost with the unveiling of a newly installed artwork on the front of the building as part of a Fundraiser to raise funds to repair and restore the Grade II listed former dance centre.

The artwork, a bespoke pen and ink drawing by Bristol-based artist Amy Hutchings, features words shared by members of the Hotwells community, gathered from a community consultation as part of our mission to restore and reopen the building.

The artwork features as a reward for the Jacobs Wells Fundraiser that the charity have launched on the Bristol based FundSurfer platform - click here to donate to the campaign.

At the end of Spring Jude joined the team as the Heritage Project Manager to lead on community engagement at Jacobs Wells Baths, supporting the consultation process as well as developing exciting arts and heritage activities.

Jude has extensive experience from managing the Circomedia Centre for Contemporary Circus and Physical Theatre in St. Paul's, a Grade II listed building that transformed from a church to a performance space.

Since then, she has worked with Wellspring Settlement in Barton Hill to co-design and deliver creative research projects in partnership with University of Bristol. Her special focus has been on engaging with and amplifying residents’ voices around key social issues, experience she's bringing into this role.

She met with Rachel McNally, Hotwells & Cliftonwood Community Association Chair, as well as Sally Silverman and members of Jacobs Wells Hub to hear about previous community use and enjoyment of Jacobs Wells Baths as well as needs and ideas for activities that are bubbling up for members.

“I’m now in the process of meeting with stakeholders and residents to develop ideas for activities which explore the importance of the building in the past, such as reminiscence events gathering memories, as well as ideas for its use in the future in the form of community consultations alongside the architects” Jude explains. “There will also be opportunities for creative activities celebrating the story and importance of the building particularly its development as an inclusive and dynamic dance space for learning and international performance as Bristol Community Dance Centre. We are also really interested in celebrating the committed action of local residents and activists to protect Jacobs Wells Baths as a community space for public use.”

While the building is currently inaccessible due to structural work on the roof and decontamination work, we hope to offer site tours for Heritage Doors Open Day on the 20th and 21st September. There is a great deal of work yet to be undertaken and funds to be raised, regular activities in the building are some way off so we will be meeting in other spaces.

Alongside being very excited to start the journey of imagining the new space with the local community, Jude is particularly looking forward to opportunities to connect with the residents with opportunities to get involved with reminiscence events, arts activities as well as consultation events this Autumn.

Join us on 13th August at Trinity Arts for ‘I Danced At Jacobs Wells’ to share memories, photos and film clips from Bristol Community Dance Centre’s heritage and consider its role in the future.

To join the mailing list and receive updates and invitations for events – or to express your interest in getting involved in community consultations please contact Jude on jude@trinitybristol.org.uk or 07352616234.

Booklet produced as part of 2017 heritage project with Local Learning

Trinity has been awarded a development grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund towards the next phase of works as part of our ambitious restoration project to save Jacobs Wells Baths

“This investment acts as a vital next step toward reviving this cherished Bristol asset, and I’m thrilled with the progress Trinity Community Arts has made on the project since being awarded the lease to the building." Tony Dyer, Leader of Bristol City Council

Trinity is excited to announce we have been awarded a £252k Development Phase grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to continue the restoration of Jacobs Wells Baths in Hotwells, Bristol. This grant will help advance plans to restore the Grade II Listed building alongside developing an engagement and participation plan for community and youth activities.

Thanks to National Lottery players, this funding will empower the local community to shape the next phase of the project, focusing on the voices of young people, city-wide arts networks and local residents. As part of this development phase, Trinity will work with local groups to create a new programme of heritage learning opportunities, building on past community-driven projects such as Washing In The Well, delivered with support from Local Learning.

Jacobs Wells Baths has a rich history, dating back to 1889, when it served as a public swimming bath and in the 80s, became Bristol’s only dedicated professional dance centre. The next phase of the project will include design work for the North Wing of the building, to support plans to apply for a £2m+ grant from National Lottery Heritage Fund to complete the site's transformation into a new hub for Hotwells.

Join the team

To help facilitate this exciting development, Trinity is seeking a full-time Heritage Project Manager to join the team lead the development phase of the project, with a focus on managing community engagement, overseeing stakeholder relationships, supporting design team consultation and creating a learning and participation activity plan to be delivered in 2026 alongside the phase 2 capital works.