Independent and freelance workers in Newtown could soon be working and collaborating together after it was revealed part of the Royal Welsh Warehouse in the town is to become home to a new coworkers facility.
A cooperative company called indycube CBS has announced it is taking over part of the building, also known as Pryce Jones, and will launch its new service next week on the 1 June.
The Newtown site is the thirtieth indycube coworking space and forms part of the organisation’s plan to keep differing communities and networks connected, encouraging collaboration and joint ventures.
It has worked with Newtown-based Robert Owen Community Banking as part of the expansion to Newtown.
It means sol traders, freelancers and independent workers can use the facility to work from, as well as collaborate with others and larger companies from the base.
The location within the Pryce Jones building is fitting as it was the birthplace of the world’s first mail order companies by entrepreneur Pryce Pryce Jones.
indycube founder and co-director Mark Hooper said: “We’re really pleased to be opening a space in one of Wales’ historic landmarks for entrepreneurship. Helping to revitalise another Welsh icon in the Pryce Jones building is part of what we are about. Newtown with its links to Robert Owen and the cooperative movement is important to us; it aligns with the indycube ethos and all that we are hoping to achieve with our groundbreaking network for independent workers.
“We're concerned about how precarious work is becoming, and we are in a position to improve the lives of the independent workers, freelancers and those in the gig economy. We will be driving forward a truly radical and new approach that will benefit both our members, the wider self employed community and the communities we operate in.”
Mick Brown, founder and CEO of Robert Owen Community Banking said: "We are delighted to be bringing indycube here into Newtown.
“The co-working space forms an important fit with the financial and mentoring support we already offer to new start-ups and micro businesses. It integrates well as one of the services we are offering through the new Co-operative Enterprise Hub that we are setting up with other partners in the region including the Severn Valley Effect.”
Photos: The Royal Welsh Warehouse in Newtown (©Owain Betts)
