As well as hosting art, we love to restore it and, upon completing the iconic Art Deco Midland Hotel in Morecambe, we unveiled the restored ceiling fresco and a stunning relief by Eric Gill.

— Jonathan Falkingham

Our passion for art has led to a lot of like-minded organisations flocking to inhabit our spaces, creating communities of creative individuals inspired by what is happening all around them.

The Screaming Gander contemporary art gallery is located on the ground floor of Chips, with recent exhibitions including the ‘Ancoats sunsets and swimsuits’, first shown in late 2015.

The arts movement at Royal William Yard has peaked in recent years with the arrival of Ocean Studios – a collection of spaces for artists and events opened by the Tate’s Sir Nicholas Serota. Providing a space to create for the city of Plymouth, the studios provide unique and affordable studios for artists, whilst importantly engaging local people with the arts.

Art has also been intrinsic to our Park Hill development in Sheffield since day one thanks to early works in 2009 by graffiti-artist Kid Acne, and then by Gary Hindley who created huge canvases of original residents of Park Hill in the concrete frame windows of the building.

As we’ve created our neighbourhoods around the country, we have been fortunate to work with more inspiring and creative people, finding innovative uses for our homes as arts hubs.

At Port Loop, MAIA has transformed a three storey town house into a new venue for creatives from black and under-represented communities in Birmingham.

Port Loop also played host to the vibrant play out ‘til tea event in 2019, where more than a thousand people flocked to join a day of creativity and arts.

And at Irwell Riverside in Salford, we worked with the arts council to create the paradise works art space adjacent to our Town House homes. The new studio in East Philips street, Salford was created following demand from local talent for more creative space. Boasting an intergenerational group of over thirty artists, it includes emerging and established creatives who work across all media with the exhibition space hosting an ongoing programme of critically engaged exhibitions, film screenings, projects and events for the whole community.

And we have continued to collaborate with artists in other Urban Splash neighbourhoods. In 2021 at Park Hill we unveiled the Park Hill plinths. Working with create partnerships – a Sheffield based independent collective - a series of new artworks are now in place, providing play areas, street furniture, street lighting, sports facilities and early years outdoor learning settings.

In spring 2021 we also teamed up with Plymouth artists together to host a Graffiti jam for local artists and the civic skate community resulting in some vibrant artworks at our civic centre. In January 2023, we teamed up with Creative Concern in the city to install a series of light installations at Plymouth Civic Centre; the installation was commissioned by Plymouth Culture, in partnership with Plymouth City Council and funded by Historic England through the Heritage Action Zone programme.

This ongoing use of art has helped Urban Splash create more than just homes and workspaces; it helps us put culture and creativity at the heart of the communities we develop - something that we’ll continue to do in the future.

If you’re an artist, performer; an inspiring creative with brilliant ideas, get in touch to see if we can make any of our spaces around the country work for you.