Creative Workspaces in Chichester
A new home for artists, makers, creative businesses and emerging talent.
Marchwell Studios is transforming a Grade II-listed former stable block at Graylingwell into 18 affordable creative studios, alongside shared facilities for learning, workshops, exhibitions and community activity.
The Studios will provide a place for artists, makers, creative freelancers, emerging practitioners and small creative businesses to work, develop their practice and build sustainable creative careers.
More than just a place to work, Marchwell will create opportunities to make, learn, connect and collaborate, bringing a new creative community together while giving an important historic building a sustainable future.
Applications for studios are now open.
From Historic Stables
Built in the late nineteenth century, Marchwell Stables formed part of the historic Graylingwell Hospital estate. Originally supporting the hospital’s farming activities, the buildings later became connected with its pioneering occupational therapy programme, where practical skills, farming and creative activity contributed to patient wellbeing and recovery.
For almost 20 years, the buildings stood vacant and became increasingly vulnerable to deterioration. Structural problems, roof failure and water ingress put an important part of Chichester’s built and social heritage at risk.
In July 2024, the buildings were brought into community ownership by Chichester Community Development Trust, supported by a £1.78 million developer contribution secured through long-standing Section 106 agreements. Since then, significant funding has enabled substantial restoration work to take place.
Today, the building is being transformed into Marchwell Studios — affordable creative workspaces around a central courtyard, with shared facilities for learning, workshops, enterprise, exhibitions and community activity.
The project will bring an important heritage building back into active use while creating a new home for artists, makers, creative businesses and emerging practitioners in Chichester.
Responding to Local Need
At CCDT, our work starts with understanding the needs and aspirations of the communities we serve. Marchwell Studios has been shaped by more than seven years of research, consultation and engagement with residents, artists, creative practitioners, organisations, education providers and community partners.
A dedicated consultation event in July 2024 brought together around 70 residents, artists and creative practitioners. The feedback identified a clear need for affordable artist and maker studios, workspace for graduates and emerging practitioners, workshop and training facilities, exhibition and event space, and opportunities for community participation in creative activity.
This need has been reinforced as the project has progressed. Our September 2026 Open Day attracted 58 prospective occupiers from 83 invitations, including artists, makers, social enterprises, community organisations and creative businesses from across Chichester and the surrounding area.
Marchwell Studios has been designed specifically to respond to this gap — providing affordable, professional workspace where people can develop their practice, establish and grow creative businesses, build skills and make connections.
For graduates and emerging creatives in particular, Marchwell can provide an important stepping stone between education and established practice, helping people to build careers locally rather than having to leave the area because suitable workspace is unavailable or unaffordable.
Lasting Community Benefit
Marchwell Studios is about giving an important historic building a new purpose — and creating opportunities for the people and communities of Chichester to thrive.
The Studios will support artists, makers, creative freelancers, graduates, social enterprises and small creative businesses who can struggle to access affordable, professional workspace locally. By bringing them together in one place, Marchwell will encourage collaboration, skills development, enterprise and the sharing of ideas and resources.
The benefits will extend beyond the people working in the Studios. Workshops, exhibitions, talks, open studios and creative learning will give local residents and visitors opportunities to participate, learn and engage with creativity and heritage. The aim is for Marchwell to become a community asset, rather than simply a collection of private workspaces.
As a community-owned asset, Marchwell has also been designed to be financially sustainable for the long term. Any operating surplus will be reinvested in maintaining the building and supporting CCDT’s wider charitable work, helping to ensure that the benefits of the Studios remain within the local community.
By restoring Marchwell Stables and giving it a viable new purpose, the project will create lasting social, cultural and economic value — supporting creativity and enterprise while preserving an important part of Chichester’s heritage for future generations.
Restoring for the Future
Restoring Marchwell Stables is about more than preserving a historic building. It is about giving an existing building a sustainable future.
The most significant environmental benefit is the restoration and reuse of the Grade II-listed building rather than demolition and new construction, retaining embodied carbon while protecting an important part of Chichester’s built and social heritage.
The restoration incorporates 71 solar PV panels, air-source heat pump technology, improved insulation and building performance, energy-efficient LED lighting and sustainably sourced FSC-certified timber.
The Studios will also encourage sustainable approaches to creative enterprise, including repair, reuse, sustainable materials and circular economy principles.
By combining heritage conservation, environmental responsibility, creative enterprise and community benefit, Marchwell is being given a viable future that can continue to serve Chichester for generations to come.