Red Brick Building in Glastonbury could close following Life Factory fiasco
Community hub says it may be forced to shut within weeks after £2.9m Life Factory project collapse leaves it financially exposed
The Red Brick Building in Glastonbury could close its doors following the failed Life Factory regeneration project.
Somerset Council chief executive Duncan Sharkey formally apologised on December 9 for the mistakes made on the Life Factory project, which saw £2.89m of public money invested in a failed attempt to transform part of the Red Brick Building on Morland Road into community events space, offices, and other facilities.
The council has published a ‘lessons learned’ report following a damning audit by Grant Thornton, with local Conservative councillor Susannah Hurt urging the council not to waste any further public money on any attempt to “salvage” the project.
The Red Brick Building’s board has now revealed that the facility may have to close its doors in light of the crisis, stating it had left them “financially exposed” with few remaining reserves.
The board published a lengthy statement on its official Facebook page on Monday evening (December 22) following what it described as “misinformation” and “sustained negative and often inaccurate media coverage” about its predicament.
The statement began: “The future of the Red Brick Building will be decided within the next few weeks.
“An independent financial review is under way, alongside a series of critical meetings at Somerset Council that will determine whether this long-standing community asset can continue to operate, or whether it will be forced to close.
“Until recently, we have been bound by confidentiality obligations under the Glastonbury town deal grant fund agreement, and were therefore unable to speak publicly about events relating to the Life Factory project.
“We also wanted to ensure the organisation was not jeopardised while we worked to resolve the issues.
“However, two weeks ago December 8, a Somerset Council division member visited the Red Brick Building to meet staff and tenants – many of whom now face the loss of their workspaces, roles, and livelihoods.
“That visit prompted the need to set out, clearly and publicly, how we arrived at this point.
“Given the scale of misinformation and the complexity of events, we believe it is essential to explain what has happened, what is at risk, and what the closure of the Red Brick Building would mean for Glastonbury.”
The statement (which did not reveal the identity of the councillor in question) said the Red Brick Building had been a “thriving community hub” before the Life Factory project, with a range of facilities including an active community garden, a “thriving” youth club, office space for local businesses and a popular café and restaurant.
The centre was described as “vibrant, financially stable, and operating confidently within its organisational capacity”, which helped to secure the Life Factory funding from the Glastonbury town deal.
The Red Brick Building and the Life Factory project shared a common board of directors, but were “otherwise distinct” in terms of their day-to-day operations, staffing and budgets.
The board acknowledged that “oversight and decision-making were not as strong as they should have been right from the start” – concerns which were raised first with Mendip District Council and subsequently Somerset Council (which replaced the district council and became the ‘accountable body’ for the project in April 2023).
Funding for the Life Factory project was ‘paused’ by Somerset Council in January 2024 – though the Grant Thornton audit revealed that an additional £420,000 was paid after this date to compensate apprentices and ensure the adjoining wall between the Red Brick Building and the Life Factory was sound.
During this funding ‘pause’, the Red Brick Building “had no choice” but to use its existing reserves to pay Life Factory staff and the contractors for work already completed.
This decision left the Red Brick Building “financially exposed”, placing huge pressure on existing staff and making it hard for the centre to generate income to replenish its exhausted reserves.
The Life Factory crisis “contributed directly” to the Red Brick Building losing its anchor tenant, The Old Tannery restaurant – making it even harder to generate regular income.
The board said the final straw was the council’s decision to issue a “clawback request” for just under £2.3m of grant funding spent on both the Life Factory project and the neighbouring food and regenerative farming centre project, both of which were formally terminated in November.
The statement said: “News of the potential clawback request, combined with sustained negative and often inaccurate media coverage, has had a devastating effect on the existing community centre.
“We have lost key tenants, have had to navigate cancelled bookings and events, and been forced to halt future plans – further reducing income at a time when the organisation is already under extreme pressure.
“We do not have the financial capacity to repay this sum. We have therefore been preparing for the possibility of insolvency.”
Closure would not only displace existing small businesses and social enterprises which rent workspace within the building, along with staff and volunteers, but would also impact on community groups which regularly rent the premises for meetings.
These include community support sessions in collaboration with the Glastonbury Mental Health Network, local musicians using the Event Space, and former Beckery factory workers who meet monthly as part of the Morlands and Baily’s heritage project.
The board said the lengthy investigations into the Life Factory project (coupled with unfounded rumours of “financial impropriety” had “caused significant distress, eroded morale, and damaged reputation at a time when the organisation most needed community support.”
The statement added: “The Glastonbury town deal Life Factory project did not merely stretch the organisation – it exhausted it.
“Despite everything, over the last few months we have developed a fully-costed recovery plan, including an approved emergency funding package.]
“This could enable the existing community centre to stabilise and rebuild, and allow us to repay debts that have accrued as a direct result of pressures arising from the Life Factory project.
“However, timing is now critical. Our final hope rests on the conclusion of the independent financial assessment, and on Somerset Council choosing to act in the best interests of the community.”
The board hopes that the council will not enforce the full clawback request, will implement its recovery plan and will secure the land for the regenerative farming centre project, enabling it to restart when circumstances have stabilised.
The council said it taken steps to recover the money associated with the Life Factory project and would continue discussions with the Red Brick Building’s board in the new year.
A spokesperson said: “We have lodged a claim with the Red Brick Building Centre Ltd. to recover the public money that was allocated, as we have a legal duty of best value with which we must comply.
“We are working at pace with the Red Brick Building Centre board to try and understand their financial position and sustainability and the implications of any recovery action, in all its aspects.
“Once we have that agreed understanding we will be able to understand any potential next steps.”