Colourful use for city property as deal agreed with paint reprocessing venture
Paint reprocessing company, Seagulls Reuse, has relocated to 129 Water Lane in the Temple district of Leeds.
A five-year lease has been agreed with property business CEG for 31,150 sq ft of space where Seagulls will recycle, mix and sell paint as well as running a series of creative workshops.
Cat Hyde, co-founder of Seagulls, explains: “We’d love to have the capacity to collect leftover trade paint but, at the moment, we have enough paint from Leeds households to meet our customers’ needs.
“But we are hopeful this new city centre location in the fast-growing Temple district will entice new painters through the door enabling further expansion.
“The new space will also enable us to expand the range of workshops we run, from beginners decorating courses, to mosaics, murals and terrazzo. We will also have decorating pods available for hire.”
Seagulls Reuse launched in 2005. It is the brainchild of Cat Hyde and her co-founder. They engaged with Leeds City Council and agreed to collect and reuse paint disposed at the nine Household Waste Recycling Centres across the city.
They now divert almost 400 tonnes of reusable paint each year, checking and reprocessing it for resale. Colours are mixed and matched by the team and its volunteers before being resold from as little as £1 per tin.
The process is labour intensive and has provided an opportunity for employment, volunteering and training.
Seagulls Reuse will be the neighbour of Leeds theatre company Slung Low, which CEG welcomed to Water Lane last year.
CEG says following support from Historic England, enabling crucial repairs to the roof and walls of the Counting House to make it watertight prior to its refurbishment, it has now opened this building at Temple Works as a second home for its Forging Futures Campus.
The business launched Forging Futures Campus at Kirkstall Forge and delivers construction skills, employability, heritage, sustainability and innovation education and training.
Antonia Martin-Wright, director commercial development at CEG, said: “It is fantastic to welcome Seagulls to Water Lane.
“They join Slung Low and our new Forging Futures training and skills campus at Temple and share many of our values, both in terms of environmental sustainability and the importance of social enterprise. We wish them every success in their new city centre home.”
Property agent Fox Lloyd Jones (FLJ) introduced Seagulls Reuse to its new home.
Zac Parker at FLJ said: “We’re happy to have negotiated the deal to bring Seagulls Reuse to the Temple District, supporting their immediate and future growth plans, while adding significant value to the wider Temple Community.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the Seagulls Team on the transaction and we wish them all success for the future.”
