It has been a week of final projects, meetings and visiting other cool buildings in the town. Working in Chesterfield’s old boys Grammar School, it is now impossible for me not to notice how other businesses use and embrace Chesterfield’s historical buildings.
The Town Hall, with its bright interiors and intricate ceiling plaster casting, harks back to a time of overwhelming pride and ceremony of interactions that took place within the rooms of the building. As I was guided through the corridors to one of the many rooms turned into team offices, we circled the inner courtyard, tiled from top to bottom with white tiles shining and reflecting the warm sun of this week.
Chesterfield is at a point of huge development and changes in its layout and attitudes and support to new business start-ups. Announcements are being made showcasing plans for town development and new incubator spaces for SMEs.
Derby Uni is a brilliant example of the exciting opportunities coming to SMEs in Chesterfield in the future, with their incubator offices, business development officer and innovation centre. The building has been immaculately restored and refurbished to house our future nurses and manufacturing engineers. And those windows! Incredible. Their view over Chesterfield and the train station are so beautiful and grand, almost too distracting to be classrooms.
A hidden treasure of the Chesterfield College is Tapton House, set away from the main campus. The house is an impressive representation of how the world once was. Like a warren, corridors kept going finding teaching and staff rooms, until we found our way out again. A bit of care and vision is what is needed to revive the house and create a new future for its users and position within Chesterfield’s history.
This week, I realised how lucky we are to be surrounded by such cool buildings and how plans are put in place to project them and ensure they are reused. Let’s hope this continues in times ahead!
