Originally built in the early twentieth century as a tram depot, Tramshed is now known throughout Cardiff as a creative and cultural hub.
As a Grade II listed building, Tramshed offers so much more than a nice scenery. After serving as storage space and hangar for nearly a century, Tramshed opened its doors in 2015 as a space encompassing everyone one needs in order to create. Comprising of a concert venue, a gallery, a cinema, office units, and a co-working space, Tramshed proves just how powerful of a creative city Cardiff can be.
A transcendental gig experience
On one side of the building is the concert venue that has a capacity of a thousand. It has welcomed artists such as Zervas and Pepper, Public Enemy, Craig Charles and The Charlatans.
As more and more cities around the United Kingdom start to close doors to independent music venues and retailers, Tramshed’s concert hall is a reminder of the strength of Indies in an industry that tends to aim for stadiums. Following the close and demolition of Gwdihw and Guildford Crescent in 2019, one of the last Victorian terraces in the capital, Cardiff’s independent and rebellious scene grew larger and louder, allowing for smaller venues to rival the Motorpoint Arena or the Principality Stadium.
A high-end venue owned by an independent company means a better space for both the artists performing and the audience.
The duality of a budding co-working space
On the other side of the building, Tramshed Tech, its co-working space, was built to promote growth opportunities for start-ups and entrepreneurs and creative collaboration, offering many services that include modern workspaces, a vibrant community, super-speed internet, and free tea and coffee! Located just a few minutes from Cardiff Central station, it allows young professionals and established businesses to let their creativity run wild. It has also hosted numerous large-scale events, such as Ted Talks, Digital Festival 2017 and BBC Digital Cities 2017 and 2018, and has established partnerships with global companies like Google, Microsoft and LEGO Education.
Co-working spaces are a great asset to any city; they bring people together, provide support to any type of business, ranging from the smallest to the largest, and stimulates creativity and innovation. But they don’t just have a local impact: they connect people of the creative sector from all over the world.
Creativity is often perceived as separate from business, the ‘left’ brain and ‘right’ brain colliding. The ‘creatives’ are pitted against the ‘suits’, spontaneity versus bureaucracy. But instead, co-working spaces allow both sides to prosper and develop themselves fully. Indeed, creativity requires two types of thinking: convergent and divergent, the former meaning systematic and regulated, the latter being more spontaneous and playful.
Co-working hubs such as Tramshed permit both of these, by accommodating to everyone’s needs and wants.
An outlet for physical creativity
Not only is Tramshed a concert venue and a co-working space, it is also a dance, fitness and yoga studio, allowing people of all ages to exercise their mind and bodies. Creativity comes in all shape and sizes, dance being one of the most ancient forms of at expression there is. Yoga is also known as a
The fact that Tramshed offers multiple mediums and spaces to express one’s creativity only highlights its progressiveness and inclusivity in the creative world. It is, simply put, a complete and well-rounded creative and cultural hub, allowing people from all backgrounds to prosper and grow in their creativity.
CREATIVE CONVERSATION 