The Public workshop space cut for offices

Space for workshops at Black Country arts centre The Public is being axed to increase office capacity.

The 2,000 sq ft room in the £72 million West Bromwich centre was previously used for a variety of purposes including music and IT.

But bosses are keen to use the first floor to accommodate businesses which are on a waiting list to move into the controversial building, which has been full since February.

Managing director Linda Saunders said they had recently redeveloped a previously unused 1,500 sq ft area.

"We think it's fantastic that so many businesses want to be based here," she said.

"We have found there is a demand for offices where businesses can work in collaborative spaces and that is what we are creating here.

"It's appealing for small companies because, when they invite their clients for meetings, they are showing them something much, much bigger than their own operation."

The conversion of the workshop room will bring the total amount of office space at the New Street building up to 10,000 sq ft, compared with 8,000 sq ft currently.

It is expected two or three firms could be based there.

At the moment there are two businesses on the waiting list to move into The Public. Ms Saunders denied the arts centre was at risk of becoming characterised as a big block of offices.

"The public areas – the areas that were always designed to be public areas – remain untouched," she said. "A lot of the firms we bring in are creative firms and we have been able to work with them. We feel they have been complementary."

Media consultants Digital Native Academy, game developers 3dnative, and the LearnPlay Foundation – which uses video games to engage with youngsters – moved in to The Public in February, filling the venue for the first time since it opened more than three years ago.

The fourth floor of the building had been difficult to let but the problem was solved after the space was split into smaller sections.