What is the Millfields Trust, and what do they do?
Home to The Muscle Clinic and 67 other businesses and charities, The Millfields is a not-for-profit trust set up in 2000 to enable local people to contribute and manage the regeneration of the Stonehouse neighbourhood in Plymouth. Its key focus is on generating employment in the area. Its main locations are the former Millfields naval hospital and Millfields HQ (where The Muscle Clinic is based). The Millfields Trust uses its rental income to support the community in a variety of ways:
- Millfields Inspired (formerly Widening Horizons), is a charity set up to provide new and challenging learning experiences outside the classroom for six primary schools in Stonehouse.
- The Millfields Trust is a major sponsor of the annual Union Street Party, in which thousands fill the street for a free, family friendly party with music, performance and activities.
- In 2013, The Millfields Trust purchased the Lord High Admiral pub, which neighbours the Millfields HQ. This will secure its place in the community as a busy and thriving local.
What are the new developments?
This month, the Millfields Trust will begin building a new £5 million four-storey enterprise centre on Union Street. The new “Building C” will be situated next to the HQ business centre, and will support small and medium sized businesses, particularly those in the early stages of development.
Chair of Millfields Trust, Reverend Sam Philpott, said: “We are incredibly excited by this project and what it will bring to Plymouth. It has taken several years of hard work to get where we are today. We are investing in the future of this trust, but more importantly we are investing in the community of Stonehouse. The enterprise centre will be a lasting asset creating businesses and jobs for many years to come.”
Read more about the Millfields Trust and its plans for the future in The Millfields Trust Annual Review.
Image above: artist’s impression of the new “Building C”.