Some exciting news to start the year for climbers and commoners. The UK’s first climbing commons, in Stroud, has finalised a deal with a location in Stroud, and if all goes well, there should be a commons/community-owned climbing centre opening in the summer.
Proposal accepted
Stroud Climbing Commons’ proposal for a climbing centre at Brimscombe Mill has been accepted. We are now getting ready to meet this month to discuss the details of our agreement. See the initial design below – located above the Sanctuary.
We’ll announce a date for a community meeting once we have a draft agreement and a structural engineer to look at the viability first. We’ve been awarded £8000 from UnLtd through their Movement for Change programme supported by Sport England. This was the only grant available for start-up initiative like ours without a location, providing business support and specialist guidance alongside the grant. This sets us up nicely for further funding applications which we’re beginning to work on.
Since most of the long, arduous work of research, financial forecasting, industry networking and making our model insurable is completed, we believe the process from agreement to completing the building should be quicker and easier. We should be able to provide a clearer timeline by next update.
Introducing the climbing commons at Brimscombe Mill
Imagine a place where adventure meets community, where beginners and seasoned climbers alike can challenge themselves, connect with others, and grow stronger—both physically and mentally. Whether scaling your first wall or refining advanced techniques, this space will foster friendships, inspire confidence and support health and wellbeing.
We’re a growing Stroud community initiative, with a common goal of making an accessible climbing gym. We’re made up of mums and dads, climbing enthusiasts and community members from Stroud. The core group includes engineers, architects, makers and researchers. Our key aims are to provide affordable, accessible climbing opportunities, reduce environmental impact, and support the local economy through a commons, community-focused and non-profit climbing facility.
The Climbing Commons aligns well with the principles of social enterprise at Brimscombe Mill. It will bring these co-benefits:
- Health and Wellbeing: climbing fosters physical fitness, mental resilience, and stress relief, offering an accessible way for people of all ages and abilities to improve their health.
- Community Building: a climbing wall serves as a hub for connection, teamwork, and skill-sharing, bringing together individuals from diverse backgrounds. We envisage this new offer being attractive to both new and existing visitors to Brimscombe Mill.
- Youth Engagement: it provides a positive, skill-building activity for young people, encouraging confidence, leadership, and a sense of achievement. We will look to expand youth initiatives around the project as it progresses and would welcome multi-stakeholder input on this element.
- Economic Sustainability: as a community-owned venture, the wall can generate revenue through memberships, classes, and events, reinvesting profits into broader social goals. The project offers an opportunity to diversify the offer to the Brimscombe Mill community, boosting visitor numbers and supporting existing enterprises.
- Inclusivity: we’re committed to creating an inclusive space, bringing down the cost of access to climbing, and ensuring the wall is a resource for all.
What’s happened so far
- We did a survey last year and got over 600 responses, demonstrating massive enthusiasm for a climbing facility in Stroud.
- Many of our participants are local parents with experience of climbing who want somewhere to climb and to involve their kids too.
- People recognise the physical and mental health benefits of climbing as recreation, as well as the sense of community it brings.
- The top features people asked for were ‘year round indoor climbing’, ‘bouldering’ and ‘food and refreshments’ – all of which we can deliver through a co-location at Brimscombe Mill.
- When we asked people about what they would pay to climb, we learned that it is typically a bit less than is being charged by the commercial walls – meaning people are being priced out of sport and the benefits it brings. Our model can help address that.
- We’ve successfully crowdsourced around £17K to support the project.
- We’re registered with the Association of British Climbing Walls.
- We’ve developed an insurable, community run operating model.
What could it look like?
Following positive discussions about the potential of a Climbing Commons project at Brimscombe Mill, an initial concept has been developed. We remain open and agile to the possibilties and would welcome further enagagement, working together to develop these ideas and operationalising the project to secure co-benefits for all at Brimscombe Mill.
The current concept explores a multifunctional offer within the upper floors of building A. We’re open to the ‘what’ and ‘how’ a mix of uses could work in the building and welcome further discussion on the operational elements of this project.
A movement space for stretching, yoga, tai chi & strength classes could be one option, while a co-working space with windows on threesides, equipped with desks and a meeting room could address operational needs of multiple stakeholders at Brimscombe Mill. Lunch & coffee is just down the hall at the long table. Get inspired with a walk on the canal or art at the sanctuary.
The compact climbing pilot seeks to make use of the volume offered by the building while benefiting from the natural light, creating a bright and airy climbing wall, with two full-height bouldering walls with grades to keep beginners, kids & strong climbers entertained. For those seeking some more technical climbing, there’s also a campus and ‘woody’ board. The current design has a similar matting area and climbing wall space as that explored for a design at another location and therefore we hold some confidence in the realistic deliverabilty of a wall of this scale.
Income, access and safety
The Climbing Commons will generate income from charging monthly/annual memberships alongside a day pass offer. Once operational, our forecasts indicate that we can offer a pricing model well below the prevailing rates for other climbing facilitites in the region. We want to make climbing affordable and accessible to more people and we’re open to exploring ways of developing a ‘pay as you can’ offer.
Participating in bouldering does come with some risk. To ensure the safety of users, there will need to be some form of controlled and supervised access to the climbing space. This is likely to be a mix of restricted access hours to ‘super inducted’ members and regular supervised drop-in sessions for new climbers. We would welcome further discussioin about alignment of operations to ensure accesibilty is maintained while keeping the community safe.
Next steps
We would welcome the opportunity for further enagagement about the Climbing Commons project at Brimscombe Mill. At this stage, we see the following as key next steps:
- Develop an understanding of the commercial terms of a partnership between the Climbing Commons and the Grace Network.
- Explore further iterations of the initial concept with multiple stakeholders to better understand the operational requirements/limitations that the project could face and the opportunities that may arise.
- We would like to progress the necessary grant funding applications and so in the near term, securing an agreement in principle to locate the project at Brimscombe Mill would be advantageous to us.
Here’s an interview that explains more details of the project.
