“We were trying to create decent homes, support each other and take control of our own future.”
The Giroscope team in front of a house they have renovated(Image: Giroscope)
In the mid-1980s, a group of young people in Hull stopped waiting for somebody else to fix their neighbourhood. Inspired by punk politics, DIY culture and a belief that housing could change lives, they began renovating empty homes themselves in West Hull.
They learned trades as they went, creating affordable housing and building a community rooted in collective action. Forty years later, that small workers’ cooperative has evolved into Giroscope, a registered charity and one of Hull’s longest-running housing and neighbourhood renewal organisations.
This month, as part of its 40th anniversary programme, Giroscope is launching the Origin Story Trilogy, a three-part public events series exploring how a radical housing initiative grew into a lasting force for neighbourhood renewal, skills, enterprise and community development.
The story is explored in There Was Always a Soundtrack, a recent reflection by founders Martin Newman and Robert Amesbury that traces how music, politics, and the DIY spirit of the 1980s shaped Giroscope’s earliest years.
“We weren’t setting out to build an organisation,” says co-founder Martin Newman. “We were trying to create decent homes, support each other and take control of our own future.”
For Giroscope, housing was never just about buildings. Stable homes became the foundation for everything else: skills, confidence, employment, enterprise and stronger neighbourhoods.
What began with renovating empty properties eventually created opportunities for people to learn trades, gain experience, build careers and take an active role in shaping their community. That same philosophy continues to underpin Giroscope’s work today.
Although the organisation now delivers landmark regeneration projects across Hull, Giroscope’s core approach remains unchanged: local people creating change together from the ground up.
Housing as an absolute bedrock
Everything depends on decent, affordable, energy-efficient homes. As a trusted landlord, Giroscope’s tenants can access a high-quality supported housing service or general needs housing, with prompt repairs, security of tenure and direct access to a team who put people first.
Regeneration rooted in community
Today, Giroscope’s work includes some of Hull’s most ambitious community-led regeneration projects. St Matthew’s Community Enterprise Centre, the former Grade II listed church, has been restored as a thriving centre for enterprise, collaboration and community activity, supporting training, co-working, business development and regeneration in the heart of West Hull.
The West Park Palace is one of the organisation’s most ambitious developments, which will see a locally listed former Edwardian cinema transformed into a new community asset, preserving an important part of Hull’s heritage and providing a destination for ‘mind, body and soul’ in the heart of Hull.
Together, the projects demonstrate how regeneration can extend beyond physical redevelopment, bringing empty buildings back into use while creating opportunities for people, businesses and communities to grow.
Giroscope’s work now aligns closely with wider national conversations around neighbourhood renewal, including the government’s Pride in Place agenda and research from the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON), both of which emphasise the importance of long-term local involvement and street-level community-led regeneration.
Through the ‘Our Handmade Neighbourhood’ project, Giroscope’s researchers, engagement, regeneration and development specialists are working with communities to explore grassroots solutions to bring about change.
But Giroscope’s story began long before those ideas entered mainstream policy discussions. The Origin Story Trilogy will combine archive material, personal reflections and discussion to explore how a small workers’ cooperative became part of Hull’s wider social and cultural history, and what its experience can still teach us about housing, regeneration and community power today.
Giroscope 40: Origin Story Trilogy
All events take place at St Matthew’s Community Enterprise Centre, Hull.
Part 1: Origins
Part 2: The self-help housing movement
Part 3: Legacy and the future
Did you know you can make Hull Live a preferred source of Hull news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here’s more information about what this means and how to do it – you can also do it straight away by clicking here.