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Artefact #: 1292
Digbeth #3

The Custard Factory is a creative and digital business workspace complex, including independent shops, cafes and bars, on the site of what was the Bird's Custard factory off High Street, Deritend, in the Digbeth area of Birmingham.
The complex is set in fifteen acres (60,000m²) of factory buildings, originally constructed for Sir Alfred Frederick Bird (1849–1922), the son of Alfred Bird (1811–1878), the inventor of egg-free custard. At one time, a thousand people worked at the factory. The Bird company moved to Banbury in 1964.

The Custard Factory project was started by Bennie Gray and substantially expanded by his son Lucan Gray, who owned and ran the project until June 2017. A City Grant Award of £800,000 was used to start the redevelopment in January 1992. This public sector funding levered in £1.6 million of private sector investment for the refurbishment of 100,000 sq ft (9,300 m2) of redundant buildings, providing 145 units for use by artists, designers and communicators. The architect was the Birmingham-based firm, Glenn Howells Architects. The first phase created around 300 jobs.

Phase one consisted of the refurbishment of Scott House which is now home to a community of media companies, artists and small creative enterprises. The loading bay was turned into a lake around which are set 200 studio workshops above ground floor level. On the ground floor itself are meeting rooms, dance studios, holistic therapy rooms, a café and a record and clothes shop. In the foyer are art display cases with a larger gallery space at the rear. A huge iron dragon sculpture crawls up the exterior rear elevation. There are stages for musicians, DJs and rappers and a 220-seat theatre.

Phase two - originally named 'The Greenhouse', but now 'Gibb Square' after the Gibb Street location - was completed in 2002. It focuses on new media and media businesses and includes a hundred studio/offices plus galleries, restaurants and shops set around a central pool with fountains. The pool is sometimes emptied to allow for dance music events. The Green Man, a 40 ft (12 m) high sculpture by Tawny Gray made from vegetation and stone, overlooks Gibb Street.