Project Keighley was a project of the heart, which cost us a lot of sweat and tears. No one could have guessed the effort that our first project would entail. However, through our active maker mindset, we were able to master the project in the end and gain many valuable experiences.

The project

Project Keighley started with a money exchange office, which was additionally equipped with office space. We contacted the owner in July 2020 and made an offer, which was accepted in August of the same year. By September, the legal aspects of the deal were settled, and we received the title deed.

Our plan was to turn the former money exchange office into a “mixed use” building. To do this, we removed the entire interior of the property and created a commercial space on the ground floor and two flats on the upper floor. One flat was to be aimed at couples or singles with higher demands and the second flat was converted into a mini-flat-share. In the second flat, two parties should be able to live with their own bathrooms without any problems. The commercial space was to be turned into a “micro pub” that would serve as a local cultural venue, serving imported drinks to interested customers.

We proposed this building plan in October 2020 and received approval in December 2020. The conversion began immediately in the same month. The first flat was completed in August 2021 and was occupied shortly afterwards. We completed the small shared apartment in September and welcomed the first tenant in the same month. An entry in the land register as three divided units was made in October 2021.

The Micro Pub took the longest to complete, as the tenant had an extensive fit-out ahead of them. We let the property in July and the new tenant was able to open their new pub in October 2021.

The challenges

Although our proactive approach ultimately brought Project Keighley to fruition, we encountered many hurdles that could only be overcome through our detailed planning. Of course, this project was also affected by the corona pandemic, which is why we had already planned a lot of time at the beginning, which we also needed.

Local offices and agencies were very difficult for us to reach, which is why we had to actively keep up with them and make contact several times a week to get building permits and clarify the construction.

One problem we didn’t anticipate was splitting the electricity circuit into three independent lines for each party. In the end, this cost us half a year in which we had to contact seven different parties to fix this problem. Fortunately, we started this task already in December 2020, so we were able to keep to our schedule.

What we will take away for the future

Project Keighley ended up taking an entire year. It was one of the first projects we started, but the seventh we have completed. We all put a lot of effort into this project to make it a success in the end and we wouldn’t trade the experience for anything.

Project Keighley showed us the value that effective scheduling can have and unfortunately also that government agencies sometimes take a long time to complete their tasks. We will plan more time for this aspect in particular in the future. Likewise, we were able to attract the attention of the local media during the reconstruction phase, so that there was already a lot of interest before completion.

Through our persistence, we came into contact with many important people who still support us in our current projects and have become valuable partners. With the lessons that Project Keighley taught us, we will be able to handle any project that comes our way in the future, no matter how complex.