ONCE jailbirds spent the night in the cells of Colchester’s old police station.

Now, amid their tiled walls are the thriving businesses of the future in what has become the Colchester Creative Business Centre.

Between them, Colchester Council and Essex County Council chipped in £1.1 million and £1.5 million to redevelop the redundant building at 37 Queen Street.

Council bosses see the centre as a major part of a cultural quarter restoration around St Botolph Street with a thriving scene of art, craft and technology.

Some 38 offices studios have been created in the building plus shared space where people can rent part of a room Dean Cook of CML Marketing acknowledges the vision of Steven Eke, a regeneration project officer for Colchester Council, who has a specialist interest in digital media and information technology.

Dean said: “Steven persuaded BT to run its fibre extension up the A12 and extend it to the hub - as the creative centre is also known - and to the borough council offices so Colchester would be in the top five towns in the country for broadband speed.

“It’s due to his vision and that connectivity and this hub being the only one is Essex we are here.

This hub is the only one between here and Tech City in Shoreditch, London, where 4,500 companies are based. There are 30 such hubs around the UK. ”

The 56-year-old has used the venue to launch a start-up company with Josh Clow, 25.

BPlan4U Ltd develops startup business plans for entry level businesses in the UK and also business plans for larger organisations overseas.

The venture is one of the larger ones at the hub taking several rooms, one of which is a media room featuring video and audio recording tools and a video editing suite.

Together, the technologies will create profiles to go on a website being developed for the centre. It will also feature a market place portal for the hub’s diverse entities to sell their services to each other.

Such co-operation is appealing to other tenants who say it has drawn them to the centre from other premises.

Sim Wright operates Planfix, which sells film scheduling and budgeting software he has developed.

The business is 18 months old and employs three people. The product was shown at the Cannes Film Festival in France last year and will also be exhibited again in May.

Sim explained: “We came here from Ipswich for the creative opportunity, to work with other people who are in the creative industries. It’s a great opportunity for us to be in this part of Colchester.”

Since moving in a few weeks ago, the 45-year-old said business has been going well and staying at the hub has been “absolutely fantastic”.

“I have already started to network with other businesses here,” he added. “ I feel we can start to work with each other. “ He is already working with his neighbour Dotted Fox and using its social media expertise for marketing.

Janine Tomkins operates Dotted Fox, which works in event management and digital marketing.

The 35-year-old has run events, including wedding fairs, at Colchester Town Hall, the castle and other parts of the borough, with ambitions to spread across the county and then go national.

The former director of Trinity Church used to work from its Go4 café but thought the hub presented the ideal place to base a business.

“Having an office makes it easier. It’s easy to meet people in an office and it’s lovely to be surrounded by so many creative people, it’s inspiring really.

“Queen Street is the centre of the cultural quarter and it’s just starting to get going. This is what Colchester needs, something new and exciting.”

James Dooley, 34, is chief technology office of Andium, which works on the internet side of things. A current project is developing a device to monitor the environment of high rise buildings.

James previously worked at the University of Essex and left to work for a partner business to his current business in the USA. Andium has operated for two years and was previously elsewhere in Queen Street.

When James was at the university, he became involved in earlier plans for the hub, so when it was finally built, a move to it was too good to refuse.

He added: “I have been here a month and it’s been great. There’s a modern feel to the building, good, interesting people. There’s a great sense of community as well.”

Kirstin Handley makes original paintings inspired by the countryside and gardens. The former textile designer has always been self-employed, previously working from home in Colchester.

She started painting several years ago and was pleased she could actually make a living from painting. As well as pictures, her range includes printed cushions using designs she has created.

Kirstin, 34, added: “This studio has a lot of room. much more than my home. This is a dream come true. I love it. I want to pinch myself. I love the light. I like the charity that runs it and supports artistic development.

“I love the fact eventually we can give something back to the community through workshops.”

Nick Horrocks, 55, of Tiptree, works in web design. The fatherof- three previously worked from home but wanted to move into town so he would not be working alone and would have the room to employ someone to help him.

Nick has been a web-designer for 20 years and was head of technology for Hot Property, which was sold to Zoopla. Before that, he looked after the websites of Vogue and GQ.

Nick said: “We have all the creative types here, so there is a great networking aspect. We are in the centre of Colchester, which is great for meeting clients.

“It’s been really good so far, just for the networking opportunities and working is a nice modern building, rather than working from home.”

Brandon Stokes runs the Brick Bin with brother Dean, which buys and sells Lego across the UK, including at events and through its website.

The brothers have been business together for more than six years, which previously operated at their parent’s house in Tiptree, where Brandon still lives.

Brandon, 17, finds the bricks and builds the creations that people want. Dean, 28, handles the website and related technology.

Brandon said: “The space is really helping us do what we do.

This takes up a huge amount of room. The location is great. It’s in the middle of Colchester so everything is close by and everything here is new and modern.”

London-based Space manages the centre, which is its first outside the capital.

Established by artists in 1968, Space is the leading visual arts organisation providing creative workspace, advocacy, support and promoting innovation.

General manager Jack Briggs- Miller said the labyrinth of a building has been filling up with just a couple still to sign on for the remaining two rooms.

He said the building has kept many or its original features which, combined with its revamped modernity, is proving popular.

He said: “These are growng businesses. The building is going to nurture them and the services they provide. It will be a fantastic hub for the community.”