In the 1980s, a group of students and university dropouts in Hull, inspired by punk music and Margaret Thatcher's mortgage deregulation, pooled their giro benefit cheques to buy a £3,200 terrace house. They taught themselves bricklaying, joinery and plumbing, and soon began helping others sleeping rough. This was the birth of Giroscope, a workers' cooperative named after the ubiquitous giro benefits of the high-unemployment era.
Founder Martin Newman described the group's ethos as 'green, practical anarchism'. Rather than fighting capitalism, they chose to work the system: Thatcher's loosening of mortgage rules allowed them to borrow from banks and building societies. 'Why not work the system?' Newman said. The cooperative grew by borrowing to buy and renovate empty properties, gaining credibility with lenders.
A major turning point came in 2012, when Giroscope received £1m from the coalition government's empty homes grant programme, enabling it to borrow another £1.2m to refurbish scores of repossessed homes. Today, the charity has assets of at least £10m, 23 staff, and 140 properties housing 350 people. It also runs community centres, training programmes, shops, a smallholding and bike repair business.
Giroscope's latest project is the conversion of a Victorian church, St Matthew's, into a community centre and enterprise hub. Built in 1870, the church had been empty for five years before the cooperative acquired it for a nominal sum. With £1m in restoration costs, the building now boasts solar panels and serves as a beacon for the charity.
Co-founder Rob Amesbury, who still helps manage the housing portfolio, reflected on the journey from a small group of punks to a multimillion-pound social enterprise. The cooperative's ethos of 'borrow to rebuild and renew' has transformed a neglected corner of Hull, proving that determination and pragmatism can create lasting change.
