The building – conceptualised by Invisible Studio and brought to life by Ellis Williams Architects – takes the form of a series of stacked boxes, designed to have the same ad-hoc feel as other buildings around it.

The driving force behind East Quay was Onion Collective, a social enterprise founded by four women who had a dream of improving opportunities for culture, business and education in their town.

“It’s a beautiful town but it has some really crushing social problems,” explained Onion Collective co-director Jessica Prendergrast.

“We have some of the lowest wages in the country, almost no access to cultural engagement and consequently low aspirations.”

Eight years ago, after plans to build a luxury apartment block on the site fell through, the group came up with a plan to develop the site themselves.

They persuaded the council to give them the site, then raised all the money to build it themselves.

“We were bored of hearing each other talk about how someone should do something, so we decided to try and be the people who did something,” said Prendergrast.

“This project was about trying to make it clear that there are different ways of doing things,” she said.