From empty unit to civic hub: progress at the Eden building, 6a Sadler Gate
Every high street has one: the unit everyone walks past. On Sadler Gate, in Derby's Cathedral Quarter, it was the Eden building at 6a. It had stood empty for two years, and the easy futures for it were another bar or another restaurant. I wanted to find out what else it could be, and who it could be for.
This is a progress update: the work at 6a Sadler Gate isn't finished yet, and the civic hub is still taking shape.
The challenge
Derby city centre has a vacancy problem, and it is well documented. The council's Retail and Centres Study (July 2026) found 18.2% of city centre outlets empty, well above the 14.1% UK average, and local audits name Sadler Gate among the streets under particular pressure. Behind every one of those numbers is a landlord carrying the costs, a frontage that has gone dark, and a street that feels a little less loved. The Eden building had one more hurdle: its last life was as a nightclub, and a building's past shapes what people believe it can become.
The approach
At Roots & Futures, I am leading a community asset ownership approach. Instead of asking "who will pay the highest rent?", we asked "what does this street, and this city, actually need?" That question sits at the heart of Place Nutrition™, our way of understanding what truly nourishes a place rather than what can be taken out of it. In practice, that meant four things:
Start with community need, not the default use. The appetite we kept finding was for somewhere to talk, debate, learn and create, including a safe, alcohol-free space where generations mix.
Put the space in community hands. Citizen's Orrery CIC (Citrey), a separate, asset-locked community interest company, holds the civic hub for the community.
Curate the mix. A resident artist, new tenants and a programme of events, so the building can earn its keep without being a bar or a restaurant.
Open the doors early. We're renovating in public and inviting Derby in while the plaster is still coming off the walls.
The result is a vacant high-street space that is becoming commercially viable, isn't a bar or restaurant, and responds to community need. It is now home to Citrey.
What's happening now
6a Sadler Gate is properly coming back to life:
A resident artist and new tenants are joining the building as the renovations progress.
We hosted Derby's First Debate on 23 July, and in August the Leader of Derby City Council came to see the building.
The Morning Club's 7am alcohol-free coffee raves keep going strong, and in September we hosted SoundCheck on Sadler Gate with Culture Derby.
Our renovation reels have reached more than 40,000 views, and Derby Civic Society invited me to share the building's 500-year heritage at its AGM.
What it means for landlords
An empty unit is not just a cost line. It is a frontage, a street and a story, and it can be working for you while the long-term letting is worked on. What we're learning at 6a Sadler Gate can be adapted to other buildings: read the street, find the need, curate a use that brings people through the door, and build towards a viable future. Roots & Futures is the corporate-facing arm of my work: a non-profit social enterprise that reinvests what it earns in civic participation, so working with us puts something back into the city too. I bring over 20 years' experience, including nine years in the Civil Service, most recently as Head of Place Policy, Estates and Sustainability at the Cabinet Office.
Let's talk about your empty unit
If you own, manage or let a vacant unit in Derby, Derbyshire or the wider East Midlands, I'd love to walk it with you. Get in touch through the Contact page or email me at lauren@rootsandfutures.uk.
Lauren Thompson FRSA, Founding Director, Roots & Futures
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