The first dedicated community-led co-working space in the West Midlands is launching next weekend in the south Birmingham suburb of Moseley.

Moseley Exchange, located at the rear of the Post Office building in the centre of Moseley, sets out to offer local creative entrepreneurs a place to meet up, work and set new projects in motion.

Tony Thapar, co-ordinator at Moseley Community Development Trust which is running the project, said the aim of the new space was to offer a “seed bed” for local business and entrepreneurs who were too small to need dedicated studio space.

He said: “We want to create a community in one big room which lots of people can share.

“The idea is that you meet new people, spin off ideas and set new projects in motion.”

Mr Thapar said there was a strong creative community living in Moseley with many people getting on the number 50 bus every day to work in places like the Custard Factory and the Jewellery Quarter.

He believes there should be more focus on developments like Moseley Exchange in Birmingham’s suburbs, not just in city centre locations, although he emphasised Moseley Exchange would link with projects like the Custard Factory.

“The council spends millions on the Jewellery Quarter and Eastside to build a creative quarter when they have a creative quarter here in Moseley,” he said.

Moseley Exchange, which will be launched on July 4, will offer a range of membership offers covering various options from drop-in to unlimited access to facilities such as wireless broadband, working spaces and a conference room.

Mr Thapar explained how the project came about: “It started back in 2005 when we were talking about how we can help the village in terms of its local economy.

“We have always realised that Moseley’s strength was its creative industries as so many people from the creative industries live here. We started with a study called the Myth of Moseley asking whether it was true or not that so many creative people lived in Moseley and it turned out to be true.

“Over the past four years we have been running meetings for people that work in the sector to come together and talk about issues that affect them.

“We then started thinking further about the need to provide significant infrastructure to help Moseley as a creative village.”

He said Moseley Exchange has taken inspiration from projects like Kaapeli in Helsinki and Hub Islington, which offer open-plan spaces for people to work in and a choice of membership options.

Moseley has a long tradition of being home to a large community of creative entrepreneurs with a regular Creative Forum, a monthly Arts Market and the ‘Made in Moseley’ e-commerce shop stocking beautiful and individual items handmade by local designers.

n www.moseleyexchange.com