FIVE new arts and design graduates are the very first business tenants at an innovative workspace developed to boost the creative industry in the region.

The artists and designers from Cleveland College of Art Design (CCAD) are now commercial residents of the Creative Hub within the Hartlepool Enterprise Centre which has been developed in partnership with the college and Hartlepool Borough Council.

Alan Vest, Mae Owens, Sophie Babur-Puplett and Callum Griffiths were all students on the Illustration for Commercial Application course at the college and graduated in July this year. Joining them is photographer Rachel Deakin, who graduated with a first class degree in photography last month, and photographer Emma Scott, who graduated in 2000 and now runs Inspired Portraits.

The Creative Hub consists of studio spaces for creative business, with a wide range of benefits including a single weekly charge of £25, furniture, easy terms and access to business planning, marketing and mentoring support. The workspace, which will also serve as a gallery space.

Ms Babur-Puplett, 21, from Stockton, is a mixed media illustrator. She said: “If we know a client who needs a piece of work that one of the team can do, we will pass it on. The Creative Hub really helps as traditionally when you finish university you don’t really keep up with work but now we have somewhere to be creative in a professional environment.”