CREATIVITY will thrive in a vacant building on the canal in North Oxford as community groups come up with a solution to the city's affordability problems.

A consortium of community groups - Makespace Oxford - has secured a two-year lease on Aristotle House after Wadham College decided to put redevelopment plans on hold.

It's made up of Transition in Design, Aspire Oxford, Broken Spoke Bike Coop and the Community Action Group project.

Founding director of Makespace Oxford and also director of Transition by Design, Andy Edwards, said: “In starting Transition by Design, one of our biggest struggles was affordable space.

“As I worried about rent I looked around and saw many other community organisations, big and small, established and embryonic struggling with the same thing – affordable space in which to make, create, meet, think and do.

He added: “So a group of us came together to do something about the strangulation of social impact and community development by market rents.”

Once the lease expires the consortium will look to find a new space to move to, a pattern it said would ensure Oxford’s empty and under-used spaces were handed over for community benefit.

DIY bike workshop Broken Spoke Bike Coop could also benefit from the opening up of Aristotle House.

The organisation aims to encourage people to be more comfortable on two wheels and create a culture of cycling in the city.

Director, Elle Smith, said: "The space to run workshops or do practical making or fixing work is almost impossible to find within the ring road and we’re heading quickly towards a city dominated by office and retail space with all but the most profitable businesses being driven out of the city.”

“Makespace will allow organisations like Broken Spoke the space to do good work, spend more time and resources on the community and better collaboration between like-minded organisations/"

Wadham College's plans to demolish Aristotle House and build a four-storey block of flats were approved by Oxford City Council in January last year.

The college's finance bursar Peter Alsop said the college had delayed the development to ‘think about the wider context’ of the building following concerns over traffic and did not want to leave it unused in the meantime.

He said: "We do not want to leave the building unused, and have agreed a tenancy with Makespace Oxford under which they will manage and make the building available to variety of social enterprises, charities and other small businesses."

An event for prospective tenants to view the space will be held on February 21 from 2-5pm.

The deadline for applications is February 25 - email info@makespaceoxford.org for more.