Lightning Fibre delivers 10Gbps to Hastings OB

The massive Observer Building was carved into the cliff face and opened in 1924 for the production of local news, as well as publishing many journals and periodicals. On 18th July 2024, the beautifully restored facade was revealed at a special centenary celebration, hosted by Dr Jess Steele OBE.

The radical retrofit of the derelict Hastings Observer Building was made possible back in 2018 when Hastings Commons took a mortgage from Ecology Building Society secured on Rock House and negotiated a reduced price of £1.15 million for the freehold of the Observer Building.

“Rock House was very successful - it was full, everyone was paying rent, and it was creating excellent social value. Any normal person would have stopped there, but we were driven by a mission so we mortgaged that success in order to take on an enormous derelict building without having the money in hand to renovate it… mad, maybe, but essential if anything was ever going to change.” Dr Jess Steele OBE, founding investor and CEO.

With the help of many funders, great professional and staff teams, architects IF_DO, and the main contractors 8Build, major renovation has been undertaken at a cost of £6.7M to date. (https://theobserverbuilding.org.uk/our-story/rescue/)

Lightning Fibre and Technology Box have introduced a 10Gbps full fibre broadband connection to the site, powering the technology floor and the rest of the estate with hyper fast, hyper reliable, locally-operated broadband, with a fee discount to reflect an ongoing partnership agreement between Hastings OB and Lightning Fibre.

The public can get involved too. Join Hastings Commons today. You can buy as many shares as you wish (although each member has one vote), and any future interest payment will be calculated per share. You do not have to be local to Hastings/St Leonards to become a member, just a keen supporter of our aims and objectives!

https://hastingscommons.com/join/

‍

Photo: Hastings OB Dr Jess Steele OBE and Deputy General Manager Kit Godfrey with Lightning Fibre's CCO Rob Reaks and Head of Business, Partnerships and Agreements Joe Brownell.