Hamilton is where it comes together. The Hamilton Hub is where Niagara Assembly’s plans and action areas meet: an early-stage place where new services and products collide, work themselves out, and gain definition.
Planning stage. A location has not been chosen; several sites are being discussed. Everything here is subject to change.
The Hub will be in old Hamilton, not far from the industrial waterfront the city is known for, and close enough to feel it. That waterfront is where Hamilton became the steel city, and it is where the next round of change is now set to happen. We want to be near the work, and near the people who will need skills, space and tools to do it.
| What | The detail |
|---|---|
| Port of Hamilton | The largest port in Ontario: about 10 million tonnes of cargo and around 650 vessel calls a year, on 630 acres. Its cargo includes steelmaking raw materials, finished steel, and manufactured components and machinery. The port says it supports about 38,000 cargo-related jobs. |
| Steelport | Nearly 800 acres of former Stelco land, bought by Slate Asset Management, with plans for up to 12 million square feet of mostly industrial development. Cleanup and redevelopment are expected to take about ten years, and the city’s chief planner has suggested a 20 to 25 year buildout. |
| Bayfront Industrial Area Strategy | The City’s plan for the Bayfront, Hamilton’s largest industrial area. Of its 47 actions, six were achieved and 13 more were under way at the end of 2024. |
| Steelmaking | ArcelorMittal Dofasco has announced a $1.8 billion move from coke ovens and blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces; the 2028 target has since slipped. |
Big things are moving on the waterfront, and not on a single schedule. Whatever they become, they will need trained people, working space and good information. That is what we are gathering.
Every part of what we do has a place at the Hub. None is finished, and that is the point: this is where they meet and shape each other.
| Action area | At the Hub |
|---|---|
| Spaces | Work, office, event, digital, retail and storage space. Our rental offerings begin here. |
| Training | Clark, our brand for training, with electronics, manufacturing and Linux. |
| Events | Meetups, talks, tours, workshops, launches and demos. |
| Grow | Research and workspace planning with solo founders and very small companies. |
| Tools | The Board, HeavyMap, Environments and Gage. |
| News and media | The Sector and Solo newsletters, and NA* interviews, profiles and edits. |
| Membership | The community that uses and sustains it all. |
Picture one person’s path. A solo founder arrives with a product idea and works it through with us in Grow. They take an electronics class, and they book a bench and a storage bin to build the first prototype. They post what they need on the Board and demo the result at an event, and later they turn up in Solo. No one of those things is remarkable. What matters is that they happen in one place, and shape one another.
It is early, and we would rather say so than pretend to a finished picture. This is what we know, and what is still open.
| Settled | Still open |
|---|---|
| The Hub will be in old Hamilton, near the industrial waterfront. | Which site. |
| The six kinds of space we will offer, and the six membership levels. | When it opens, and how large it is. |
| Our first offerings: training, events, research and planning, and shared tools. | Hours, prices and how booking works. |
The rough edges are useful. Each open question is a place where the people who will use the Hub can help decide.
One idea we are carrying forward is that regions get strong through density. The Leamington and Kingsville area of Essex County is now the largest concentration of greenhouses in North America, the product of many specialised operations choosing to be near each other. We think an industrial region can be built the same way, through specialisation and coordination. The Hub is where that starts.
Hamilton has gathered makers and learners in ordinary buildings before. The Hamilton and Gore Mechanics’ Institute was founded in 1839 as a private lending library specialising in science and technology, and the 1900 mills of the Cotton Factory in the north end still stand, now used for making and studios. A place to learn and make is very much a Hamilton idea.
All places: Hamilton · St. Catharines · Niagara Falls · Fort Erie · GB · WNY · Dunkirk, NY · Rochester · Erie, PA.
Part of the Niagara Assembly Network. Hamilton is where our space rental offerings begin. As the network grows, the same approach carries to partnered spaces across the region.
Sources: Port of Hamilton, Steelport (The Globe and Mail), City of Hamilton Bayfront Industrial Area Strategy, ArcelorMittal Dofasco (CBC).