Dean Smith

Dean Smith is the founding Chief Executive of Carleton Grange Trust, responsible for the return of The Grange in Pontefract as a civic building in active public use and for shaping its long term role within Wakefield district.

His work focuses on how civic buildings function within contemporary public life, particularly within post industrial and digital society where many traditional forms of civic participation and shared public space have weakened.

At The Grange, he has led the transition of a large historic building from decline into active daily public use through hospitality, film, photography, music, theatre, wellbeing, nursery life, exhibitions, clubs and societies, public conversation, civic ceremony and local enterprise. The building operates through overlapping public use across the day rather than as a single purpose venue.

Alongside this work, he has developed The Steward’s Office as a proposed civic operating framework emerging from practical work at The Grange. The framework explores how stewardship, hospitality, programme, communications, governance and public use may function together through a more connected approach to civic buildings and public assets.

His background includes historic building restoration and operation, theatre and performance space development, hospitality, photography, publishing, live music and public cultural programming. His work centres on taking buildings from first condition through to sustained public use and long term civic operation.

Current work focuses on the continued development of The Grange as a civic house and the ongoing development of The Steward’s Office framework.