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Neil Pirie's OBE: four decades building business space in east Bristol
Colin Neil Pirie, founding director of Spaceworks, received an OBE in the 2026 Birthday Honours for over forty years of community work in Bristol, from tackling youth unemployment to building a network that now supports around 200 small businesses.
· Honoria
Colin Neil Pirie was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2026 Birthday Honours, recognised "for services to young people, to business and to the community in Bristol."
The founding director and former chair of Spaceworks, Pirie co-founded East Bristol Enterprise Ltd, now Spaceworks, in 1985, growing it from a handful of workspaces into a network that today supports around 200 small businesses. Over more than four decades of voluntary work he tackled youth unemployment and deprivation in east Bristol, helping establish youth housing associations, translation services and other community organisations that, in the charity's words, "continue to support thousands today."
His OBE sits among the 2026 Birthday Honours List. Read the Spaceworks announcement here.