Providing affordable space to local organisations is vital to making our places integral parts of their local communities and, by extension, to our commercial success. Just as our places are a mix of uses, our affordable space is too – whether it’s workspace, retail, cultural or event space. This brings mutual benefits to British Land and our communities.
We want our London campuses and retail assets across the UK to be authentically embedded in their local communities. This is increasingly important to the customers we attract to our places. Offering affordable space to a broad range of local organisations generates huge social value and helps differentiate our places. Another positive outcome of creative use of affordable space is that it brings diverse organisations and people to our London campuses, making them even more inclusive.
NDT Broadgate is a great example – One of London’s biggest rehearsal and artist development complexes, the 20,000 sq ft space is completely free for independent and freelance artists. Attracting 80,000 visitors in a single year, it is supercharging the arts recovery post-pandemic. We are delivering this in partnership with New Diorama Theatre, which is based on our Regent’s Place campus.
Providing affordable space is one of the most visible ways for us to show our commitment to social sustainability, which has long been integrated into how we work at British Land. Sustainability in its broadest sense is now more and more valued by stakeholders: customers ask us about our performance when considering taking space at our places, investors scrutinise our approach, and our ability to attract and retain the best people is linked to what we do around social and environmental responsibility. We’re reviewing how we measure and value affordable space, integrating it into our business plans so it is embedded in how we operate.
We are thoughtful about the right approach for each place, recognising that they are all individual and located in very different communities. Our Place Based approach to social contribution allows us to understand the key local opportunities and challenges at each place and direct our efforts to create maximum impact. This means we bring in a wide range of organisations – cultural, educational and employment, alongside start-ups in affordable workspace and retail.
We build lasting relationships, so many customers stay with us throughout their lifecycle. Providing affordable workspace for start-ups and entrepreneurs adds to our breadth of offer. We hope that many will continue their journey with us, becoming customers of other British Land spaces.
At Canada Water, where we are delivering one of London’s largest and most sustainable regeneration projects, we partner with Thrive to provide affordable workspace and support for local entrepreneurs. There are already 17 enterprises within Thrive, growing a pipeline for future opportunities at Canada Water.
The availability of high-quality, affordable workspace is an issue for many start-ups, particularly in central London. It can stop them getting off the ground, leave them isolated working at home, or mean they leave London. By providing affordable workspace on our campuses, we are delivering a much-needed resource, along with the additional benefits of being on campus – connecting with neighbouring businesses and tapping into local employees and customers.
As we progress developments in London and across the UK, we have an exciting opportunity to think even more creatively and ambitiously about affordable space, from permanent uses to temporary meanwhile projects. The potential benefits – for us and society – are massive.
Feedback from local partners
David Byrne of New Diorama Theatre:
Without British Land, New Diorama would not have survived the multiple pandemic lockdowns – but thanks to their insight, space and investment we’ve delivered more projects, inspiration and hope during this turbulent time than ever before. Whether it’s the tens of thousands of independent artists in the City of London or the more than 2,000 schoolchildren in classrooms across London, projects delivered as a result of New Diorama Theatre and British Land’s partnership are continuing to have a big social impact post-lockdowns.”
Jack Aling of The Rebel School:
We’ve run three programmes for local entrepreneurs at Regent’s Place this year, thanks to British Land and Old Diorama Arts Centre providing space and Camden Council funding. These were some of the biggest events we’ve ever run, reaching 760 people, including Camden residents. Our mission is to make starting a business achievable for anyone and everyone, and British Land is helping us do this, sharing space and funding for more events in the coming year."
Sandra Ferguson of Tree Shepherd, which runs Thrive at Canada Water:
We’ve grown so much since we started working with British Land in 2017, when we saw the opportunity to turn an old restaurant into a space for start-ups and enterprises. Today, we provide affordable workspace, training courses, business advice and mentoring, bringing local people together. We’ve also run a market for local traders and recently formed a partnership to help entrepreneurs access small loans, responsibly. We now have 17 businesses within Thrive. British Land authentically supports people in the community. Together, we’re working to create a place where local people run businesses and are supported to be successful. It’s people who make a place meaningful.”
Amanda Sheer of YMCA West Kent, on an upcycling project for young people at Royal Victoria Place:
We’re so grateful to Royal Victoria Place for this opportunity – showing the quality of the work our young people produce is so important, and having a pop-up shop has allowed us to do this. The process allows them to learn a whole host of valuable business and employability skills, such as administrative and IT tasks, promotional and marketing skills, financial awareness, health and safety training, customer service skills, team building and business development. And thanks to our pop-up shop, face to face selling and window dressing skills can be added to their portfolio!”