Restoring the wall

George Shackleton, Marketing Assistant, Ethical Property Company
@ethicalspace
12th August, 2016

Our Centre in Brunswick Square, Bristol, is a big’un and attracts a lot attention. Recently however it has begun to look a little worse for wear. One side of the building has a public footpath running alongside, meaning that it has long been vulnerable to graffiti and tagging. If you have ever visited the St Pauls region of Bristol it’s impossible not to notice the extensive range of street art that decorate the city, but unfortunately for every artistic mural there is just as much tagging and messy scribbling.

For a long time the accessible side of Brunswick Court was left alone, but once tagged it seems that the floodgates opened and it soon became an easy target for graffiti. This was a real problem to overcome – the spray paint is very difficult to remove and discouraging the act of graffing is even harder to stop!:

Wall at Brunswick Court before restoration

Our property management team at Brunswick Court brought in Bristol Stone Masonry to undertake the work. Dave Fells, our Centre Manager in Bristol, reports on the procedure and pitfalls of the process:

“Originally the work was only supposed to take four weeks, but once they got started it became apparent that the wall was in far worse condition than we first thought and it actually took closer to ten weeks.

“The first stage was to remove the existing graffiti using a mixture of specialist chemicals and a ThermaTech machine supplied by Restorative Products. The TermaTech machine is a pressure washer that uses water superheated to 150 degrees Centigrade – the additional cleaning power of steam reduces the reliance on chemicals, this is very important when cleaning soft stone such as the Bath Stone used in the construction of Brunswick Court.

“Frustratingly during the first two weeks of cleaning the work was repeatedly hampered – each morning the stone masons would arrive to discover that parts of the stone that had been cleaned the day before had be re-tagged overnight! To discourage future tagging this activity was reported to the police who agreed to add additional visits to Brunswick Court during their evening patrols – this seemed to help.

Stone mason works on wall at Brunswick Court

Wall at Brunswick court during restoration

Stone mason works on wall at Brunswick Court

Scaffolding protects wall at Brunswick Court during restoration

“Once the graffiti was removed the stone masons began the next stage – chiseling the existing stone to give the stones sharper edges and a more defined appearance. In areas where the damage was extensive whole sections of stone were cut out and replaced – for example a lot of the stone’s original decorative features were so eroded they needed to be completely replaced:

“Once all the new stone had been inserted and all of the mortar repairs had been done the final stage was to run over the stone with a plane to give the stone an even finish and then coat the wall with a wax coating that will make the removal of future graffiti significantly easier while still allowing the stone to breath.

“Since the work was completed we have had one piece of tagging and I’m very pleased to say the wax coating did its job and it was much easier to remove. Brunswick Court is a beautiful building and now that it is fully restored, looks fantastic! Seeing the improvement from start to finish has proved immensely satisfying!”

Good as new!

Top tips for buying that property…

Conrad Peberdy, Director of Development, Ethical Property Company
@ethicalspace
3rd August, 2016

Buying a building can be one of the most stressful experiences in life, luckily for most people they only need to do this once, twice or maybe three times. In my line of work however, I have repeatedly spent many difficult days and weeks negotiating the property game.

As Director for Development for the Ethical Property Company part of my role is to buy and sell property’s on the company’s behalf – and from experience I have learnt it will always be demanding, but it can become easier if you begin to understand some of the rules of the game. Here are some of my top tips for getting the best deal financially and for your own well being:

1. Try not to make emotional choices: The property industry is cut-throat. The only thing you can count on is that a seller will do everything they can to maximise their profit. Whilst the acquisition is likely to be the largest transaction you have ever made it’s essential that you remove your emotions from the transaction. You have to be prepared to walk away – there will be a better deal around the next corner.
2. Get the right advice: It’s a complex industry with plenty of pitfalls. The solution is to ensure you have good advisors, they will save you money and reduce your risks. Do your research, don’t go for the firm but the individual. Meet the person face to face to ensure you will be comfortable working with them, when the going gets tough you need to know they will be there for you.
3. Negotiate: When appointing advisors be prepared to negotiate, do not just accept their terms, in my experience you can often save up to 33% on quoted fees, but remember cheaper is not necessarily better.
4. Don’t bluff, listen to your advisors that’s why you are paying them: The point of professional advisors is that they understand the industry, you will be asked to make complex decisions. A good advisor should be able to explain the pros and cons of different options, so push them into to explaining the choices and listen to them.
5. Stand up to your agents: Agents are a necessary evil. They know how to best find a property, however you need to understand their motivation is the commission. Once they think a deal is getting close they can be guilty of focusing purely on getting it across the line. You need to stay strong and stick to your guns don’t allow yourself to get bullied into making the wrong decision.
6. Don’t get carried away: Most importantly, remember a deal is never done until those contracts are signed and the funds have been lodged. All too often the seller may accept another offer or you may find out the property isn’t quite what it seemed. My advice is to agree Heads of Terms with clear deadlines and conditions and stick to them, if the other party doesn’t be prepared to move on.

Hopefully understanding some of these rules will help increase your chances of succeeding in the property game. Good luck!

Positively inspirational tenants!

George Shackleton, Marketing Assistant, Ethical Property Company
@ethicalspace
July 28th, 2016

For tenants at The Foundry, last week was marked by a very special one-off event that aimed to bring smiles to all individuals that work at and visit the Centre.

The last couple of months have been a testing time for everybody in the UK, with uncertainty causing divisions in society and a sudden increase in reported hate-related crimes becoming a constant worry. To show solidarity and to celebrate multicultural diversity within the Centre, the tenants at The Foundry decided to put on a Festival of the World.

We love to see tenants working together at our Centres! We always try to encourage this type of collaboration within all our buildings and hope to see much more of it in the future.

Cassie Edmiston, Head of Fundraising at Prisoners’ Education Trust, was one of the tenants who suggested the event, and part of the volunteer team who managed. After the event, she sent us a full update on the events of the day:

“In response to the challenges of the past couple of months, tenants of The Foundry were keen to focus on the positives, recognise all the incredible things that our organisations do and celebrate all the cultures and communities who are represented in the building. We decided to hold a Festival of the World, and volunteers from The Foundry came together to organise the event.

“Surrounded by what could be considered excessive amounts of flag bunting, tenants gathered over a Thursday lunchtime to learn more about their fellow Foundry-dwellers. Amongst others, a Bulgarian shared his summer soup recipe, a Lithuanian taught us some dance moves, we ate a traditional Indian dessert and lots of Sudanese sweets, and an Aussie taught people Australian slang. There was Pitch’n’Putt, some amazing Italian lasagne, a game of ‘Scot or Not’, and a map so people could pin and highlight the places around the world most important to them.

“We heard from speakers representing the organisation Refugee Youth, a small, national charity based near The Foundry which brings young refugees together through creative learning. We also heard from campaign organisation HOPE not Hate, and how our involvement in the campaign could make a real difference in our local communities.

“The event raised £338.54 for Refugee Youth, brought people together, and provided a positive opportunity for everyone to talk to people they hadn’t spoken to before. It was a small thing, but hopefully it created a ripple of positivity in otherwise uncertain times.”

To see Refugee Youth’s work in action, they are hosting an event at the Southbank Centre on the 6th August. To get involved with HOPE not Hate, visit their website: www.hopenothate.org.uk.

Collaboration in practice

George Shackleton, Sales and Marketing Administrator, Ethical Property Company
@ethicalspace
August 12th, 2015

In May our Managing Director, Susan Ralphs, wrote about the importance of organisations within the same sector collaborating and working together. We all know that many hands make light work, but how does this actually work in practice?

We’ve heard a lot recently about how hubs are defining success through collaboration, but is it just a matter of being in close proximity to similar individuals and organisations or is there more going on than what meets the eye?

In our latest Annual Report Supplement we published results from our tenant survey and the results proved to be surprising in relation to the networking event s we have arranged. We found that despite 80% of respondents reporting that the presence of like-minded organisations is having a positive or very positive impact on the fulfilling of their strategic objectives, only 29% felt tenant meetings were useful for encouraging interaction between tenants. The percentage that found specific networking events effective was even lower at 23%. So is it actually beneficial at all to try and promote these sorts of activity?

The Foundry, Vauxhall, is the best example we have of an environment made to measure for collaboration. From the start of the project the architect designed the space to actively encourage synergy between tenants, all of whom work within the social justice and human rights sector. The kitchens and tea points were designed to be shared by the tenants on each floor, and have become an active network space. Relationships are forged together very quickly as tenants are able to constantly network. There are now five different networking groups that range from gardening to fundraising. We have even approved the fundraising group to use one of our meeting rooms for free to help facilitate their meetings.

Earlier this month I was contacted by two musical/musician organisations based in a centre we manage, The Unitarian Chapel. Through a serendipitous arrangement a musical hub has been created in the centre of Brunswick Square. Victoria Bourne and Chris Harper (And then we Danced) and Matt Richards (Proxyphonics) offer music lessons, Victoria runs the Bristol Hippodrome Choir who rehearse there on Thursdays, and Chris and Victoria also run the theatre company ‘And Then We Danced’. As they became acquainted as tenants they have supported each other with students and various musical activities.

Another example of collaboration between tenants is at Brighton Open Market where two businesses that were previously temporary stall holders at the market have joined forces and are now delighted to open permanent premises together called Tea & Honey.

Perhaps the most successful partnership within our buildings is the gardening club at our Development House centre. Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming, one of the tenants in the building, are now contracted to run the garden in the centre. They facilitate a gardening club that anyone in the building can attend. This is a fantastic collaboration as they are fulfilling their objectives as an organisation, we have a tenant involved in the upkeep of the garden and anybody in the centre is free to join and learn from others.

Even when space is not purpose built with collaboration in mind, because of our ethical tenancy criteria, it does mean we have a group of tenants that share similar values. These groups actively care about environmental and social issues and can gravitate towards similar joint ventures.

It is incredibly important that we are available to help these relationships blossom. Our property managers do a great job of this as they are constantly in contact with organisation and have the best understanding of our tenants and their needs.

From all accounts, it is a very natural and organic process, but there ways we can help cultivate the development of collaboration. To refer once again to the tenant survey for 2013-14, despite the low positive feedback it does seem that in some cases collaboration can, and is, working professionally for some, and even more so socially. The most successful networks and communal groups are initiated by the tenants themselves, including gardening clubs, travel to work schemes, cycling groups and even massage and reflexology sessions. It is unsurprising that the sessions that are born out of natural relationships and shared skills that work best.

We are very proud that our model works so well and that some of our tenants are benefiting from our efforts.

Affordable workspaces are as important as affordable homes

Susan Ralphs, Managing Director, Ethical Property Company
@SusanRalphs
July 31st, 2015

In the drive for more affordable homes, the government is going to relax the planning regulations around developing brownfield sites. Whether or not this will be more effective than the local authorities actually building more homes is debatable. However, I want to make a plea that affordable workspace is not forgotten in this debate. Rightly, we hear a lot about the need for affordable homes, but affordable workspace matters too.

For those seeking somewhere to live, the booming residential market means that many people have lost hope of owning their own home. I live in Oxford, which has been named the most expensive city to live in, when comparing average house prices with average salaries. Not only does this mean that it’s desperately hard for those in Oxford to afford anywhere decent to live, it also makes it very hard for employers who want to attract staff from outside Oxford.

What gets much less attention, but which is also a by-product of the property boom, is the shortage of affordable workspace. My company, Ethical Property Company, sees this need within our clients who include the voluntary, social enterprise and small business sectors.

The enormous boom in commercial property prices, partly fuelled by the recent relaxation of the restrictions on permitted development, which has encouraged the conversion of offices to residential, makes many central London locations out of reach of many smaller organisations. These organisations are crucial to economic growth and community cohesion.

For example, for the 24 months leading up to Q1 2015, rents in London’s city fringe increased by between 22%-25% and even central Manchester rents increased by about 7% in that period – way above inflation.

What does this mean in practice? Organisations have three choices: either they have to move out to more peripheral less convenient locations, often with poorer access to public transport which disadvantages their often lower paid employees as well as those who benefit from their services; or they have to work in more and more cramped conditions, with the inability to afford proportionately more space as they grow; or they divide, with a small part of the organisations being situated in the city centre and the remainder based in the suburbs or even in a totally different town or city – with all the difficulties in communication and coordination that can create. We have experienced our tenants doing all three as they grow in size, but sometimes still find themselves priced out of the market.

This trend is bad for the economy, local communities and the environment. Residents lose access to good and services, employees are forced to travel further for work, and the growth of small business is hampered.

Why should someone working for a small organisation — either a charity, not-for-profit or small business — have sub-standard, cramped and grotty offices in remote locations? To avoid the city centres and other choicest locations being the preserve of exclusively the richer more established organisations, there needs to be changes in the way we operate.

About 15 years ago, Ethical Property and other pioneering organisations saw the opportunity in Old Street, for convenient low cost office space in a not too out of the way location. In time, a vibrant community was built; indeed the area was regenerated so successfully that the big money developers are now moving in. The result is that those who are the catalyst for regeneration are in danger of being priced out of the very area they were instrumental in reforming.

Forward thinking local authorities, such as Hackney and Islington have identified this risk and have begun to take measures to reverse the decline. Using planning policy they are beginning to insist that large scale commercial developments include the provision of affordable workspace. At the same time they have developed a list of registered affordable workspace providers who they can partner up with developers to ensure there is an end user who can develop and manage the affordable space. They have decided to develop relationships with affordable workspace providers.

I would like to see more authorities adopt this approach, just as the provision of social housing is required in residential developments we believe that affordable workspace should be provided in commercial developments. Whilst this is not a panacea it is certainly a move in the right direction and is the first steps in reversing the growing inequality in access to good quality workspace.

Collaboration and Partnership

Susan Ralphs, Mangaging Director, Ethical Property Company
@SusanRalphs
May 12th, 2015

Collaboration and partnership working seems to be more and more critical in today’s world.

Last month we held an event to mark the formal opening of The Foundry, a new 50,000 ft² centre for social justice organisations in Vauxhall at which the founder of Big Society Capital, Sir Ronald Cohen, spoke of how important IT hubs had been to the development of an innovative IT sector.

He likened this to the idea of The Foundry, in which there is a hub of social justice organisations working alongside, and at time, with each other – in collaboration. Many of the organisations in the building are there because they were attracted by the idea of being in a building with organisations that have a shared values base and broad common goals.

When I look at what IT hubs have achieved for their sector, is it possible that greater synergy and collaboration can do the same for the social sector? IT hubs offer great working spaces, but also provide general support, additional skills and knowledge, social events and some back office help – and most importantly they have given their sector a massive boost – what can the voluntary learn from that?
Of course there are concerns that there is an element of competition between organisations, particularly for funding and profile – but that would have been the case for the IT hubs too. Undoubtedly more is to be gained by greater partnerships and collaboration.

Much of the theory around hubs centre around innovation and start-ups – I’m not sure that is necessary in the charity sector. There is no shortage of new small organisations being founded – indeed of the 164,000 registered charities, over 140,000 have income of less than £500,000, and there was a net increase of 243 in the last year. It is a dynamic sector already with many small innovative organisations – but many are very small with fragile income streams.

However, dialogue, partnerships and joint working can help existing organisations strengthen and learn. I recently led the project to develop The Foundry, a major infrastructure project would have been impossible without a high degree of collaboration and trust between key partners. Indeed an external evaluation highlighted this particular part of the project; in this case the levels of trust enabled parties to work better together, in spite of a very hostile economic environment, with a clear shared vision.

But it was more than that – for many of the parties there was a history of working together on other projects – this enhanced the quality of the working relationship. The fact that there had been other collaborative projects between some of the parties meant that they had already laid the foundations for a strong relationship.

It’s not just one off projects that benefit from more joined up working – a few years ago Ethical Property formed a joint venture with a small IT company to form Ethical IT. This evolved out of a decade of working alongside each other in a range of buildings providing IT to charities and small not-for-profits. In some ways this is a typical joint venture – but it has the enormous benefit of involving two parties that have worked together, know each other strengths and weaknesses, and have a very strong shared values basis.

This enables the relationship to be based more on trust and less on long legal documents; more on relationships and less on formal structures. The proof that it works is that it has grown enormously since, providing more support to more voluntary organisations, as well and being profitable.

With the general election now behind us, there are likely to be further public spending cuts measured in £billions, which will inevitably put further strain on an already under-funded part of society. If we can develop charitable and social business hubs working more collaboratively together across the country within intentionally designed communities, that would strengthen the sector, help build strong partnerships and encourage innovation.

Inspiring spaces: Their impact on people, organisations and the community

Susan Ralphs, Managing Director, Ethical Property Company
@SusanRalphs 
March 23rd, 2015

Last week we heard from a neighbour of our newest building, The Foundry, that I’d like to share.   The building is opposite an inner-city comprehensive school and adjacent to a social housing estate.  “ … thank you for bringing a bit of life to our street, the building is a dramatic improvement …  I’d like to commend you on the artwork in the windows. They are fantastic and I feel really appropriate for today’s youths … A gentle but constant reminder of what and who we are. I love it, thanks. Once again, thank you for bringing a bit of meaning to Oval Way. The work you all do is amazing.“

The Foundry, which we’ve developed in partnership with leading charitable foundations, has been intentionally designed to engage with and be open to local people and offer office accommodation and conference space to organisations fighting for social justice. To emphasise what this means, we have reproduced quotes from social justice campaigners on walls, windows, and indeed ceilings throughout the building.

This unsolicited message of support from the local community really made me reflect on how we have achieved the goals  for The Foundry that we set ourselves over four years ago; we have contributed towards the regeneration of a rundown part of Vauxhall in a way that benefits local residents and highlights issues that can impact their lives.

We have also made a difference to the lives and working practices of the organisations who have moved into the building. At our recent AGM two tenants gave inspiring testimonials.

ADD International fights for independence, equality and opportunities for disabled people living in poverty. It’s a shocking statistic that that there are 1 billion people worldwide who are disabled and 80% of them live in the developing world.

ADD’s Clare Mckeown spoke passionately about being a tenant in The Foundry; “This is a beautiful building, light, open to the world, energising, passionate.”  Clare spoke of how critical it was that the planning of the building included consideration of accessibility at every stage.  She believes The Foundry is now one of the most accessible buildings used by the voluntary sector in London.

Shona Tchilingirian from Prisoners’ Education Trust explained how moving to The Foundry helped them to fulfil their mission to provide access to learning for prisoners throughout England & Wales:

‘We wanted an ethical landlord who cares about us as more than tenants.

‘We wanted to have our partners as neighbours. We’re working more closely with RAPt, Criminal Justice Alliance and Shannon Trust since we’ve been here. We’ve always seen our work with organisations as a partnership, but the move here has cemented it.

We want an inspirational working environment for our staff. They work exceptionally hard, and deserve a working environment that helps them do so. Charities so often have to compromise on this, and we had done so for many years in our previous premises, but if we want to think big we’ve got to give people the space and location to achieve it.

‘Finally, we wanted to be nearer our alumni, some of whom work with or are in touch with our partners in the building. We want to develop our relationships with our alumni and being in central London and in a building with so many like minded organisations, The Foundry has provided us with this opportunity. One of our alumni working here popped down to visit us the other day and said “I now actually work in the same building as the Prisoner’s Education Trust team and I’ve just been down to visit them. It was quite emotional really. I went down to thank them for starting me on my journey all those years ago, and ended up writing this by way of a massive thank you.’

Across our 23 centres, the Ethical Property Company supports over 1000 organisations working for social change by providing much needed property solutions. The Foundry is the latest example of how inspiring spaces, collaborative tenants, flexible tenancy terms and local community outreach can reinvigorate a neighbourhood and help those seeking to change the world.

After hearing about the positive impact we can have on a local community as well as what we do to support the vital activities of our tenants, the shareholders of Ethical Property unanimously supported our growth plans and the issuance of further shares, which will allow us to fulfil our ambition of doubling in size over the next five years doubling the numbers of organisations we support and creating more centres like The Foundry throughout the country.

How do we create liquidity in the impact investment market

Susan Ralphs, Managing Director, Ethical Property Company
@SusanRalphs
February 16th, 2015

A vibrant social investment market is critical to social businesses like Ethical Property, if we are to fulfil our mission to affect meaningful social change. This requires an active secondary as well as a strong primary market; investors are much more likely to enter the market if they have some realistic prospect of an exit. I’ve just led two attempts to create an exit strategy for investors in quite different ways.

Our newest development, The Foundry, in London, is owned by a specially created company with several leading trusts and foundations holding equity plus Ethical Property, holding a 40% stake. The building, dedicated to supporting social justice organisations, is funded through equity, bank debt and a 5-year bond. In order to repay some of the investment put in by the initial partners, we’ve recently raised new funds through the bond, allowing some early investors to reduce their stake in the project. This has allowed those funders to re-invest funds in new first stage higher risk projects. For many reasons, this approach was successful, including giving the existing investors confidence that there is a way for them to easily dispose of their shareholding should they want one, however, it was time-consuming and incurred significant fees.

Within Ethical Property we have embarked on our first buy back, as one element in a strategy to improve the opportunity to buy and sell shares in Ethical Property. In December the board decided to invest £400,000 buying back shares. We notified all shareholders and have received a good response to the offer, we believe because we have offered a price above the, albeit poorly traded, market price. At the same time we have also been encouraged to see so many investors are retaining shares and continuing to give us their support.

During the buyback process I was reassured to read a quote from Warren Buffett, way back in 1984 saying:  “When companies with outstanding businesses and comfortable financial positions find their shares selling far below their intrinsic value in the market place, no alternative action can benefit shareholders as surely as repurchases.” So we are in good company.

However, buying back shares is not something we would repeat on this scale very often.
These two experiences have demonstrated to me very clearly that we need more market mechanisms to boost the secondary market for social investments. These need to be cost effective, easy for social businesses to undertake as issuers of bonds and equities and attractive for investors, both institutional and individual, in terms of scale and liquidity.

I’m re-assured by the news that the Social Stock Exchange is close to being able to offer a full trading platform, which if this takes off will offer a level of liquidity that the sector needs.

There is a growing body of investors looking to finance organisations that deliver social benefits if they can see the prospect for reasonable returns and greater liquidity. Ethical Property is committed to working with the wider impact investment community to help unlock this potential and bring social investment into the mainstream.