Meanwhile Space: Affordable workspace delivering intelligent use of empty space
Bootstrap Charity manages and provides workspace for startups, social enterprises, charities and small businesses.
WORDS FROM MEANWHILE SPACE:
Meanwhile Space CIC is the pioneering social enterprise at the forefront of Meanwhile uses, creating vibrant communities by bringing temporarily redundant space into productive use. Meanwhile Space unlocks underused space for the benefit of community cohesion, placemaking and enterprise. This is typified by finding wasted space, transforming unloved visible, interesting, dilapidated, difficult buildings, into something useful. People starting out struggle to find space to start and grow their creative or social enterprise. Meanwhile Space brings vacant assets into use for affordable and easy access space for startup enterprises, communities, and better places. Meanwhile Space’s model reduces the financial risk to individuals, which encourages entrepreneurship and reduces the financial burden for those who are financially excluded. This increases the time individuals can give to develop their enterprise without accruing big liabilities, and results in creating more jobs for themselves and others. This also increases the diversity of business and services, and the involvement of communities in their local area.Our beneficiaries include seed and startup development stage businesses who require affordable space with flexible terms and support to thrive (or fail). And local communities in typically neglected areas, who gain from facilities, activities and services that improve community cohesion, skills and access to employment.The following three processes define what is unique to Meanwhile Space projects:
1. Unlocking underused space
2. Extensive on the ground engagement
3. Opportunity to flourish/fail
By 2017, Meanwhile Space had supported over 600 people into space and created 229 jobs in predominantly deprived town centre neighbourhoods. Our team has a proven track record in London Boroughs including Haringey, Waltham Forest, Brent, Lambeth, Lewisham, Sutton, Hillingdon, Croydon, Islington, Tower Hamlets and Southwark, as well as Hastings, working with multiple stakeholders in a considered and nurturing way to achieve maximum impact.
Website: https://www.bootstrapcharity.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bootstrapco/
WHAT CAN YOU FIND AT MEANWHILE SPACE: WORKSPACE, HOME TO OVER 70 ORGANISATIONS, SMALL BUSINESSES, CREATIVE & SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS, CHARITIES AND START-UPS, PRACTICAL SUPPORT, SUBSIDISED RENT, FREE EVENT SPACES AND FUNDRAISING.