“Meanwhile” Use in London and The Lessons for America’s Vacant Spaces

Boxpark Croydon, London, England

Aside from just adopting the term “Meanwhile” into the American lexicon to describe temporary activations of space, there’s a lot we can learn from a recent study of London’s excess capacities and it’s successes and failures as discovered by The Centre for London. From Boxpark, a vacant lot activation utilizing shipping containers to create a massive retail/restaurant complex with flexible entertainment venues to, FIELD in Brighton, a temporary makerspace for startups making physical products in an empty storefront, the “meanwhile” scene in London is thriving. While effective strategies and interventions across London have show a positive impact for all parties involved, there still exists almost 24,400 commercial units in London that are currently empty, of which 22,500 have been empty for at least six months, and 11,000 that have been vacant for two years or more!

The Centre for London study analyzed the following;

1. The recent growth in the meanwhile use sector,
2. The latent value that these opportunities present to the City, it’s neighborhoods, property owners, small business community and residents,
3. The VAST untapped potential and excess capacity that still exists in the city,
4. Hurdles, both perceived and actual, preventing further meanwhile uses, and
5. Finally… recommendations for ways landowners, public bodies, and meanwhile use operators can unlock these intrinsic values in the excess capacities.

“Meanwhile use will show the investment world that you can get greater combined cash flow from mixed use than what they are doing at the moment.”- Director of Financial Strategy, London University

This is an overview of the study and some of the key points that are hopefully useful when looking at implementing your own “meanwhile” uses in your area. It’s important to approach this report and the meanwhile concepts with an open mind if looking to apply them to your own neighborhood or property. “Pop-Ups” as they’re more commonly referred to across the US have a these preconceived notions of being very short term, a few days or even a few weeks (misguided in many cases). However, many of the interventions described in this study were in place for months and even, in many cases years and the longer their engagement, the greater the impact they had on the surrounding community. There’s no reason why the longer term concepts around meanwhile uses can’t be applied with similar impact across the pond in North America

Meanwhile Use Across London

FIELD Brighton

Vacancy has been declared by many as an “epidemic” across the US because of the negative impacts of abandonment, vacancy and blight on neighborhoods. Activating these spaces helps lessen the impacts of blight while presenting opportunities to prove a concept works in both idea and location OR fail at lower risk than a long term build out would cost. FIELD’s Preston Barracks in Brighton, UK is an example of an incredibly effective partnership between investors, developers, and small businesses where everybody “wins” at the end of the day. U+I is a large London based developer and a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange. U+I was investing in the neighborhood and, as part of their revitalization, rehabbed an old army barracks into a maker space/ coworking space for 8 area startups. After their limited time accelerating in the space came to an end, 6 of the 8 startups created a joint limited company and took permanent residence nearby, boosting the local startup economy, creating new jobs and bringing new energy into the neighborhood.

The Collective, Camden

The Collective, a Transitory Workspace run by Camden Town Business Improvement District

Operating in over 12 locations across Camden Town, the Camden Collective aims to provide a low cost work space for entrepreneurs and remote workers while also activating the vacant buildings and storefronts that dot Camden’s landscape. More than 500 companies have taken up residents in these spaces providing an added boost to area businesses while also supporting and incubating a local small business/ startup community.

Intrinsic Value in Meanwhile Use

Time limited, flexible, interventions can create neighborhood stimuli that change perceptions of an area and strengthen local economies. Think about the idea of changing peoples daily habits. A meanwhile use in a location for a month, a year, 5-years, may draw people to consume in a new neighborhood spending money at the meanwhile use but also extending those funds into the surrounding neighborhood. These new habits develop repeat visitors to the area long after the meanwhile use is gone.

By providing affordable space to small businesses and startups, meanwhile uses can spur the next generation of entrepreneur who will ensure neighborhood vibrancy and economic vitality for years to come.

Many property owners polled in this study also found extensive placemaking value from these uses. They were able to; 1) put their properties on peoples “mental maps;” 2) try out a variety of tenants to limit risk for long term tenants, 3) improve safety with new “eyes on the street” and 4) create a sense of community in a place that may not have an inherent sense of community already.

Missed Opportunities in the Excess Capacities

During the few months of this survey, 51-active meanwhile sites were found across London, occupying some 2-million sf of space. The extent of the untapped potential in London is over 20,000 commercial units that have been vacant for more than 6 months. In North American cities and small towns, similar statistics around excess capacity exist. Vacant lots and storefronts dot the landscape of our most prosperous coastal cities to our most impoverished land locked rust belt cities. I wrote a bit previously about the “Excess Capacities in Our Forgotten Storefronts” in the US.

Barriers to Increased Meanwhile Use

Misaligned Perceptions

Many property owners hold a perception that short term activation of a space will create a risky PR problem when you try to remove groups later on for a more permanent use. This perception was debunked by this study after finding only 3 minor examples of public outcry out of 100 meanwhile uses studied.

Timing misperceptions, such as immediacy of finding a tenant or construction starting also hinders meanwhile uses. No one wants to be honest with themselves about how long both of those may take to start.

Regulations

Rigid planning systems and variance systems in place can mean that permits and licenses for a meanwhile use need to go through the same, lengthy review process as more permanent ventures. For vacant lots and properties that can mean wading through lengthy permitting and government reviews alongside multi-million dollar projects set to be in place for decades.

“Timing is crucial — every week that we don’t get the space harms the equilibrium of this project.” — Director of a Meanwhile Use Operator.

The question here becomes, how can government streamline the review process for interventions only meant to be in place for a few weeks, months or years, or permit a wider variety of uses within a single space as a catch all for flexible permitting.

Market Immaturity

The market is young for meanwhile use operators. With a steady stream of space offerings not always available, more consistency will need to be developed for organizations and groups to begin to activate spaces as a meanwhile use. Barriers to starting a business with an unknown duration in a space can be difficult for small businesses to plan for early on BUT there are things that can be done to support these groups, including planning support and enlisting the help or more permanent meanwhile use operators, to stomach some of the risk.

How to Expand Meanwhile Use Opportunities

The report concluded with a number of recommendations that London (and to a different scale other cities and towns) can implement to expand upon early successes of meanwhile uses including;

1. Guidance and Support from Local Authorities: Mayoral lead initiatives like competitions, grants and guidance through permitting processes can be exceptionally helpful in breaking down early barriers. The duration of permitting for a small meanwhile use can be similar to that of a long term commercial activator. Streamlining the process for “temporary” uses makes their use far more practical.
2. Registries of vacant commercial spaces; Most cities don’t have a central database for this information that could prove invaluable to pairing willing landlords with effective meanwhile activations.
3. Collaboration between groups, including BID’s to support meanwhile uses city wide. Similar to the Camden Collective, BID’s, foundations and local governments can consider investing to support meanwhile use operators that bring life and vibrancy back to their local downtowns.
4. Regulatory Incentives & Tax Breaks? In London, business tax rates provide an incentive against giving vacant buildings over to mixed meanwhile uses. Calls for changes to this “business tax” system have been made in London. Similarly in the US, owners of multiple commercial properties that have some vacancies may be able to offset gains on some properties with losses from others to avoid some corporate tax burdens. Numerous US cities are now floating the idea of installing “vacancy taxes” aiming at offsetting that deduction some larger corporate landlords are able to realize.
5. Professional Meanwhile Operators: To deal with a number of the issues presented to meanwhile use, including permitting, operations and “smooth exits” professional groups and organizations are sprouting up that will develop spaces for meanwhile use operators ensuring effective implementation and exit from the space. Managing timelines and expectations of all sides requires frequent communication between all parties.

Meanwhile use in London and other cities will grow, even without public intervention. In periods of bust or in declining neighborhoods, it will be about finding new ways of occupying vacant land and improving or activating places. In periods and places of boom, it provides affordable space…this means that meanwhile use has the potential to benefit a wide range of other cities.

Thanks for reading and to the Centre for London such a thorough study (original report here) of the short term or meanwhile use sector! Activating the ample excess capacities in our cities and towns isn’t easy but with the proper groups involved on all sides of a project, it can provide major benefits and a “win-win” for all groups involved.

If you’re in the Massachusetts or Northeast US area and interested in joining the conversation around vacant storefront activation, stay tuned for information about an Empty Storefront’s conference in the Spring of 2019!