Future of London: Creating Public Value: How Buildings Can Better Serve Our Communities

Future of London has published a new guide for borough council regeneration and asset management teams providing practical steps and case studies for how vacant or under-used buildings can help communities and local economies recover in London and across the UK.

The guide, ‘creating public value: how buildings can better serve our communities,’ recognises that local authorities are under extreme pressure to balance the books and generate maximum revenue from their assets – the buildings and spaces they own or manage. However, there is a growing number of councils taking a different view, weighing longer-term gains in social – or public – value against shorter-term financial wins.

In London - Hackney, Lambeth, Southwark and Sutton are just some of the boroughs working with social enterprises and communities to renovate, redesign and take over management of vacant or under-used spaces that can help local people and businesses recover – critical to arresting decline on the high street, and repairing neighbourhood vibrancy and character in the wake of Covid.

These local authorities are fast becoming ‘market makers.’ Their long-term, active role breeds private- and civil-sector confidence and further investment in the wider area. They are also facilitators, building the capacity and ambition of residents to take on building management.

The guide can be downloaded here and the link to Future of London here.

A webinar was held on the topic in February 2021 and a recording can be viewed here.