VACANT
SP CES
TOOLKIT

Definition:

A “meanwhile use” describes a situation where a site is utilised for a duration of time before it is turned into a more permanent end state, taking advantage of a short window of opportunity.

Meanwhile interventions are tactical and incremental changes that can slot into wider strategies of planned change in the area. They can help in shaping positive urban transformation.

Examples:

To find out more about meanwhile use projects in the UK, the following links provide good examples:

• Empty shops becoming a creative force across the Country - Guardian Online Article - Read here.

• Meanwhile Use: Long Term Benefit - Article by ARUP - Read here.

• Creative Spaces at Blue House Yard, London - Visit the website here.

A full list of good examples can be downloaded here. (Coming Soon).

What is the aim of the project?

It is important to begin with a clear idea of what the purpose of utilising a space is and what you wish to achieve in your time in the space. The aims might be:

• To test new ideas, services and/or products without the need for a long term commitment.

• To reach new/more customers by having a High Street presence for an online business.

• To reactivate and restore a neglected space in your neighbourhood.

• To provide space for the local community.

• To put on a series of events, exhibitions, productions or workshops.

Planning:

Before you sign a lease on a space, it is key to the success of the project that you have considered everything required, planned and budgeted appropriately.

This will ensure that there are no delays to you starting your activities once the lease is in place. It will also ensure you have secured enough funding to undertake your idea and that you have considered and understood the costs involved.

If additional funding is required, a good plan and understanding or the costs will really help to secure additional funding.

Business Plan:

Developing a business plan, even in a simple format, will help you to understand all that is required to make the project a success.

The Princes Trust have published good advice on developing a business plan, and what to include through a number of guides and templates. These can be found here.

Setting Up A Business:

Depending on your proposed activities, if not set up as a community organisation/charity etc, you may need to set up a business. This could either be as a sole trader or as a limited company.

Further advice on setting up a business can be found on the Governments website. Link here.

Once you have planned what the project is, the next step is to understand the type of space you require.

The following are good places to start:

• Commercial Letting Agents - Useful to find vacant commercial / industrial spaces in the first instance. Agents are less likely to respond to individuals looking for meanwhile / short term lease agreements.

  They are more likely to be amenable to non-profit / community organisations.

  Direct contact usually requires patience and a really good understanding of the initial issues they may see as stumbling blocks.

• Plymouth Culture - Meanwhile Use Programme - A 2 year programme to encourage individuals and organisations to test new ideas on the High Street in Plymouth through funded projects in vacant spaces in the city centre.

  Full details on the programme can be found on Plymouth Culture’s website. Link here.

• Local Authority - Your local council may have property to sell or lease that could be suitable for you. Depending on the requirements, direct contact could work well.

  Plymouth City Council lists vacant properties owned by the council on this webpage. Link here.

  For meanwhile uses in Plymouth, the City Council are partners on the Meanwhile Use Programme, so will expect all meanwhile use proposals to run through this funded programme in the first instance.

• Land Registry - If you have located a vacant space locally but cannot find out who owns it, then a land registry search could give you contact details.

  There is a cost associated with acquiring this information as outlined on the website. Link here.

• Vacancy Atlas - Through funded projects we sources spaces for all manner of uses. Check out our website or contact us to see if we can help you at this time.

  Find a space with Vacancy Atlas here.

What Is A Lease?

A lease is essentially a contract between and landlord and tenant that gives the tenant the right to occupy and use the landlord’s property for a period of time.

Lease Types:

There are two main lease types that your project is likely to fit within - Meanwhile Use Agreement & the Standard Tenancy Lease. Further detail on both is included below.

• Meanwhile Use Lease

This lease type is utilised to encourage the temporary occupation of empty premises, particularly on the High Street or whilst sites are vacant and awaiting re-development.

The users are expected to contribute to town centre vitality but who would otherwise be unable to afford normal commercial rents.

The Government has published standardised leases and guidance on meanwhile leases for use by both parties. These are intended to form an industry standardised framework from with occupiers and landlords can work from.

The leases are published free for use by anyone, but it is important that as a signee you are happy that it is appropriate in it’s standard form, and possibly seek legal advice before signing or accepting any non-standard terms from the landlord.

Further information on the draft leases published by the Government can be found here.

The Meanwhile Use Foundation has developed more in depth guidance on Meanwhile Use leases, as well as more update agreements based on 10 years worth of research into previous lease arrangements across Europe.

These leases, and other useful resources can be accessed via a yearly membership to the organisation for a small fee. Further details are included within the Resources section.

The leases are simpler than a standard lease agreement.

• Standard Tenancy Lease

A standard lease will typically have more sections that the meanwhile use agreement as will be geared up to facilitate the agreement between a landlord and a tenant which will assumed to be a commercial venture.

The lease will typically include the following sections:

Type of property, tenancy terms, rent payable, type of business permitted, security and damage deposit, rules for sub-letting, provisions for terminating the tenancy.

The time period for a commercial lease is typically much longer than a residential one - it will typically be a minimum of 5 years.

Before signing it is important to understand the terms or your lease, and seek legal advice if you are unsure. A commercial lease is a legally binding contract and offers far less government protection than a residential lease.

Importantly, it will also outline who is responsible for making any leasehold improvement and covering the insurance.

What is the difference between a commercial property lease and a residential one?

Although the underlying principle is the same - the exchange of money for the use of a property - there are several differences between commercial leases and the sort of agreement you might sign when renting a flat.

Firstly, there is less government protection in place for commercial property tenants. It is assumed that if you are taking on a commercial property lease, you should be knowledgeable about running a business and will, therefore, be better suited to the required responsibilities than someone who is renting their first home.

This could leave you more exposed than expected if taking on your first commercial lease, and other previously having experience with well protected residential letting agreements. It is key to understand some of the differences, which are covered throughout the sections of this toolkit. However you should still seek legal advice if you are unsure, before signing a long lease.

There is also more room for negotiation in a commercial lease, again for the reason that both parties are considered to have more knowledge of business practices.

Therefore, it is really important to be confident that the terms of the lease are understood before signing.

Costs Involved:

It is important to think ahead and plan for the costs involved with taking on a vacant space. These may include the following:

• Rent for the space - The use of the space will most likely incur a rental fee (unless the use can be negotiated rent free).

  If the use is community or charitable (or non-profit making) then generally space owners will be more open to allowing access to the space for free, or for a reduced rate (just covering bills for example).

  This will all be dependant on the individual landlord and their perception of your proposed use for the building.

• Business Rates - Rates are likely to apply to your space unless you qualify for exemption. Business rates are set by the Government and administered by local councils. Plymouth City Councils website provides more information on business rates and when you may be exempt. If not, the rates for any property can be obtained from the Business Rates department of the local authority.

  Link to Business Rates here.

• Licences & Insurances - These items were covered in detail in the Risk Management section of this toolkit. It is important to understand which licences and insurances will be required for you to occupy and operate your use within the building.

  These should be fully researched and costed and form part of operational costs of the accessing the space.

• Utilities & Bills - As a tenant under a meanwhile use lease or any other kind of lease, it is highly likely that you will be liable to pay for the costs of utilities for duration of you agreement.

  These would typically include the following:

  Water, Electric, BT, Gas (if space is heated and not electric).

• Ongoing Maintenance - Unlike a residential rental agreement, the landlord will not be responsible for the upkeep of services and other items in the space. If the boiler breaks, the tenant will need to fix this. It is useful to allocate a budget for ongoing maintenance throughout the time you occupy the space for any maintenance surprises. To help alleviate, it is good to check the condition of all services as part of any inspection of the space before signing a lease agreement. Inspections are covered elsewhere in the toolkit.

• Employee Costs - You will need to factor in the cost of your own or others salaries (and the employment costs associated with these - e.g. National Insurance Contributions). Unless of course you are relying on volunteers donating time. Even so, these volunteers may incur costs which helping out that they may expect to be reimbursed for.

• VAT - Where the use of the space may involve the trading of something or the delivery of paid services.

  There may be a requirement for the individual, organisation or company leases the space to become registered for VAT.

  More information on the requirements of registering for VAT can be found on the UK governments website - https://www.gov.uk/vat-registration .

• Marketing - The costs of marketing and promoting your activities and the space leased will be determined by the types of marketing required. This is explored more in the Marketing section below. A budget should be assigned to each type of marketing to be undertaken.

• Fit-Out, Repairs & Decoration - The existing condition of the space you intend to occupy can have a significant impact on this section of your budget. Ideally you should source a space that requires minimal investment from you in order to occupy the space.

  Unlike a residential rental agreement, with commercial properties, it is not the landlords responsibility to undertake non-structural repairs to the building and keep the space in a tidy manner.

  However, some landlords may have updated the space to try to entice potential tenants in. It is less likely that they will release these spaces for anything other than a standard commercial use though.

  It is also recommended to consider what is necessary against what you would like to do to repair and redecorate the space. A broken window or trip hazard in the space would be necessary repairs, where as an internal wall with a rough plastered finish might be something you can live with.

  You will also need to factor in the time it will take to bring the space up to your requirements. A budget for employing tradespeople may also need to be considered.

• Furniture -

  Your space will have some furniture requirements that will need to be considered. There are numerous options here depending on the length of your intended use:

  Hire: The required furniture could be hired for a specific time frame.

  Re-use: Second hand / up-cycled furniture could be used.

  Borrow: Can you borrow items from other organisations? This could work well if your use is short term.

  New: It might make sense to buy some new pieces for the space, depending on your requirements.

  A budget should be allocated to furniture requirements for the space. This should be kept to wherever possible to ensure the project stays on track.

  A constrained budget provides a great opportunity to get creative and re-use materials.

Budget Planner:

Our project planner can help to understand your costs and budget within the overall scope of your project development. This is available from the resources section.

Additional Licenses:

Certain activities in the space will require additional licences on top of any agreements that you may have with the landlord.

Example - Food License - If you are planning to sell food from the space you will need to make sure you are registered with the Council as a food trader.

You will also be required to comply with food and health & safety legislation requirements. You will also need to assure the Environmental Health team that your site meets the necessary safety standards.

Application forms for food licenses for Plymouth can be found here.

Others - Other activities will also require a license, such as the selling of Alcohol, and loud music. If in doubt then seek advice from your local council.

Planning Consents:

Planning permission will be required to make substantial changes to the interior of the existing space, and any external changes - including advertising / lighting are likely to require consents.

It is also worth checking that the space is not in a conservation area, or listed. If this is the case the proposals may need Listed Building Consent as well as planning permission.

If you are unsure on whether the proposals will require any permissions, or if you require any additional help to understand the requirements for an application, you can get pre-application advice from the council planning officers by completing a pre-application enquiry. The link for pre-application enquiries in Plymouth can be found here.

There is a cost attached to this which can vary depending on the proposal and size of building.

Planning permission also takes time, approximately 2 months from submission, so this can impact your project programme significantly.

The requirements of the application may require the involvement of professionals such as Architects, Planning Consultants and Structural Engineers, which would need to be budgeted for, and could be cost prohibitive depending on the size and timeframe of the use of the space.

If possible, proposed uses and any changes should be designed to not require planning permission. If that is the case, it might be better to consider another space.

Any changes that you propose to the fabric of the building - both internal and external are likely to require approval from the landlord.

Insurances:

The following insurances may be required for the use of the space:

• Building Insurance - You should check with the building owner that the building itself is currently insured against fire, burglary and other hazards.

  If it is not, then you can try to negotiate with the owner to provide this.

  If unsuccessful, you will need to insure the building for the duration of your occupancy.

• Contents Insurance - This will insure against any damage or loss to your property / stock that is kept and used within the space.

• Public Liability Insurance - This insurance will be required if the public will enter your space during the time you are occupying it.

  The Meanwhile Use Foundation can offer Public Liability Insurance to it’s members. Depending on your requirements, the yearly membership price could be worthwhile to access the insurance and a wealth of other resources.

  Link to Meanwhile Use Foundation here.

• Employers Liability Insurance - This is required if you will be employing people.

• Other Specialist Insurances - You will need to satisfy yourself that the uses and activities you are proposing in the space do not require any further specialist insurances.

Current Funding Options:

Meanwhile use opportunities for vacant spaces in Plymouth are currently being administered through the city’s meanwhile use programme. This is a two year long project with various open calls for ideas across the timeframe.

The project is currently being administered by Plymouth Culture and Vacancy Atlas along with other partners.

Details of the programme and upcoming open calls can be found here.

Other Funding Opportunities:

Further details coming soon.

To make sure that people know about and visit your space from day one you need to start producing publicity well in advance of opening.

The easiest and most direct way to let people know you are starting something in the space is to advertise what you are doing in the windows for passers-by to see.

The following are all good options depending on the type of use in the space. It is also worth noting the anticipated costs of all the individual marketing options you are going to pursue and add to the overall budget planning.

• Social Media

Effectively using social media can be a great way to publicise your project. You will need to start this early, particularly if your account is new.

• Newspaper / Local Media

If you are planning something big or different then the local newspaper / online media could be interested in letting people know you are starting out.

Have a press release ready to send out, so you retain an element of control over what is said about your project. This makes their job easier as well.

• Existing Network

Speak to friends, family and colleagues to let them know what you are up to, they will be good advocates for spreading your message, particularly on social media.

They may also be able to support you at the beginning by buying products, attending the launch event etc.

• Contact the Local Business Improvement District for advertising through their network

Most cities have these and they are always keen to support new businesses in the area.

• Contact organisations such as Plymouth Culture / West End Plymouth etc

Plymouth Culture exists to support cultural activities in the city, so they will also be happy to support a new venture through advertising on their social media channels.

There are many other organisations with a big audience if your new venture is not culturally based.

• Launch Event

Make a song and dance about your opening, publicise it through all of the avenues above. Can you do any limited time offers for the launch day?

The Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 place a requirement on employers to protect employees and others from harm.

As a minimum, in order to safely operate a leased space you must do the following:

• indentify what could cause injury or illness in your space (the hazards).

• decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk).

• take action to eliminate the hazard, or if not possible, control the risk (the response / mitigation).

For most uses the steps required to be undertaken are fairly straightforward and can be summarised in the completion of a risk assessment.

Risk Assessments:

Further information on the risks associated with occupying spaces, opening spaces to the public and employing people safely can be found on the Health & Safety Executive’s (HSE) website. Link here.

The Resources section of this toolkit includes a template risk assessment that you can use for you project and examples of how to fill it in.

List of publications and Articles on Meanwhile Use from the Meanwhile Use Foundation - Link to list here.

This section includes some useful resources to help with the planning of your vacant space proposal.

Important:

Please note that Vacancy Atlas Ltd can accept no responsibility for the accuracy of external information below supplied by others on their own websites

Project Planner:

This project programme template can be used to map all the requirements to kickstart the planning of your project, so you can sign a lease on a space knowing you are ready.

Download the Project Programme Template here.

Project Programme Template - Coming Soon.

We are still working on the project programme template and will publish as soon as it is ready.

Sign up to our mailing list to find out when the programme is ready here.

Risk Assessment Template:

You can use this risk assessment template to help you keep a record of the following information in relation to your activities in the space:

• who might be harmed by activities and how

• what you’re already doing to control the risks

• what further action you need to take to control the risks

• who needs to carry out the action

• when the action is needed by.

Download the Risk Assessment Template here.

Risk Assessment Template - Coming Soon.

This template is based on the template available from the Health & Safety Executive (HSE).

Example Risk Assessments:

Example Risk Assessments are available on the HSE website. The link below takes you to an example risk assessment for a shop.

Example Risk Assessment.

Meanwhile Use Foundation Membership:

The Meanwhile Use Foundation offers membership for individuals and organisations to access a wealth of resources for meanwhile use and should be considered by all those looking at meanwhile use agreements with landlords.

www.meanwhile.org.uk

UK Government Meanwhile Use Lease Template & Guidance:

The UK Government guidance on Meanwhile Use agreements can be found here.

Commercial Lease Guidance:

The following document provides guidance on the typical sections of commercial leases and what they mean for the tenant. This document can be viewed here.