L&G launches Foundry suburban co-working concept

Legal & General has launched a suburban co-working concept called Foundry, with plans for 15 locations. LGIM Real Assets said the new business, a partnership with Crate founder Adam Walker, “reimagines and repurposes commercial and residential buildings for micro, early-stage and growing small companies”. The Beacon Shopping Centre in Eastbourne, East Sussex, will be the pilot site for the concept. It comprises a 4,000 sq ft micro retail hub and event space on the ground floor and a 12,000 sq ft co-working space on the first floor. Work is already underway, with the building due to open later this month. LGIM said two more locations would follow this year. Walker said: “Foundry is a space to work, sell, meet and eat. It’s a place to find endless inspiration and collaboration and a platform for community representation. This can’t be replicated in a spare room or lock-up garage.” Foundry aims to allow businesses to rent space that suits them by the day, week or month from a trusted landlord at the inception of their business. Workspace, retail and events are combined within one space, and as brands mature and scale and office occupation needs shift, they can move to Capsule, LGIM Real Assets’ ready-to-go workplace offer. Walker added: “These are forgotten urban areas with a wealth of talented people that want to grow their business alongside entrepreneurs on the same growth trajectory.” LGIM hopes that Foundry will support more than 400 SMEs in its first six months of operation. It plans to roll out the initiative more widely with 15 other shopping centre, retail park, leisure, office and residential build-to-rent locations being considered. The curated work-play spaces will be in areas that have not previously been well served by local, modern working spaces. Each Foundry will be different and will reflect the wants and needs of the local market, driven by a local management team at each location. The workspaces will range in size from a two-person up to a 10-person office. The micro retail hub will include seven rentable “wardrobes” and two serviced retail spaces. Successful brands could then expand into the main shopping centre. The co-working space features a mix of rentable desks, two to six-person offices and three amenity retail rooms, which will be rented to bookable operators for therapy, yoga and health treatments. Bill Hughes, global head of real assets at LGIM, said: “Foundry is an opportunity for LGIM Real Assets to support a more inclusive and sustainable economy and reposition assets to serve as community hubs which deliver positive and more inclusive social outcomes for the local community. “The new Foundry platform forms part of our continued drive to be a market leader in place-based impact investing in the built environment. By helping to scale regional businesses, we create an impact ecosystem around our assets that is more financially sustainable.” The concept was born out of L&G’s Future Retail Blueprint, published last year. Denz Ibrahim, LGIM’s head of retail and futuring, said: “Foundry democratises workspace outside London by levelling up some of the inter-regional inequalities and gaps in opportunity that exist for all business, but particularly start-ups. We strongly believe that wherever in the country you are based, every business should be able to stay local and still go far. “Foundry is the space where these ideas are born, bloom and intersect.” To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Images from LGIM Real Assets