Socius launches place management company

Developer Socius has launched a new company, Populate, specialising in place management and with a focus on maximising the long-term social and economic value of mixed-use developments for occupiers, communities and investors.   Populate will apply an outcome-focused approach to place management. This will include modern leasing procedures that promote social value and green lease clauses; enlivenment through art, culture and meanwhile uses; initiatives to foster local business partnerships, innovation clusters and accelerators; and the implementation of green tech alongside robust measurement of environmental performance. The company will provide specialist consultancy through the design and development phase, as well as working with investors to test and embed operational infrastructure. Once a place is operating at an optimum level, Populate will hand over the long-term management. Populate will be led by Olaide Oboh (pictured above, left) as managing director, who will also retain her position as a board director of Socius. Barry Jessup, managing director at Socius, will be chairman of Populate.  The company has appointed Joss Taylor (above, right) as head of activation and enlivenment. Taylor joins Populate from Bow Arts Trust, where he spent three years as head of enterprise and placemaking, overseeing the management of its owned portfolio comprising 24 buildings and more than 800 tenants, as well as delivering place management strategies focused on arts, culture and independent retail for a range of commercial and residential developer partners. The Populate team also includes consultants Neil Barber, who has more than 20 years’ experience in the retail and leisure sector and led the leasing of both Liverpool One and Bluewater; Claire Cockerton, who has founded numerous innovation centres including Level39 at Canary Wharf; Jupiter Lee Butz, who led the creation of the pioneering co-working community Factory Berlin; and Ray Cliff, who has extensive experience in shopping centre management on behalf of Hammerson, CBRE, Lendlease and Realm. Populate will advise on place management for mixed-use projects delivered by Socius as well as partner with other investors and asset owners across the UK. Populate is already appointed and working on a number of projects including the London Cancer Hub, a £1.2bn life sciences campus in Sutton being brought forward by Socius and Aviva.     Oboh said: “We are passionate about addressing local needs through development, but one of the fundamental challenges the industry faces is ensuring that the operational infrastructure and expertise is in place to realise the true value of projects over the long term. “That is why I am proud to launch Populate. Our multi-disciplinary team will pick up the baton from the development process and take a long-term approach to creating vibrant and sustainable places that support communities and provide a platform for businesses to collaborate, innovate and grow. We are here to ensure that all of the good intentions when a development is designed and delivered translate into tangible social and economic benefits for communities, occupiers and investors for years to come.”  Jessup added: “We are strong advocates of placemaking, but the term has become overused and as a result difficult to define. Populate is outcome-focused – we want success to be clearly measurable in terms of social value, economic impact, environmental benefits and ultimately investment returns. “Socius is delivering more than 2m sq ft across the UK’s fastest-growing cities, and we can see first-hand the opportunity to create a bridge between development and long-term place management that ensures places are set up to succeed.” Photos courtesy of Populate