Creative Businesses: Workspace

Finding suitable workspace for creative businesses in North London remains a significant problem - the pressure for housing is relentless!

North London Business maintains a Property Database where businesses can register and search for the sort of property they are looking for. In the near future, it is hoped that those properties suitable for arts and creative businesses will be flagged to make them easier to find.

In the meantime, Four Greens will occasionally post information here if we are aware of property that would be of interest to creative businesses.

Workspace at £6/sq ft in Tottenham

A property owner is making a single-storey unit in Tottenham available specifically for creative businesses. It can be rented by one business or several, but it is unlikely that it will be sub-divided.

Size: 3221 sq ft warehouse/factory with fixed office and reception area

Access: wide shutter and reception doors

Heating: gas-fired heaters

Electricity: 3-phase throughout

Eaves height: 4m (13 feet)

Security: 24-hr site security and modern alarm system

Parking: 3 spaces

Cost: £6 per sq ft (subject to contract). Standard management charges extra (which includes 24-hr site security)

Address: Millmead Industrial Centre, Millmead Road, N17 9QU

In the first instance, please contact peter@fourgreens.org.

Running your business from a barge!

British Waterways is building four new commercial barges – floating offices – to be moored at static berths with permanent shore services connected (electric, water, telecom, drainage) at Hale Wharf, off Ferry Lane, Tottenham, on the River Lee Navigation.

The barges will form part of a striking new waterfront at Hale Wharf. Their design has been based on the ‘Lady of the Lea', the last wooden sailing barge built in London in 1931. These historic craft traditionally plied the River Lee Navigation, carrying cargoes such as gunpowder from Waltham Abbey to Woolwich Arsenal.

The first three are due to be commissioned on site in early September 2007, with two offering up to 1,000 sq ft each and a third offering about 700-800 sq ft, providing accommodation for between 10 and 15 employees in each.

BW would like to rent these highly distinctive and unique premises to SME businesses, especially those in the creative, IT and cultural sectors who might appreciate the commercial benefits of securing a rare business space full of character, whilst accessing the right amount of floor space they need in the heart of the Tottenham Hale regeneration area.

For expressions of interest, please contact Jonathan Young at BW (Paddington) on 020 7985 7284.

The Great Hall 'find a tenant' competition

Lee Valley Estates and Hiltongrove Business Space are running a competition in conjunction with the Waltham Forest Guardian to find a tenant for The Great Hall of the former Leyton Municipal Offices. The Great Hall is at the very heart of a new development on the site in Leyton High Road, E10, less than a two-minute walk from Leyton tube station (there is no on-site parking).

Hiltongrove Business Space has already created 28 striking business units (retaining as many original features as possible – wooden floors, fireplaces etc) in the Legacy Business Centre. Lee Valley Estates also plans to create a restaurant/café on the ground floor.

The Great Hall has its own self-contained entrance and foyer with beautiful mosaic floors and a double staircase sweeping up to a lobby area with a glass roof and ancillary space. A new elevator will provide disabled access. The whole area totals 5,144 sq ft (477 sq m), offering a superb business opportunity to the right individual or organisation that can afford in excess of £50,000 per annum for a minimum lease of 5 years.

The closing date for competition entries is 5.30pm Thursday 31 May 2007 and the winner (to be announced in early July) will secure a substantial rent reduction on the space – equivalent to a year’s rent-free period over the duration of a 10-year lease.

For more information and an entry form, visit www.lmogreathall.com, or contact Sarah Coombes at 020 8114 2456 or sarah@lee-valley-estates.co.uk.