Occupier-Edge_Ed.5_US

As such, occupiers acquire additional space to allow for expansion or swing space, resulting in excessive initial day one costs. By introducing meanwhile uses, occupiers are provided with a refreshing and innovative option to mitigate costs and provide occupational agility. A smaller group of occupiers which include startups, charities, and low-income initiatives often require affordable space while they develop their businesses. Meanwhile uses can provide them with flexibility, access to markets they would otherwise be priced out of, and the ability to experiment new business ideas with lower commitment, risk, and costs. While corporations mull over how best to resolve this issue in the most cost effective and efficient way, innovative companies have sprung up across the globe. For instance, the likes of Headbox and Peerspace operate as an Airbnb-type provider of commercial event spaces, Storefront facilitating retail pop-ups, and the Creative Space Agency promoting meanwhile use by creatives and artists. Not to mention government initiatives facilitating such uses, some of which offer grants to occupiers.

DISRUPTION

MeetLab, Budapest A community workshop and experimental space. Its mission is to innovate the development of visual and other forms of culture, to make such knowledge accessible through design pedagogy and incubation of student projects.

Central Parade, London A former council direct centre that has been transformed into a mixed use creative hub of retail, office workspace, studio space, and a bakery, for two years while the long-term future of the site is decided upon. The project was jointly funded by London Borough of Waltham Forest and the Greater London Authority’s High Street Fund, designed by Gort Scott Architects and is being managed by Meanwhile Space CIC.

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