We caught up with Jo and Clare in the commercial property and property management team to talk about our commercial property estate, from local arches, Tube station storefronts to high street locations. Hereโs everything you need to know. ๐
What does the Commercial Property and Property Management team do? ๐ค
We manage TfLโs commercial property estate, which stretches across London and includes over 2,000 properties. Our team looks after everything from finding the right space and location for a new tenant, to helping our tenant customers with their business challenges and property maintenance.
What do your roles in the Commercial Development team cover?
Jo Fisher โ I lead our arches property management team. We look after our 800 railway arch properties and the brilliant businesses within them.
Clare Neave โ I lead our inner London property management team. We look after our (mostly) retail properties and tenant customers in central London locations like Victoria, Liverpool Street and Baker Street.
What does the TfL commercial property estate cover?
Our estate properties expand across London. We have everything from pop-up pitches for stalls and kiosks, to properties for offices, restaurants or night clubs. The estate includes shops and cafes in your local station, railway arches underneath the Tube or London Overground tracks, and some retail and high street properties around the city. ๐๏ธ
What kinds of businesses can we expect to find? ๐
86% of our tenant customers are small and medium sized businesses. We know small businesses are an essential part of local communities and their diversity and uniqueness are what makes London the best city in the world. These businesses could be one-person-bands or global distributors, but they all start with passion, energy and drive, and we absolutely love working with them.
You can find every type of business there is! We have cafes, garages, fitness and yoga studios, offices, rehearsal rooms and restaurants. Smaller in number, but growing fast, are the micro-breweries, distilleries and life-changing coffee houses. For all our water babies, look out for places to teach your toddler to swim, as well as paddle boarding experiences on the Thames that help to clean up the river! ๐
Why is it important to use these properties to support small businesses? ๐
As well as being key drivers of economic growth, small businesses are the beating heart of Londonโs local communities. By supporting each other we can grow and help these communities flourish. Our support for small businesses extends beyond our properties themselves. We try to support our tenant customers in any way we can. This can be anything from promotional campaigns like Love Your Local Arches, Small Business Saturday, or Christmas activities, to helping them through everyday business challenges.
We’re committed to working with small businesses, understanding their business needs and using our platform to help them succeed. We also work with a range of other groups and organisations, like Small Business Saturday, the Mayor of London, the Federation of Small Businesses and Guardians of the Arches to do even more to support our tenant customers and other small businesses in London.
Our estate is unique, in size, location and type. Located close to stations and running through Londonโs many town centres, providing space to make and create and some of the highest footfall locations in the city.
What is your favourite thing about working in the Commercial Property and Property Management team? ๐ฅฐ
The people. We have an amazing estate, but the best bit is getting to know our tenants and seeing them transform our properties, support their local communities and grow. From restaurants providing free meals for the NHS during coronavirus, to free yoga courses for key workers. It is the people, their passion and their ideas that are our favourite thing. Our colleagues are great too!
What exciting projects are on the horizon for the Commercial Property and Property Management team? ๐ซ
Weโre looking forward to helping our tenants rebuild Londonโs economy and weโll soon be launching new locations. ๐
Itโs more important than ever to support local and shop small wherever you can. Find out more about the exciting businesses we are supporting in our properties across London.
Really interesting, thanks!
Thank you for sharing this, I hadn’t given them a thought until i read the article…
So interesting – thanks. It would be also interesting to know about how the arches are fitted out and maintained. They are iconic to me. When I travel to London, I love looking at the rail infrastructure around Clapham and Waterloo.
More articles similar to this please.
sounds interesting I would love to be part on any local around Greenwich & Woolwich
sounds interesting I would love to be part on any local around brixton