The Context and our Vision
For decades there has been a significant trend towards sacrificing established commercial land and buildings for housing. Where an empty or disused site is identified, developers, planners, and the public gravitate towards it becoming residential. A traditional reaction to protecting the countryside pushes residential developments into disused commercial sites seemingly unwanted, the forgotten and ugly, as opposed to new greenfield sites.
We are no stranger to this; for some years this was our mindset, and we pursued a number of residential applications on site. There was objection to the land becoming residential but not because it was a derelict commercial site. In fact, the objections were centred on planning policy.
In a family meeting following a failed residential planning application, we had an epiphany. We realised that a critical issue with this focus on switching from commercial to residential is that whilst housing stock increases, the number of commercial sites is diminished.
Businesses often find themselves confined to expensive, non-purpose built spaces in towns and cities, or grey business and industrial parks on bypasses and outskirts, none of which suit many small businesses for location, size, or financial reasons. In addition to this we realised that the small, local studio or workshop (as discussed below) has become something of a rarity. Prior to the late 20th century villages were never just dormitories. They were living, breathing entities, with well rounded communities of people both living and working as neighbours. Depending on local traditions and economic growth, villages were home to all sorts of industries, from breweries, to blacksmiths, to horticultural nurseries!
This was in 2016, and we were not fully convinced yet. So whilst submitting another residential planning application, we tentatively started researching into how we would take our very loose ‘workshop’ idea forward. Reading through a number of village Neighbourhood Plans we discovered a recurring desire and need for workspace units around the 100m² size, so we looked at what was on offer with commercial estate agents and found very few sites similar to our developing idea. We informally asked small business owners what they thought and without exception found positivity and excitement. So we decided to move forward, and began developing the proposal for Tilford Enterprise Centre.
The first case study
Direct inspiration came from close to home, with Matthew Burch’s photography studio in Frensham stepping in as a one-building case study of Tilford Enterprise Centre.
Frensham Studios is right in the centre of Frensham village, opposite the pub and a stone’s throw away from the shop and green. Prior to Matthew Burch ‘moving in’ in 2012 it had been a local upholsterer’s workshop for nearly 40 years, but was originally built in 1922 as a garage. The building itself is timber framed and cladded, and has a concrete base and a clay tiled roof. The usable space itself is 72m², but an increase to 100m² would allow for better layout planning, and a little more flexibility whilst using the space.
Replicating a slightly larger version of Frensham Studios by 15 or 20 and creating workspaces in Tilford would in time breathe new life into the business and local community, practically opposite the pub and a stones throw from the village shop.
The Vision
The mental images we have are of a sylvan environment with an eclectic mix of businesses operating from workspaces which nurture mental and physical wellbeing.
We looked around and found smaller, affordable spaces in converted farm buildings and yes, brownfield which had been rejuvenated but not many purpose built from scratch.
So we have crystallised our vision in to this:
Tilford Enterprise Centre will be a modern, sustainable, energy-efficient selection of specially designed studios, workshops, offices, and storage set in a work-life enhancing sylvan environment suited to an eclectic range of small businesses.