Case Studies

Butterfly, The Property People

Carl Dennis of property management firm Butterfly, came across the South London business commercial property database through an internet search for commercial property. He found the property database service easy to use and would recommend the service to other businesses. Carl managed to find suitable office premises after only a month of searching for properties.
 
Out of this office, Carl heads operations of Butterfly: an independent family owned property management business that was set up within Lewisham borough and formally incorporated in mid 2009.
 
“Butterfly specialises in residential property management. We provide services directly to residential portfolio owners as well as sub-managing the fulfilment of management instructions on behalf of other letting agents and other management companies. Our family business has grown organically from our foundations as buy to let property investors spanning back as far as 2004. As a result, we have an excellent insight of what makes up a good management service and enough know-how to put that knowledge into practise.We care for each property we manage as if it were our own. After all, it is our duty to ensure all our tenants and landlords have complete peace of mind."
Carl Dennis, Director at Butterfly.
 
In times where small businesses across South London were facing overwhelming adversity, Butterfly managed to set up and establish themselves as a friendly and trustworthy company. Focusing their efforts on simple transparent pricing structures, efficiency and customer service they have managed to generate growth almost entirely through referrals and word of mouth.

To find out more about Butterfly visit www.butterflyproperty.eu or you can send an e-mail to team@butterflyproperty.eu for any enquiries

Canterbury Studios

This is an excellent example of best practice by the London Borough of Merton. The Borough has developed a successful creative industry pilot utilising a combination of the Council’s capital budget and Section 106 funding from a local developer in order to build a creative industries hub within the borough.

Canterbury Studios were launched in the summer of 2007 as a small cluster of unique and affordable workshops marketed solely for creative industry businesses. The project has involved refurbishment of a previously derelict site. A series of old, cottage-style buildings in Morden have been given a new lease of life and converted into new business units.

The studios are located in the St. Helier Ward (a priority area for regeneration highlighted in the Merton Neighbourhood Renewal Strategy 2005-1010) on Canterbury Road in a quiet street to the east of Morden Town Centre. St. Helier and Morden South Railway Stations, Morden Northern Line Underground and Phipps Bridge/Belgrave Walk Tram stops are a short distance away.
The units are marketed specifically at creative industry businesses and one of the key priorities is to ensure affordable rents for small companies operating in the London Borough of Merton and the wider South London region.
Merton Council has successfully used the South London Commercial Property Database to promote their unique studios. The Database has been instrumental in marketing and promoting this best practice in Merton and all the units and workshops are now fully occupied with the council currently operating a waiting list due to high demand in this niche creative market.

These studios will help to encourage the growth of a thriving creative business community as part of a sustainable mixed use neighbourhood, whilst encouraging local jobs in the borough and bringing a problem site back into use. Canterbury Studios are a success for Merton and an example from which other boroughs could benefit.
Contact Principal Economic Planner Nick Smart by e-mail: nick.smart@merton.gov.uk or call on 0208 545 3062 for further details.

Tentacle Design

Tentacle is an independent design and marketing business based in the borough of Sutton with a reputation for delivering highly effective visual and strategic communication solutions to a wide range of individuals and organisations in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
In 2008 the company was looking to relocate from Greenwich to a more central location in south London and was seeking a studio as well as room to develop a unique and creative business space.
“At the same time we began trawling through the multiple agents websites, we were appointed by South London Business, a long standing client, to rebrand, design and build their new website, “ says director Andy “This included incorporating their online property search facility which rather conveniently provided us with an easy to use, single point of access to a wide range of commercial properties being marketed by agents across south London.
“Our first search of the database provided us with half a dozen good leads, one of which we subsequently purchased and now operate from.”
He also praises South London Business for the independent business advice and guidance about the areas where the various properties were located.
www.tentacledesign.co.uk

Eco-Actif Services

Eco-Actif Services is a Sutton-based social enterprise working with a wide spectrum of marginalised individuals that has enjoyed a meteoric rise in its fortunes over the past couple of years.

Highly commended in the Best New Business category in the 2009 South London Business Awards, Eco-Actif has recently landed a major government contract working with recovering drug users in three boroughs and is now operating the first fully commercial restaurant in a British prison, to help ex-offenders with future job prospects.

The organisation has doubled its number of staff in the past two years and has expanded from its Sutton base to new offices in Kennington in the borough of Lambeth. A third office is located in Guildford, Surrey.
Eco-Actif has made use of South London Business’s commercial property database in its search for premises. “I found it first of all by googling commercial properties and I have found the database very user friendly,” says Director of Training Anna Burke. As the enterprise continues to expand she will be using it again.

Eco-Actif’s client base includes prisoners and ex-offenders, homeless people, those recovering from drug and alcohol abuse and young people at risk. The prison restaurant project – The Clink – was opened this May. Located at High Down prison in Sutton, it is the first venture of its kind in a British prison. It is helping prisoners to build new lives by providing the opportunity for them to gain skills that can assist them in finding good quality catering jobs once they are released.

Already working in many South London boroughs, including Richmond, Kingston, Bromley, Croydon and Merton, as well as Sutton, Eco-Actif has just added Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth to its tally thanks to the newly-signed contract with the Department of Work and Pensions to work with recovering drug users and help them to find employment.
Eco-Actif is one of the new generation of Community Interest Companies – previously known as social enterprises. Starting life in 2006 with three volunteers based in Carshalton, it had expanded to five paid staff after one year and ten by the end of year two. It now employs 21 people and has just opened its Kennington office.

“It’s a bit breathtaking really,” says Anna Burke. Bit of an understatement, that!

Landlord – Nigel Gill

Nigel Gill is landlord of several small business units in Bromley, each offering between 700 and 1200 sq ft of space either for small workshops or B1 use.
Seeking potential tenants he contacted his local council and found a link to SLB’s commercial property database.
“It’s a quiet time but I have had several enquiries as a result and a couple of the units have been booked,’ he says. “I will use the database again.”