Mark Lawler has joined Kindred to progress its ambition to bring more property into social economy ownership through Hold Co, part of the Liverpool City Region Social Investment Pathfinder.
Mark brings 30 years’ experience focusing on ‘people, place and property’, including four years’ experience working in Abu Dhabi, developing a new port district ‘MiZa’ for creative, arts and cultural industries. Beforehand, Mark spent 12 years establishing and building Baltic Creative CIC in Liverpool. He also jointly founded and chaired the Baltic Triangle Area CIC for eight years, set up to establish the Baltic Triangle area as a destination for creativity, arts and culture.
Alongside his work to help establish Hold Co and bring underutilised property back into use for STOs, Mark will be working alongside Kindred investees to offer property support. Over the past five years, Kindred has supported STOs to secure c.£15m of property deals and has provided others with ad hoc support, advice and matching services.
Kindred’s own evaluation shows that, over the past five years, access to property has repeatedly proved a barrier to growth for STOs. Our most recent impact report shows that investee STOs spend almost half a million pound on rent each year; that costs are increasing for both those leasing and owning and that, while 43% of investee STOs are looking for larger premises, 70% of members require property to scale.
Mark says: “Social innovation thrives on collaboration, serendipity and shared resources. By securing property, the social economy creates ‘anchors’ in communities. These sites – community hubs, shared workspaces, or refurbished derelict spaces – provide the secure, long-term premises needed for social enterprises to experiment and scale. Unlike traditional commercial real estate, these spaces prioritise social value over maximum financial rent, allowing socially-trading organisations to operate without the crushing burden of high costs. This stability enables STOs to focus on addressing local needs.”
Research on asset ownership in the region’s social economy reveals that 70% of STOs need property support and/ or space to scale their operations. As with follow-up investment, the data suggests that access to property follows traditional inequality patterns. Inequalities are compounded by the exclusion of STOs led by women and BlaST members and, in turn, the services they provide are restricted. Lack of access to support, investment and property compounds inequality, adding to dependency costs in communities and places impacted by market failure.
Research for Hold Co, by Heap and Southern in 2023 suggests that, if £32m of additional assets were made available to Liverpool City Region’s smaller social organisations it could generate between £30m to £100m of extra income and create up to 2,750 new jobs.