Unlocking town centre buildings for amazing ideas.

How do we unlock town centre buildings for amazing ideas? Get in the room early. Build partnerships based on mutuality. Talk about money all the time.

These three pieces of solid-gold advice were taken from a workshop held by Platform Places , easily one of the most useful conversations I’ve joined on how to build local business partnerships.

Two speakers in particular got me thinking:

👉 Erika from Kindred LCR:

"It’s the relationship between our activities and our buildings that we need to focus on.”

Empty spaces aren’t automatically community assets. The activity has to pay the rent and deliver something people genuinely need.

👉 Brendan Conway from Wandsworth Town Property Partnership:

 “The point of maximum leverage is before planning. That’s when they need you. That’s when you play your card.”

💡 My takeaway:

It all comes back to relationships and timing.

• Start at the human

• Build trust long before you need something

• Look for the common good

• Bring your social value upstream and get it written into Section 106 wherever possible

Do this well and you don’t just unlock one building; you create a ripple effect that changes what local authorities and asset holders believe is possible.

Get in the room early. Build partnerships rooted in mutual benefit. And don’t be shy about talking money; it’s part of how value gets shared.

The photo is of Torquay Pavilion, a beautiful civic building now back in local authority ownership (Torbay Council), who are considering the right use. The Pavilion is exactly the kind of space Public Restaurants were designed for.