Preserving historic places, natural landscapes, and our cultural heritage, the National Trust is universally recognised as a force for good. Balancing preservation with accessibility, it ensures the beauty, history, and culture of the UK remain protected for future generations to enjoy. It is one of our great institutions, with a net asset value of £1.7 billion and an annual income of £680 million
We have a family membership and spend a lot of time at National Trust properties, walking the dog and eating their ice creams. I love the National Trust and don’t resent the cost of my membership or Cornetto, but whenever I am in one of their properties I think about the different types of value we attribute to buildings and our work with 3Space. As a society what do we value more - our past or our present?
1. Taking inspiration from the National Trust
Could an organisation like the National Trust be set up today to provide stewardship for our civic infrastructure, focusing on the needs of people today - affordable workspace and studios, cultural production and performance, libraries, active wellbeing centres, early years provision, green economy and experimental uses, independent retail. Places to come together and do good things. Spaces that deliver a public good.
And what would a 21st century model look like for such an organisation? Maybe less Victorian philanthropy, more local co-ownership. This organisation could be called The Public Trust. If the National Trust protects historic buildings for the nation, The Public Trust can safeguard important buildings for the public that are still teeming with community and purpose.
Sizergh Castle, a National Trust property
2. How do we deliver community buildings now?
Local government has increasingly used a proportion of their property assets to foster social value generating and foundational economy uses. Public buildings are owned by the public - government is the organisation put in place to manage them. However, the best value duty of councils can restrict how they are used.
This tied to 15 years of cuts to council funding and rising demand for statutory services like social care and homelessness support makes it increasingly difficult for Councils to justify using the buildings they own for anything other than revenue generation or core service delivery. Many councils are under pressure to sell assets to fund services and plug budget shortfalls further reducing the opportunity. Without subsidised rents in public sector owned properties there is a risk that the types of use mentioned above will be displaced from UK high streets.
3. Why we need change
At 3Space we operate buildings that deliver public goods. Since 2010 we’ve done some great projects but they are time limited and opportunity led - 46 buildings across the UK have provided space for artists studios, makerspaces, an agri-tech incubator, start-ups, refugee support, combatting food poverty, and sustainability initiatives.
We are one of a group of operators who do this because we believe some buildings should support communities, not profits. Ultimately, in most cases we don’t own the buildings and at some point they are redeveloped or go on to serve other functions. It’s piecemeal, hand to mouth work which makes long term planning difficult for both us and our tenants.
With local government less able to allocate their assets on below market terms to support community uses, we are proposing a more structured approach across the sector. Ownership of buildings is the key to this change.
4. Who owns our high streets now
In the UK, commercial property is largely held by institutional investors, corporations, and public sector bodies. Major owners typically include pension funds, insurance companies and real estate investment trusts (REITs). Sovereign wealth funds with large estates and historic landowners also holding significant portfolios.
Local communities have insufficient ownership and control of the buildings in their town centres meaning they have little agency over how their economies work. Too much money spent on the high street leaves the local economy, with profit prioritised over local need.
UK commercial property market by investor type
5. A new model of community ownership
The Public Trust could work nationally with funders and local government to secure and deliver spaces in perpetuity, not just for local communities but with them, providing local stakeholders with ownership and control of buildings. With ownership comes control of the outcomes the buildings can support.
Unlike the National Trust which holds the assets in perpetuity, the Public Trust could play a transitional role in the ownership of their buildings. Over time they would divest the ownership of buildings into the hands of local people in return for rent, positive place based outcomes like job creation, support for local young people, public health benefits, or for playing a hands-on role in managing the space. The ownership of the building will be asset locked and the Public Trust can provide a supporting role through asset management functions and project administration.
The Public Trust eco-system
6. Why Multi-Stakeholder Ownership?
Councils are well placed to understand local social and economic needs and have the networks in place already. They remain an important partner, but we need a different pathway to finance and own buildings.
Multi-stakeholder ownership can offer a different model of public ownership. The partnership model we are proposing blends the local expertise of councils, the hands on skill-set of operators and the social value delivery of Public Trust tenants.
Each partner will have the opportunity to own a share in every project. We believe this will provide each project with a broad skill-set that balances community needs with commercial sustainability.
7. Converting impact into ownership
Whilst social value creation can unlock funding or support the case for a below market rent, it often goes without reward. The built environment sector loves to put a £ figure against social value delivered. There are numerous social value toolkits and methodologies with a whole industry built up around it. This can be necessary to feed into a business case or justify decision making but it can be counter-productive, over egged and a bit meaningless at times.
Part of the frustration is that ‘social value’ is nebulous and for the community organisations who produce it they often have nothing concrete to show for it.
The Public Trust could change that. Funders invest in social and economic outcomes. If they were to provide the Public Trust with funding to buy a building that could be converted into an SPV or CIC with ownership and equity divested over time to Public Trust tenants for social value generated.
This removes both uncertainty and overheads allowing Public Trust tenants to focus on their work and community impact. The buildings would be asset locked, providing space for local communities in perpetuity.
8. Recognising the power of the collective
Both the Arts and Heritage sectors have recognised the power in a collective approach. Be that the relatively young Creative Land Trust in London or nationwide titans such as The National Trust or English Heritage. There isn’t an equivalent for community buildings.
Recognising the need for a counterpart to advocate for and organise how community buildings are safeguarded, managed, funded and owned is a surprising admission from our national landscape which needs a big solution. We propose that the Public Trust should fill that void.