ArchCo lease renewal & the experience of Arch227 se15 4ql

#1

I visited the Arches in Peckham last week; they have a nice group of makers in there. forge, timber, ceramics, etc.

Discussed how their ArchCo negotiations went. It turns out there is a bit of a dirty trick they play.
ArchCo’s renewal price is very high. The arch occupants start negotiations with them, and this takes a year or more. Eventually, they get nowhere, as you have a sunk cost in the arch to protect but a limited monthly payment capacity, and you have to leave. ArchCo then claims you owe them for 2 years at the rate originally sent in the opening email.
One of the arches got assistance from the local MP and it assisted on their renewal price a little bit. Forced ArchCo to attempt to live up to the promises made when they took ownership.

6 Likes
#2

Is there an indication that the ArchCo purposely encourage, prolongue or in some way delay negotiations?

#3

That was the suggestion from the wife of the craftsman who had lost his arch.
Dragged out.

#4

Cheers. Painful to read about, but useful for us to consider that rental negotiations may not lead anywhere except a bigger bill at the end.

#5

Thanks for sharing pre warned is pre armed :slight_smile: and I’m sure we can try to mitigate the situation, thankfully we have a little under 3 years to plan!

#6

The best way to fight this is to make us a resource.

We need to up our game with the community, maybe with more social events or even hosting local initiatives.

#7

Working on exactly that option :slight_smile:

https://londonmakerfestival.co.uk/call-for-proposals/ being sent out to not just our members but using it to start a wider community discussion by inviting possible interested parties/stakeholders to come play with us :smiley:

1 Like
#8

I found this campaign a bit spammy to be honest but I appreciate the efforts.

1 Like
#9

My couple of pence here.

Actionable thing: On next members meeting to set a call-out for a future-proofing group with documented meetings

Several meetings ago we spoke about a group to dedicate their time to find ways, which is still waiting to happen on somewhat open and transparent basis so members with the right skills can actually contribute. Since then there have been some slightly chaotic effort done, but we need to unite.

Despite the idea of growing bigger is interesting, bad publicity form potentially growing Workshop community for ArchCo does not mean much (if anything, the parent company has turnover of the size - or bigger - of GDP of Switzerland).

Constructive, informed and evidence based decision making is the key and the first point of contact here is ‘The guardians of the Arches’ who are in DIRECT negotiation with the landlord. The members involved in those negotiations are the ones who MUST be involved in the future-proofing group made up of people who can tolerate a democratic and argumentative (in the pure sense) discourse.