Commercial Portfolio

Arising from the central London location of our stock, many of the Association’s schemes are ‘mixed use’ in the sense that our residential units sit above or alongside other uses which form part of the same site. As well as the usual commercial uses (retail, restaurants and offices) there are other uses including an art gallery, leisure centre, chapel, museum, community centre and a covered market. The income generated by the commercial portfolio represents an important element of funding for our housing activities. The recession has affected our commercial tenants and, as a consequence, some units have become void. Despite this, we have confidence that our central London location will continue to prove popular with commercial tenants and we are committed to managing our commercial properties to high standards and attracting the best quality tenants.

We own a parade of 13 shops at Sandringham Mansions fronting Charing Cross Road . These are mainly occupied by independent retailers, of which many are suffering from the recession and tough trading conditions. There are a number of vacant shops and there has been a noticeable decline in the appearance and quality of the parade over recent years.

The Association is implementing a strategy to improve the quality and presentation of the shops for the benefit of retailers, visitors and residents alike. Our vision is to create an attractive and successful retailing environment maintaining a range of good quality uses including traditional bookshops. We will invest in improvements to the shops and seek to enhance the appearance of the shops. At the same time ensuring that the shops make good neighbours for our residents. To achieve this, we are investing in improvements to empty shops for re-letting and working to attract good quality tenants and uses with sustainable business models. We will continue to let to booksellers as long as we can find tenants who are able to pay a fair, unsubsidised, market rent. Greater control will be exercised to ensure that tenant signage preserves the character of Sandringham Flats.

We are close to completing a new letting of the vacant shop at 76-78 Charing Cross Road. In addition, improvements will shortly start to the vacant shop at 70 Charing Cross Road. We hope that a steady improvement to the shops and uses will be noticeable as we achieve our vision.