Hypha Studios revitalises local high streets and engages local communities by repurposing vacant properties, reducing costs for landlords, and delivering positive social impact. Landlords work with us because our public programme, led by creatives, drives footfall to support existing businesses, whilst reducing management, security, and insurance costs.
Landlords, developers, and councils work with us for many reasons. We can support pre-planning processes and post-planning occupation, help build communities, save on loss of income, generate marketing and publicity, aid your ESG or CSR plans, or protect empty property squatting or vandalism.
Hypha has received international press coverage, including in the New York Times, Sunday Telegraph, The Art Newspaper, and BBC Radio 4 Front Row. We are very proud of being featured in local and sector journals and listings.
With a large social media and newsletter audience, Hypha has the ability to bring attention and visibility to not only the artistic project, but the property and community behind it.
We capture data from our cultural usage to prove the impact of our occupation to both the cultural sector and the communities that we serve. This can be useful for shareholders to demonstrate how empty space can generate value for communities.
An example of the data we can report on includes the number and range of events, attendance, diversity and make-up of audiences, community groups reached. We can tailor reporting to your specific needs.
High Street Rental Auctions (HSRAs), enabled by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 and brought into force in 2024, give local authorities new powers to tackle long-term vacant commercial properties.
Hypha can help protect your property from becoming eligible for an HSRA by securing appropriate interim occupation. This keeps your premises in active use while you wait for the right tenant.
In cases where a building has not been in lawful use for the required six-month period within the three years before planning permission is granted, Hypha can arrange for a cultural organisation to occupy and use the property for the necessary period.
While this approach can delay the planning process by at least six months, the resulting reduction in CIL liability can often generate savings that significantly outweigh the cost of the delay.
Hypha always selects local artists who already have a deep interest in their community. Through networks, friends, and family, the cultural projects and events they organise invite a wider audience to the space.
We work with regeneration managers, councils, architects, and other professionals to embed culture into place. Please get in touch with us today to find out more.
We have worked many landlords and agents in the UK, including The Crown Estate, British Land, Hub, Hammerson, Vastint, and Get Living. Here are some endorsements from such partnerships.
“Hypha Studios are doing great things for the landlord and for the artistic community. Thank you for putting one of your incredible artists into our empty shop unit. It was a win-win situation for us, we were able to keep the lights on in the unit, even during the height of the pandemic, and the brilliant public programme created by the artist brought a new audience to the area. We thoroughly recommend them and look forward to working together again.”
“It has been a pleasure to work with Hypha Studios. The cultural offer they brought forward really helped to keep the ‘lights on’ and enabled us to do something for the community while generating footfall to the other businesses in the centre”
“It was a pleasure to deal with Hypha Studios in Horsham. They were professional throughout the process and ensured a trouble free handover, monitored the occupation closely and finally delivered back possession on time. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to other landlords and I am sure that we will be working with them again when the opportunity arises.”
“Hypha have occupied a couple of our retail units in Cardiff for the past 15 months. They have been a pleasure to deal with and have created a vibrancy where previously there was a blank frontage. I would certainly recommend them as an occupier.’
We work with major landlords including British Land, Hub, Get Living, Vastint, and the Crown Estate. There is no property too big or too small and we have delivered fantastic cultural solutions to both a small Victorian arcade unit in Penrith to a 1,500m² former ASDA in Wrexham.
We work with councils to find creative solutions for empty assets. Instead of expensive security costs or leaving properties unused, we can occupy with undiscovered local creative talent. Artists awarded space then organise public events for local communities to ensure your buildings are well used and your neighbourhoods benefit.
