SPACE currently manages more than 330,000 square feet of studio space, with more than 800 tenants across 20 sites, including its Martello Street studios in London Fields. Once an empty industrial building, the charity started leasing the site in 1971 and, with the backing of a loan from Triodos Bank UK, SPACE has now taken ownership of the building.

We talked to Eline van der Vlist, CEO at SPACE, to find out more about the charity’s work and why this acquisition is so significant.

What impact does SPACE have on local communities?

Our Open Studios programme has become an annual fixture for artists to present solo shows of their work to the public, giving exposure for the artist and allowing people to access new art.

Another example of our community impact is through our Urban Voices programme, which allows us to work with young people who aren’t in education or employment, plus since 2010 we’ve been sharing a space for homeless people, where artists teach residents who are interested in learning about art.

What’s more, we find that artists usually live within easy reach of where they do their work, so they tend to gravitate towards the artistic hubs that are fostered by studio spaces like ours. You can see the impact that our Martello Street building, which is home to 45 studios, has had on the local neighbourhood.

One in five jobs in London are in the creative industries and so many people visit the city for its arts and culture. But there are fewer affordable studio spaces left in the city than in previous decades. We want to keep artists in the city, as it will be a very different place in 20 years’ time if we don’t.

Why is the purchase of the Martello Street studio so important for SPACE?

Owning the building gives us greater control to keep rents for artists as low as we can and to pursue our plans to improve its environmental sustainability by installing solar panels and switching all lights to LED, for example.

We’ve provided studio space at Martello Street for more than half a century, so this building has a lot of significance for our history. It’s believed to be the longest running functional studio space in London.

But, even more importantly, this purchase means a lot for our future. Owning our Martello Street premises brings our total number of freeholds to four, which offers us more stability as an organisation and for our artists too – especially at a time of such high rents. Around 350 of the artists we support are now using studio space in buildings we own.

Our other freeholds were also purchased with support from Triodos Bank and we’re pleased to continue our longstanding relationship, as the bank really understands our needs. We were on a tight timescale with the purchase of Martello Street, but working with Triodos meant the process was as smooth as possible.