In this article, Alan Qualtrough, Editor at The Stonehouse Voice CIC, discusses how the Rank Network has fostered a flourishing social enterprise network and entrepreneurship in Plymouth.
Nudge Community Builders
The Rank Foundation’s focus on Plymouth sowed the seed of enterprise, which has blossomed vigorously. Enterprises run by individuals or small teams have flourished, as have larger organisations such as Nudge Community Builders, who specialise in bringing abandoned buildings back to life. Nudge focuses on Plymouth’s Union Street, which they have made one of the most exciting UK streets for urban regeneration. Their mission to transform derelict buildings into community spaces has been a great success. They have reclaimed more than 4,000 square metres of abandoned structures, a remarkable 37% of the empty buildings on Union Street. And the Rank Foundation has been with them every square metre of the way.
One of Nudge’s most recent acquisitions is the former C101 nightclub, which has been derelict for many years. The other is the Millennium, a vast landmark building and architectural Art Deco gem at the very edge of the city centre. Nudge was able to buy the Millennium with Art Work Eat and with the support of The Rank Foundation and Power to Change. Coincidentally, the building was a former Gaumont cinema built by Arthur Rank in 1931 to show his films about Methodism.
Nudge was set up in September 2017 after Hannah Sloggett and Wendy Hart had been Chair and Vice Chair of Stonehouse Action for 10 years and realised the importance ownership has in how communities can change. The pair immediately started reclaiming a shop that had stood derelict for years. After volunteers rebuilt and restored it, it’s now called Union Corner, a thriving community hub.
A pub called The Clipper was next to be ‘nudged’. Then came The Plot, an abandoned warehouse space now crammed with small enterprises and a food hall. Planning permission has been granted to turn the Millennium’s ground floor into eight medium-sized workshops. Although the building has yet to be cleared out, future plans for C103 include social housing and a hydroponic farm.
When Nudge set out in 2017, they received a re-cyclable grant loan from Rank that set them on their way and replaced the neglect and dereliction with energy and enterprise. “ Without Rank, we wouldn’t have started, “ says Wendy.
Pollenize CIC
It’s unusual for a social enterprise to work in the scientific field— especially one so critically important to humanity—but Pollenize is making a success of it. In 2018, best friends Matt Elmes and Owen Finnie failed to find local honey to relieve hay fever symptoms. They sought innovative and accessible ways to keep honeybees in urban landscapes. They say the rest is history (and the future).
After developing a business plan and undertaking apiculture training, Pollenize set up a network of 11 community beehives with native honeybees across Plymouth landmarks. Public members could get involved and share the honey crop each year. Pollenize used this to create a lasting positive impact in the city. In 2020, Owen participated in the Plymouth Rise programme and was coached in all aspects of social enterprise.
Five years on, Pollenize has a team of 12 and has been on an incredible journey with bees, moths, and butterflies. They are investigating their vital role in a healthy planet and, most importantly, what we can do as humans to protect bees. Through academic partnerships, innovation, and AI technology, Pollenize is developing ways to track and improve biodiversity, allowing insects to recover and our environment to flourish. As a result, the social enterprise has gained tremendous momentum. It has become a key player in driving environmental research and social change within the city and beyond.
Their energy and enterprise are impressive. Last year, they raised £119,750 in funding and distributed 1443 seed packets, with 2,000 square metres of wildflower meadow created. A total of 44 individuals joined them for community beekeeping, five bee hotels were installed across Plymouth, and two innovative products were launched – Floradex and Hornet AI.
Floradex is part of their Tech for Good campaign, which was developed in collaboration with the University of Plymouth. It is an AI-powered tool that empowers landowners and businesses to create pollinator-friendly habitats. The Nest Sweeper Project is their most recent crowdfunding campaign involving fighting the invasive species, the Asian hornet.
As they expand nationally, Pollenize now collaborates with farms across the UK, installing research beehives and moth boxes to monitor pollinator health.
Bikespace CIC
In 2010, Gareth Thomas gave up his full-time teaching job to offer an alternative learning route to pupils excluded from school. He hired a small industrial unit in Devonport, Plymouth. He set up Bikespace, a social enterprise that uses bicycles for social and environmental good.
By the time you have read this story, Gareth will have moved to Madrid, where his wife is to work as a full-time teacher. But he will have left behind a remarkable legacy. In recent months, when he was organising his move to Spain, he transferred the organisation to a Worker Cooperative and will no longer be involved. “I’m very confident they will succeed,” Gareth says. The full-time Bikespace employees will take the reins and appoint directors; all have equal rights.
Hard work and enterprise are behind Gareth’s success story, but the Rank Foundation helped. Gareth participated in Rank’s Rise programme in Plymouth, which equipped him with the enterprise skills to move forward. He says, “The Rise programme gave me the confidence and network to pursue more significant contracts. I worked with a fellow Rise participant, Dataplace, to scope out markets. I got a lot of insight from a Witness Statement from Co Cars, Exeter. The first contract Bikespace won after the Rise programme was a Trail Therapy scheme during which participants learn basic bicycle repair skills and set off on weekly off-road cycling trips in all weathers. At the programme’s start, they receive a helmet, jacket, gloves, and a recycled bike to keep.
A more lucrative outcome soon followed. Gareth won a contract to operate a Beryl Bike e-bike network in Plymouth, which has 510 bikes and 40 in Saltash, Southeast Cornwall. It is the second-most extensive e-bike network in the UK, and it has meant hiring nine full-time staff to maintain and repair the bikes and moving to a larger industrial unit. “The Rank Rise programme forced me to go networking, and it worked,” says Gareth.
In Plymouth, the initial Rank ripples of 2017 are turning into a torrent of positive social change.
Alan Qualtrough
Editor at The Stonehouse Voice CIC
