Here in Portobello, Edinburgh the community (represented by the charity Action Porty) has been awarded £499,570 by the Scottish Land Fund to buy the former Portobello Police Station. We expect to complete purchase of the property in March 2026.

We plan to refurbish the building and let the 20 public rooms available to local organisations and charities. Therefore, we would like to visit similar organisations that have converted an existing building and operated it as community space for medium term let and for short-term hire.

You need to hold contingency budget to cope with surprises that you may encounter as you renovate a building. To maximise our income, we should “sweat the asset” and try to fit in as many useful rentable spaces as possible. The cost base is key to setting pricing.

We admired the way original features had been retained at Kinning Park alongside modern facilities. The building had a human feel with some pictures of historic use, a community noticeboard and tapestries. Both buildings had first class, consistent signage on doors and clear signposting within the building.

We noted that labelling on doors reduces signage clutter. This needs to be backed by good design e.g. uniform throughout. Closely linked to signage is wayfinding within the building. Kinning Park used both colour (different on each floor) and direction/naming signs at entrance key junctions. This worked well and gave a positive energy and feel to the building.

Energy use is tightly monitored, particularly when hosting tenants operating energy intensive equipment e.g. ceramic ovens. Many Studios had found that the most economical way to heat the building was to keep a minimal level of heat on at all times. At Kinning Park there first step to energy efficiency was to improve the fabric of the building (rather than the heating equipment)

Learning Outcomes

• To learn from the experience of the hosts on how to design, develop and maintain a successful non-profit community letting operation.
• To learn from our hosts about the science and the art of tenant management. This would include formal contracts, the balance of rent and service charges and building security systems. We are also interested in gauging the level of management effort required for medium-term lets vs. day-to-day room hire.
• We want to see how the buildings are presented and branded to tenants and visitors. What signage is used ? What design variations between rooms occur and are permitted?

"Our exchange met our objectives. It was clear from our visits that a hire operation will require more staff than a tenant operation, but exact levels of staffing will depend on your building size and the size of your hire operation."