Old Park Royal Business Community Study – Small Projects

The Regeneration and Economic Development Programme brings together OPDC’s projects in Park Royal and Old Oak; these projects are complementary to the strategic objectives for the Old Oak West strategy. In March 2022, OPDC awarded the RED programme £610k for new and additional projects, and additionally £356k to support the resourcing of the Forge@ParkRoyal from April 2022 – June 2024. The Local Plan and RED action plans identifies placemaking as a key area in which OPDC can deliver tangible improvements within Park Royal and Old Oak North.

The programme is organised around a series of RED Principles, consisting of the following;

• Know our patch and our people – developing good relationships and owning and managing good data.
• Make sure the basics are right for Park Royal and Old Oak North to be a good place for businesses and their employees – this includes reliable power, utilities, roads and access, security and adequate social infrastructure.
• Deliver a high-quality public realm that supports businesses to operate efficiently, as well as creating a welcoming, accessible environment and promoting active travel and modal shift.
• Deliver an adequate supply of the right type of workspace for businesses to start-up, grow, move-up and thrive.
• Work with our existing business base and strengths – food manufacturing, creative industries, film and media (and its supply chains) and logistics.
• Support existing businesses to adapt to the challenges of climate change and be more resilient.
• Support the adoption of better pay and ‘good work’.
• Ensure that the right employment, training, and skills offer is in place.
• Build the capacity of business-led and other grass roots organisations.
• Work with local anchor institutions, including boroughs and larger employers to deliver a coordinated response to the needs of the local area.

As part of the RED Placemaking Programme, OPDC appointed Architecture 00 Ltd in September 2022 via an open tender through TfL to lead the commission of the Park Royal Business Community Study (PRBCS). OPDC recognises the importance of developing and regularly updating evidence-based knowledge of the Park Royal population and the interface with businesses. Outputs include a report of anecdotal evidence and primary data collection, alongside clear recommendations as to how the OPDC and its stakeholders can better support local businesses and organisations, with a particular focus on communities from an ethnically diverse background.

The PRBCS will identify opportunities to engage with minority-owned businesses, with the primary focus to enhance the character of Old Park Royal and improve the public perception of Park Royal’s locally-unique character.

Architecture 00 Ltd were appointed in September 2022 to deliver the PBRCS, in order to gain insight into the Park Royal Business Community as well as develop a greater appreciation of business typologies in the Old Park Royal area.

The RED Team, supported by the Design Team, is seeking to grant-fund the lead research consultant for PRBCS to administer small grants of up to £50,000 in the Old Park Royal area. The costs of the lead research consultant administering these grants will be capped at 20% of the total project value including contingency and is included in the PRBCS commission. The location, prioritisation and impact of each project is secured through dialogue with business occupiers and landowners. An appropriate strategy of engagement with businesses and shortlist of potential projects is required in order to inform the selection of successful candidates.

The study has already revealed a thriving business ecosystem with substantial B2B trading as well as other forms of collaboration and resource sharing across the estate. This is particularly prevalent amongst the large number of ethnic minority-owned and minority-serving businesses.

However, while minority-owned and serving businesses make up a significant proportion of the local business base the study has shown they are typically under-served through public programmes (for example OPDC grant funding, events) and under-represented in local networks and lobbying groups (for example. Park Royal Business Group, Park Royal Design District). These disparities reflect larger structural inequalities facing ethnic minority-owned businesses identified by the Mayor of London including stereotyping and outdated perceptions of the businesses which others feel ethnic minorities should run, as well as more limited access to funding opportunities.

Recent OPDC funding rounds have been successful in attracting greater diversity. For example, 43% of funding recipients from the Creative Enterprise Zone open call were ethnic minority-led or owned organisations (64% recipients come from minority-led organisations measured across all minority groups with protected characteristics). However, the focus on creative industries meant only certain types of businesses were eligible to apply.

The small grant programme will seek to address these inequalities through funding specifically targeted at minority-owned businesses within Park Royal.

Building on the relationships established as part of the study, the consultant will help identify projects and physical improvements with local businesses through a grant management role. Opportunities may include supporting businesses to host markets and events in strategic locations, security improvements, new signage, vinyl graphics and hand painting to improve perception of the industrial estate and make it more attractive for business employees, local traders and visitors alike. These small changes will help bring a feeling of quality and vibrancy to Old Park Royal in line with the Local Plan vision for “the enhancement of buildings along with improvements to the public realm and movement network… [to] support a functional and exciting place that helps to mediate the transition between industrial and mixed-use areas” (Local Plan, Policy P5).

Building on the success of the CEZ Open Call to support the creative industries in Park Royal, OPDC recognises the importance of building and maintaining relationships with local businesses of traditional industrial use. It is recognised that a significant proportion of businesses are minority ethnic owned and / or provide goods and services predominantly to people from an ethnically diverse background. Opportunities for local businesses to improve their premises and associated public realm via the release of small grants will enable OPDC to showcase and uncover the rich heritage of Park Royal, whilst influencing and positively shaping its future.

Interventions in the built environment, to enhance the character of Old Park Royal, cover both revenue expenditure and relatively low-value capital expenditure activities, and may include:

• improvement to building frontages and wayfinding. This involves a ‘design mentoring’ role required to local enterprises, providing businesses with design advice and supporting high quality delivery.
• hosting activation events including markets, specialist events and other activities that raise the profile of minority owned businesses.
• projects that prioritise sustainability, repair, reuse and circular economy principles.
• opportunities to support the sharing of facilities, such as shared welfare areas or covered seating.
• location of new and resilient green infrastructure, in agreement with and to be maintained by relevant landowners.
• the decluttering and renewal of building frontages, such as the choice of appropriate materials, colours, language and typeface.
• projects that consider safe and equal access for all, including allowances for adequate open widths and level thresholds.

In the short-term, the look and feel of Old Park Royal is improved through a series of ‘quick win’ projects of circa £5-10k per intervention. Longer term, the access and functionality of Old Park Royal is improved for small and micro-businesses, as well as improving the general experience and public perception of Park Royal’s industrial landscape.

The wider OPDC area is also one of London’s most ethnically and culturally diverse areas. The industrial activities in the area have provided employment for many first-generation immigrant populations in and around the neighbouring areas. OPDC recognises that businesses in Park Royal, ranging from large industrial producers to those providing to the local community, do not operate in isolation. Benefits of collaboration and success can be seen from factors such as close proximity to similar businesses, supply chain, solving common problems and achieving common goals.

It is recognised minority-owned and serving businesses make up a significant proportion of the local business base in Park Royal. These minority-owned groups are typically under-served through public programmes including previous OPDC grant funding, and they do not typically feature in the networks we know and work with such as the Park Royal Business Group, Park Royal Design District. Recent OPDC funding rounds have been successful in attracting greater diversity.

Informed by the findings of the Business Community Study and continual engagement with business occupiers and landowners, the programme will focus on the delivery of small projects to support minority-ethnic owned businesses to enhance the character of Old Park Royal. We are seeking to grant fund businesses of ethnically diverse backgrounds in Old Park Royal, building on the success of the CEZ small grants programme and engaging communities outside of the creative industry sector.

By funding local businesses to deliver modest physical improvements and events outlined above, OPDC can develop and strengthen relationships with ethnically diverse businesses in Park Royal, enabling impactful projects across the Old Park Royal area. We will include KPIs that encourage organisations to source goods and services from within the OPDC area, such as local fabrication and materials, ensuring that as much of OPDC funding as possible is directly benefiting the local economy. The small grants programme will aim to meet the core objectives of the recently published Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) strategy. Building on the findings of the Business Community Study, funding is focussed to support diverse businesses and celebrate the rich diversity of Park Royal.

OPDC’s Head of Regeneration and Economic Development and Architecture 00 Ltd together will act as ‘joint decision makers’ of the grant funding programme. The consultant will work closely with ethnically diverse businesses to identify a series of projects, and present a matrix of recommendations under the following categories:

• Wayfinding and identity amplification
• Animation and activation
• Building frontage improvements

Each project will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Complexity / deliverability
• Overall impact
• Longevity
• Cost

The work will be overseen by the RED programme. The project lead will provide monthly written monitoring reports that will feed into regular updates via the RED Programme Board and Quarterly dashboards as appropriate. Regular reporting will be embedded as part of the management plan. The project lead will be expected to keep a risk and issues track escalating these to the relevant decision-making boards when required. Risks and issues will also be tracked and monitored as part of the Quarterly dashboard reporting.

The individual grant agreements between the consultant and successful applicant will set out a clear scope of works and will be based on standard contracts utilised by the OPDC. The consultant team will have regular meetings with the successful applicants to discuss, progress, and shape the project in line with agreed priorities. Milestones are to be agreed between the OPDC and the consultant for each project, and will be defined once the individual projects have been identified and scoped. OPDC will retain all clawback rights should the consultant determine that the funds have not been properly used. Should the consultant be unable to spend the total grant on suitable projects, any remaining funding will be returned to OPDC and the consultant’s fee will still be charged.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, OPDC must have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation as well as to the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not.¹

Funding seeks to actively address identified structural inequalities through targeted funding for minority-ethnic businesses in Park Royal by:

• taking learnings from the business community study to develop a culturally sensitive approach to working with businesses. Opportunity to shape projects in collaboration with businesses.
• improved networking with businesses in OPDC, who have typically not been actively engaged with the process of change in OPDC. The project will help to deliver a positive impact on the representativeness of future projects and consultations by building bridges with these communities, as well as practical improvements to the look and feel of the Park Royal Estate.
• funding to celebrate cultural and ethnic diversity of the estate, highlighting the positive role diverse business base has on the area.

The consultant team must demonstrate they have appropriate safeguarding policies and insurances in place in accordance with OPDC and GLA requirements. Any research and consultancy team must demonstrate capability of managing personal data in compliance with current GDPR policies.

No one involved in the preparation or clearance of this Form, or its substantive proposal, has any conflict of interest.

Should any conflict of interest arise during the duration of the small grants programme, the conflicted party must declare any private interests relating to the project and project team.

Grant expenditure of £50,000 to be financed from the 2022/23 RED budget. The grantee, Architecture 00 Ltd, will be the disburser of the grant to the eventual recipients/beneficiaries, with whom it will act as consultant with the successful applicants and undertake ongoing monitoring. Their administration fees for acting as intermediary and for continuing monitoring of how the funds are used have been agreed in the March 2022 Board paper as noted above in sections 1.3 and 2.1, so have been approved elsewhere outside this Decision. The anticipated demand for this funding is expected to be fairly high (i.e. greater than the funding available), so the likelihood is the full value of the grant will be disbursed to successful applicants. However, given the relatively low value of each proposed grant, and therefore the relatively low financial risk posed to OPDC, it is our intention not to impose conditions other than the funding should be used for the purposes outlined in each successful application. Therefore, the full value of grant expenditure of £50,000 will be financed from the 2022/23 RED budget.

Any further expenditure will be subject to the Corporation’s decision-making process.

The foregoing sections of this report indicate that the decisions requested of the Chief Executive Officer concern the exercise of the OPDC’s general powers, falling within the OPDC’s statutory powers to do such things considered to further or that are facilitative of, or conductive or incidental to, the promotion of economic development and wealth creation, social development or improvement of the environment, in Greater London.

In implementing the proposals in respect of which a decision is sought, officers should comply with the OPDC’s related statutory duties to:

• pay due regard to the principle that there should be equality of opportunity for all people.
• consider how the proposals will promote the improvement of health of persons, health inequalities between persons and to contribute towards the achievement of sustainable development in the United Kingdom.
• consult with appropriate bodies.

In taking the decisions requested, as noted in section 6 above, the Chief Executive Officer must have due regard to the Public Sector Equality Duty under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, namely the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Equality Act 2010; to advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic (race, disability, gender, age, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity, and gender reassignment) and persons who do not share it; and to foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it. To this end, the Chief Executive Officer should have particular regard to section 6 (above) of this report.

Section 1 of this report indicates that part of the sought budget will amount to the provision of grant funding. Officers must ensure that the funding is distributed fairly; transparently; in accordance with the OPDC’s equality policy and subsidy control rules; and in a manner that affords value for money in accordance with the OPDC Contracts and Funding Code. Officers must ensure that an appropriate funding agreement is put in place and executed by the OPDC and the recipient before any commitment to funding is made.