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New £20m regeneration fund expands London's workspaces

Boris Johnson has announced that London-based open workspace provider Building Bloqs is to receive £1.35m in funding as part of a new £20m London Regeneration Fund.

The move aims to address the shortage of affordable creative workspaces for the capital’s small and medium-sized businesses. London boasts 800,000 such businesses who contribute approximately £430bn in turnover to the city’s economy; however, many struggle to find suitable workspaces.

Building Bloqs, which was launched in 2012, is London’s biggest provider of open workshops and the extra cash will see them move to larger premises where they will be able to provide space and professional machinery on a pay-as-you-go basis to even more members.

The London Regeneration Fund was created in 2015 to help support London’s high streets and places of work. A key focus of this funding round had been to address the shortage of incubators, co-working spaces, maker-spaces and artists’ studios to support creative entrepreneurs.

Al Parra, Co-Founder of Building BloQs, said: “Building BloQs is creating a powerhouse of making for London. We seek to realise a vision, redefining both making and the approach to space, resource and community.

“We have proved the model, and now with this far sighted support from the GLA, we will provide greater resources for more freelance makers, small businesses and designers to find both a home and a springboard for innovation and growth for the future of our city.”

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