'The only thing that will be left is the paint on the floor': the startups taking on temporary spaces

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. The Institute of Imagination is one of three organisations that have been granted meanwhile use of the former headquarters since 2016, alongside design studio Kidesign and the Migration Museum, the UK’s first museum dedicated to the movement of people. “If you think of street festivals and pop-up cinemas, or the activity around Brick Lane and the South Bank in London, they are all temporary uses animating spaces and creating a huge amount of activity and enjoyment.” Penny Humphrey from U+I says meanwhile use – or worthwhile use, in company parlance – has been part of the developer’s DNA since it formed from the merger of Development Securities Plc and Cathedral Group in 2015. Humprey says U+I purposely built the space to see how the eight entrepreneurs interacted and how the final designs needed to be adapted for the startup hub in the final plans: “We did a huge amount of research and the meanwhile use learnings will go into the final scheme.” Construction is about to start on a £300m public-private partnership project to create 1500 jobs, hundreds of new homes and a 50,000 square feet incubator for new businesses in Preston Barracks. U+I invests anything from £100,000 to £300,000 in making meanwhile use buildings suitable for temporary habitation but tenants often invest much more.