Sitting proudly on a leafy street a short drive southeast of Edinburgh city centre, a thriving and diverse community of businesses exists in the historic building and former school that is Castlebrae Business Centre.
From the street, the striking B-listed Art Deco building serves as a reminder of the history of the area, but inside and in properties across the street at Peffer Place, a hub of successful businesses have made their home at Create Business Properties.
More than a landlord
The award-winning Create Business Properties not only manage the buildings for their extensive list of tenants, but they strive to create a sense of community and support for them. In the coming months, we will be showcasing some of the exciting businesses that are based there, but in this short article, we want to introduce you to Create Business Properties and celebrate the truly diverse selection of businesses our buildings are home to.
Create Business Properties derived from Craigmillar Opportunities Trust, which was established back in 1990 with the main aim of stimulating economic growth through the provision of affordable property and workspace and training local people. In 2000, Create was founded and has proudly held its local enterprise status since 2003.
While commercial property letting is at the heart of what Create does, the team are dedicated to supporting and businesses that they let to. One of the key founding values of Create is to provide flexible and affordable space to a range of businesses, offering their help and experience to businesses whenever needed. Create Chief Executive Sharron Stanton has been with the organisation since 1993 and in that time, she has supported hundreds of business owners and entrepreneurs.
Sharron says “Over the last 26 years it feels like I have worked for a variety of different organisations. Initially, we offered training to local residents, support, advice and funding for business start-ups, but due to lack of funding, this is now not possible.
“Create’s strategy now is to help businesses grow and encourage entrepreneurship primarily through providing affordable business property and support & advice, which will also support the local community. However, the principles and the core values remain as it always has been, a not for profit social enterprise.”
A thriving and dynamic hub of industry
Within the building at Castlebrae Business Centre, Peffer Place andHarewood Industrial sites, you would be amazed at the broad range of businesses – and properties- you will find. From large industrial units to smaller offices and retail units, it’s home to around 58 businesses.
To give you a taster of the diversity, Create is home to caterers, bakers, luxury sleepwear producers, home care services, a beauty salon, e-bikes, golf tech suppliers, jewellers, energy storage innovators, a sector-leading telecommunication network provider and even a thriving chocolate factory. And that’s to name just a few!
Create Business properties are no strangers to awards, and over the years we’ve collected a cabinet full, including Social Enterprise Award and Innovation in Business Awards. But we’re not satisfied with stopping there. Our team is dedicated to innovation and continuing to build this thriving business community.
Within the Create Business community, there is a strong sense of collaboration and sharing. We hope to re-establish our Breakfast Club for tenants to meet, chat and form B2B relationships as well as friendships. It’s just one of the things that sets us apart from your average landlord!
Chief Executive Sharron tells what she loves about working for Create:
“I love the core value and principles that Create holds. As a not-for-profit organisation, we focus on helping people gain a better quality of life through entrepreneurship and the people that I’ve met along the way make it all worthwhile. Every day is different and offers different challenges, and that’s what makes this place so special.”
Linda Fenwick, tenant Liaison manager at Create Business Properties says:
“I love working with the tenants we have some fabulous businesses here. Now we are coming to the end of covid we are really looking forward to getting dates in the diary for the networking breakfast event starting up again so the tenants can meet up and do some networking and business to business. It is a great business community and we want to develop that.”
We’re looking forward to sharing more great news and insights into our dynamic business hub in future blogs. Next month sees National Carer’s Week and we will take the opportunity to showcase the great work our range of caregiving tenants do.
