I was in a North East town recently where I met up with a couple of gurus who knew the area well. I was chauffered around all the best parts of the town, told about the exciting plans that were in place over the next 10 years, and how the area was in a boom time in terms of inward investment. All in all, I had a very pleasant morning.
Now I am a pretty transparent person and my face shows how I am feeling. As we sat down to lunch I felt there was something missing. Surely enough, one of my hosts asked me what they had not shown me. I explained that while the tour had been very beneficial, I wanted to see the bits that were not so ‘wow’. We are interested in making a social impact, involving the community, raising aspirations, creating opportunities.
This led to a conversation on what we actually are. When I initially met up with my hosts, their first impression was that Camberwell is a commercial investor. But now, they said, they thought that Camberwell was a social business wanting to serve the community for social impact.
This made for a good discussion. Because actually – both are true. Yes, we do take an investor approach to the areas that we scope. Firstly, the spaces and places have to work commercially. And yes, we do wish to serve the community. Once sustainable, the spaces and places have to work socially.
We spent the afternoon touring the not so ‘wow’ parts. And we identified a site. That’s the first part. Now we are looking to identify engaged players – individuals and organisations that can truly see the vision for this site and bring something to the table. We are there to create the platforms that can make it all happen. Commercially. Socially. Authentically.
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