6. Benchmarking Space First it starts with understanding. Over the past 12 months we have been implementing research into how the space is used and what we can do better, who we reach and who we are yet to engage with. This has been done through research and consultation both with licensees in the building, by engaging the public outside and by drawing from the ecology of studios, hubs and organisation that we reside within.
One step has to been to review the studio and office usage and explore how, when and why people use it and to make sure we are still fulfilling a need within this community and that it is being used and managed responsibly. This has to take into account the huge variety of people and individual needs from our community of users. This included but not limited to: • Professionals (Generate the majority of their income from the work conducted in the building) • Touring Work (Can spend multiple months away from Bristol) • Retired Artists • PT professionals with supplementary Jobs • Mental Health / Physical Health • Parental / Childcare / Pregnancy
These were created by undertaking: • Research and conversations with 7 Bristol/Bath studios about their approach to attendance and current attendance rates • Consultation with studio holders through floor meetings, email consultation, group face to face feedback sessions • Daily random (AM/PM) snapshot headcounts and unit occupation tallies We also benchmarking exercises on regional studio rates when considering when to implement rent increase to know where we stand in the wider ecology (FYI in the middle). We are becoming more capable and committed to gaining a better understanding of who we are as an organisation and as a community of building users. In the past 12 months we have conducted:
The outputs have been the: • Implementation of a fair use policy for licensees setting out minimum usage and communication of absences. • Revision of contracts to make the licensees more aware and accountable for their use of space.
84
• 1 Public Street Survey, delivered by our community of building user in Stokes Croft
• 1 Creative Public Intervention exploring disruption and development in Stokes Croft (CoResist) • 1 Building wide user survey to 700 people • Integrated multiple social impact indicators into the daily operational activity of the building • Developed our equal opps and diversity monitoring for employee applicants • Integrated equal opps and diversity into the induction process to new licensees and temporary space users. This approach helps us fulfill one of our core purposes to best provide space and services that people genuinely need and to help maintain both a competitive and accessible offer whilst remaining financially responsible.