Episode Summary

“We’re not a service provider beyond being a great space. I think we’re a platform, and that’s key.”

Hannah Philp

Tired of running yourself into the ground?

Then stop running alone.

On February 24th, the London Coworking Assembly presents Unreasonable Connection Goes Live!—a one-day working session for the people running London’s most vital neighbourhood spaces and the public sector allies working to help them thrive. It’s a day to share the load, find real solutions, and build a new playbook, together.

Hannah Philp is sitting in ARC Tottenham when this conversation happens.

Even through the recording, the space feels calm—that’s the word Hannah keeps using, and you can hear why. It’s designed to be the antidote to the chaos of working from a kitchen table.

Bernie mentions he’s known ARC since the beginning, back when they hosted Urban MBA’s 12-week programme in 2021, just as London was allowed to meet in person again during COVID.

That history matters because it grounds what Hannah’s trying to do.

She didn’t set out to fix London’s housing crisis or redesign the high street.

She spotted a simpler, more personal problem.

Pre-COVID, she watched people—particularly new parents, carers, anyone with responsibilities beyond their income-generating work—drop out of the paid workforce because the 9-to-5 commute (really 8-to-6 if we’re honest) was incompatible with their lives.

The only options were expensive serviced offices for venture-backed companies or working at the kitchen table. Nothing existed for the solo entrepreneur or small team who needed somewhere between those extremes.

Hannah’s “why” isn’t abstract.

It’s watching people she knew become isolated. It’s recognising that loneliness in dense urban environments has accelerated since the advent of smartphones. It’s believed that doing focused solo work among other people mitigates that loneliness without demanding you participate in organised networking.

What started as neighbourhood coworking turned into something more pragmatic: a partnership model with residential developers who control ground floors.

Not because developers suddenly care about community (though some do).

Because the economics of residential development in the UK have become so challenging that social value is now commercially necessary to unlock planning permission.

Bernie asks the question most listeners are thinking: Aren’t developers the problem?

Hannah’s answer is refreshingly honest. She knows ARC’s limits. She’s not an urban planner or housing minister. She’s working with what exists—developers who need to make buildings financially viable and councils who want social outcomes.

ARC bridges that gap.

Then Bernie mentions something Hannah clearly doesn’t want to discuss: a central London hub that wasn’t commercially sustainable.

“It’s painful to talk about, Hannah,” Bernie says.

“I know,” she replies, and they don’t go deeper.

But that failure taught them what they’re building now. The developer partnership model exists because going it alone in expensive central London didn’t work.

The stakes are clearer when you understand what failure looks like.

If ground floors stay empty—which they are across the UK—high streets die. Mum-and-pop businesses can’t afford business rates or twenty-year leases. US private equity buys up chains, loads them with debt, and only institutional money can survive.

The neighbourhood loses the bakery, the dry cleaner, and the antique shop.

Meanwhile, new residential buildings keep getting built. Someone will decide what goes on those ground floors.

If operators don’t partner with developers, it’ll be another Tesco Metro, or the space will sit empty.

In Tottenham, ARC received backing from Haringey Council’s Opportunity Workspace Fund.

The social value metrics aren’t marketing fluff—they’re contractual obligations embedded deep in the business plan. Hannah describes ARC as a platform for local organisations already doing brilliant work in the neighbourhood, not a service provider helicoptering in with programmes nobody asked for.

The three current ARC clubs—Earlsfield in southwest London, Stratford in East London, and Tottenham in North London—operate identically in format but differ significantly in practice.

Hannah admits this was humbling. Even with similar member profiles, people's preferences for how to use space vary widely.

This isn’t a business plan you can copy and paste.

What Bernie and Hannah both recognise is that the best neighbourhood coworking spaces become what Hannah calls “your other local”—the gym, the pub, the place you buy bread.

Where accidental interaction happens.

Where you might not speak to anyone all morning, the presence of other people doing focused work mitigates the loneliness of working by yourself at home.

Hannah calls it “small c connection,” and it’s the majority of what happens at ARC. Not events. Not networking. Just being around colleagues—even if they’re working on different things.

The sense of being seen without forced interaction.

For operators wondering whether neighbourhood coworking is viable, Hannah offers pragmatic hope.

Work with forward-thinking developers. Be clear about what you can and can’t do. Acknowledge commercial imperatives without compromising your social mission. Be a platform, not a service provider.

And most importantly: learn from what doesn’t work.

The central London failure matters as much as the Tottenham success.

Timeline Highlights

[00:04] Bernie introduces the tension: “The commute and being a neighbourhood workspace... one size does not fit all.”

[01:37] Hannah on ARC’s mission: “We deliver in partnership with new residential developers to open spaces that make working life more calm, more local, more human.”

[02:13] “We go to the neighbourhoods where people are doing exciting things... We can be a place that’s potentially a catalyst for positive change.”

[03:07] The pre-COVID origin: “We wanted to create somewhere that would sit between a draining commute or working at the kitchen table, and that would support focus.”

[04:50] On mitigating loneliness: “Doing that among other people really helps... You could just be coming in and just being around my colleagues versus sitting at home by myself.”

[06:40] The “other local” concept: “ARC [is] your other local... where accidental interaction happens... the majority of connection is this small c connection.”

[07:26] Tottenham partnership approach: “We’re working with the council to actually connect with people who are already doing fantastic work in the neighbourhood... We can just be a space for them.”

[08:26] The platform principle: “We’re not a service provider beyond being a great space... I think we’re a platform, and that’s key.”

[09:27] Mixing communities: “We want to be a diverse hub... a mix of an existing community and new people... ensuring that these new buildings are also delivering social value for everyone in the local area.”

[10:41] UK development reality: “The economics of residential development in the UK are really, really challenging... Construction costs have massively risen... The risks have gone way up.”

[13:46] Commercial pragmatism: “We can help [developers] realise their commercial outcomes by putting something just brilliant and useful on the ground flo...