Our Services to Support Common Good Land Users

If you are a community group or organisation, we offer a range of services to organisations like yours. We have experience working with community charities or groups who manage land, and funders. We want to support you to reimagine the way you use land through our packages below, with a key focus on listening and working with the communities in your area.

Shared Assets takes a collaborative, inclusive and iterative approach to our work, applying our expertise and experience as partners and critical friends, working with you and with your communities flexibly to achieve the respective ambitions and objectives of your project whatever the challenges or context. 

We have unrivalled experience of working with communities on land and building projects and have worked alongside many communities to navigate what can sometimes be challenging, complex and unfamiliar processes relating to incorporation, asset ownership and management, and organisational development. 

We listen deeply to understand communities contexts, needs and expertise. We respect their local knowledge and experience, and we work to build trust and mutual understanding.

Find out about our range of services below, to see how we could support you.

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Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Function

This package of services is designed for a group of people who are ready to consider establishing a formal group or organisation to work with or operate a land-based project. At this stage of your process, we will support you to ensure your formative steps are aligned with a clear purpose and vision, and we will help you reach decisions and clarity about how you will deliver your goals and work together.

Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Function

Outline of Support

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Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Function

Recommended 2 days over 1 month.

Approx £1000 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing)

This offer of support includes:

  • Helping to define your purpose, values, and how they can support you to deliver your activities.
  • Aligning your activities, communications and ways of working to your purposes.
  • As an additional service we can offer coaching or mentoring to support you through the process.

Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Function

Example Project

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Purpose, Vision and Ways of Working Package - Examples

We have worked with numerous groups to define purpose, vision and ways of working who have been in the process of establishing themselves. Some examples of this work are the support of groups to take on the management of community buildings, woodlands, and friends of parks groups.

Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review

Shared Assets can support your group in its early stages to set up a legal structure to allow you to deliver the purpose and vision you have established together. We will provide facilitation and support to help you understand the context and shape the most appropriate structure to support your activities and business plan. Our support will help you become legally established and registered whilst ensuring everyone within your group is clear about the responsibilities and processes throughout this important transition.

Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review

Outline of Support

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Legal Structure and Governance Development or Review

Recommended 5 days over 1-2 months.

Approx £2500 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing)

This package of support includes:

  • A legal model options development.
  • A legal model options appraisal.
  • Development of objects and powers. What are your objects and what powers do you have to define and achieve them? (This includes needs such as your legal purpose or charitable purpose.)
  • Supporting with incorporation.
  • Induction of new board members.
  • As an additional service we can offer coaching or mentoring.

Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review

Example Project

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Legal Structures and Governance Development or Review - Example Project

Ewanrigg Local Trust

In 2020 we worked with Ewanrigg Local Trust, a Big Local resident-led partnership in Cumbria to establish a new organisation to build a new facility within a local Health Centre from which to deliver community mental health support and signposting services. The work involved an options appraisal for the legal structure of the new organisation, its incorporation, and the development of lease and joint venture agreements with the Health Centre.

Scaling Up: Taking on New Assets, Buildings, or Land

Our Scaling Up package is designed for established organisations who are thinking about growing or diversifying their organisation or business: through taking on new land, building work, or diversifying activities on existing land. 

We have experience in working with groups to think through the implications of organisational growth and new responsibilities, including how this will change the culture, what skills are needed, and how you will manage the process.

We also have produced a series of guides: ‘Scaling for Land-Based Social Enterprises’ which includes a set of case studies, a set of thought guides and a group decision-making toolkit.

Scaling uP: Taking on new assets, buildings or land

Outline of Support

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Scaling Up: Taking on New Assets, Buildings, or Land

Recommended 3 days over 1-2 months

Approx £1,500 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing) 

This package of support includes:

  • Scoping the background of the organisation and purpose of scaling up.
  • Scaling workshop with key staff and board members using decision-making toolkit, exploring the common tensions that arise.
  • Identifying the most appropriate approach to scaling your project, the implications or issues you might need to manage and defining the next steps.
  • As an additional service we can offer coaching or mentoring to support you through the process.

SCALING UP: Taking on new assets, buildings or land

Example Project

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Scaling Up: Taking on New Assets, Buildings, or Land - Example Project

Friends of Horsenden Hill, Ealing.

We supported the friends group to consider how taking on greater responsibility for a mixed use farms site within the country park would impact on their existing activities, culture, and whether or not they needed to formalise their organisation and processes in order to scale up.

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Business Model Development

We have supported organisations to develop their business plans to think about the different elements of their business, how different activities could create livelihoods and contribute to the long-term sustainability of the organisation. We aim to help you develop a business plan that aligns with your purpose and delivers wider community benefits.

business model development

Outline of Support

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Business Model Development

Recommended 12 days over 3-6 months

Approx £6,000 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing)

This offer of support includes:

  • Working with you to understand your vision/goal/purpose
  • Identifying, engaging and consulting with stakeholders. 
  • Understanding the business context and market.
  • Developing your team / organisational structure.
  • Developing your business model (income and expenditure.) 
  • Developing financial model (including cashflow from years 1-5.)
  • Devising a fundraising strategy to identify potential funders and approaches to raising capital.
  • Scoping land access requirements; including tenure and planning.

Business model development

Example Project

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Business Model Development - Example Project

MPower Kernow

We worked with MPower Kernow who are a social enterprise providing opportunities in STEM education using disused railway facilities. We supported them to develop a business model, feasibility study and business plan that incorporated training facilities, delivery of commercial railway and engineering services, and the sale of products designed and created on site.

Working with Consultants eg. planners, surveyors or solicitors

We can give you support in working with planning consultants, surveyors or solicitors: helping you to get the best value from technical experts.

Working with consultants

Outline of Support

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Working with Consultants eg. Planners, Surveyors or Solicitors

Recommended 5 days over 3-6 months

Approx £2,500 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing) 

This offer of support includes:

  • Supporting you to understand your requirements and be clear about your needs, in order to develop a clear brief.
  • Helping you to manage the relationship, understand and get best value from the process. 
  • Engaging with professionals (eg feedback, evaluation and improvement.)
  • Helping you to navigate complex technical processes.

Working with consultants

Example Project

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Working with Consultants eg. planners, surveyors or solicitors - Example Project

Ewanrigg Local Trust

We supported Ewanrigg Local Trust to develop a new charitable organisation, with a purpose to deliver local community support drop-in and signposting services and to secure a building from which to run the service. We supported them to engage with solicitors in order to establish and incorporate the new organisation and to develop a joint venture agreement with a local delivery partner and a lease for a community building. We helped them to identify the advice they required, develop a clear brief and to understand and apply the advice they were provided with.

Access to Land: Securing Ownership or a Lease

We can help groups to identify land, engage with landowners, identify appropriate tenure (ownership, lease or licence), negotiate the sale or rent; including supporting community asset transfer processes.

Access to land: securing ownership or a lease

Outline of Support

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Access to Land: Securing Ownership or a Lease

Recommended 12 days over 6-12 months.

Approx £6,000 excluding VAT (but please contact us to discuss detailed pricing.)

This offer of support includes:

  • Understanding your needs.
  • Exploring land access options (location and mapping.)
  • Exploring land access options (access/permission/ tenure.)
  • Ensuring your legal structure and business plan are appropriate.
  • Support with Asset Transfer process, lease negotiation, or freehold negotiation with the landowner.
  • Supporting you to work with relevant professionals such as solicitors, land agents, etc.
  • Funding requirements and fundraising.

Access to land: securing ownership or a lease

Example Project

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Access to Land: Securing Ownership or a Lease - Example Project

Elvaston Country Park and Castle

We supported the establishment of an independent charity that will manage Elvaston Castle and Gardens through a long-term lease agreement with Derbyshire County Council. We supported the Council and the Trust to negotiate a process by which the management responsibilities for the estate would be transferred over time ensuring its stewardship and sustainability in the long term.

To discuss how we can support you through our services, please get in touch with us at [email protected].

You can also head to our FAQs page to find out more.

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We’re always keen to hear from people with interesting projects or doing similar work. Get in touch for a conversation about how we might collaborate.

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