Our Premises Matching Project aims to not only address the issues faced by our members – by providing both shorter term solutions and longer term policy improvements for this borough – but also to help support other organisations who are interested in tackling similar difficulties in their neighbourhoods. 

We have strong anecdotal evidence that access to suitable and affordable space is a major issue for the voluntary sector throughout the country, but as far as we aware we are the only CVS body that has been able to dedicate this amount of time and resource to such a project, as a result of our funding from Southwark Council and United St Saviours Charity.

We know that information sharing is vital for a stronger and better connected sector, and so this page has been designed to collect together our current data – via a live dashboard of survey results – as well as our published reports and recommendations for further reading.

We welcome any questions, comments, suggestions or ideas. Please get in touch with alex@communitysouthwark.org.

If you are a Community Southwark member looking for support with a premises related issue, please visit our premises survey page to submit your request. 

Live dashboard: 

The following data is gathered from our Premises Need survey, which was launched in February 2024. Whilst it does paint a helpful picture of the overall scale of need and the types of spaces required, it cannot be considered fully comprehensive, and is only a small sample of the need present within the borough.

More areas of analysis will be added to this dashboard in due course. For a deeper dive into the headline figures – such as which location is most popular and what type of spaces are required – please read our Learning and Recommendations report below.

Please get in touch if there are particular aspects of this data you would like to explore further. 

N.B Activity space has a category is a broad term that covers everything from mental health support groups through to dance rehearsals. Please see the Learning and Recommendations report for more detail.

Community Southwark Reports

Learning and Recommendations – 12 month report

In January 2025 we completed our “Learning and Recommendations” report, which combined:

• Analysis of the data gathered in the first 12 months of the project
• Summary of focus groups held with VCS groups on council leases
• Exploration of different models used by VCS groups across London to manage premises
• Comparison of other boroughs’ policies around VCS premises, focussing on Lambeth, Lewisham and Tower Hamlets

The Appendices document contains more detail on all of the above elements, including a deeper dive into VCS experiences and council policies.

Interim report – 6 months

This 6 month summary report looks at the key learnings gathered in those initial 6 months, focussing primarily on the processes we developed, and summarising our initial outreach efforts.

Further reading: 

• Places to come together: Rebuilding local solidarities against the far right
  • IPPR, July 2025
• ABCs of the New Economy
  • Stir to Action, 2025
• Where People Meet: How We Celebrate, Sustain and Reimagine Community Centres
  • New Local, May 2025
• Social Clubs, Community Power, and Political Participation
  • Centre for Democratic Business, April 2025
• The PPL Hub: Making Space for Community
  • PPL, April 2025
• Local Property Partnerships – Pilot Programme 2024-2027
  • Platform Places
• Land for Good
  • Southwark Land Commission, September 2023
• Council response to Southwark Land Commission
  • Southwark Council, July 2024
• A Place to Call Home 2.0
  • The Ubele Initiative, January 2024
• Case Study: The Islington Model
  • Stir to Action, September 2022
• London’s Dead Spaces
  • Siân Berry, London Assembly, June 2022