Interview with Dr. Jess Steele, OBE
The Making of Hastings Commons: What Community-Led Property Takes
The story of Hastings Commons is one of DIY local action, resilience, adaptability and the unwavering spirit of community.
At the heart of this shining example of community-led regeneration stands Dr. Jess Steele, OBE, community activist and founder of Heart of Hastings Community Land Trust.
Jess played a key role alongside local residents and social entrepreneurs to get 9,000 square metres into the hands of the local community, creating a whole ecosystem that serves local needs and has brought £28 million in funding to Hastings.
How can others start something like this in their neighbourhood? What’s the secret sauce for community leaders to get inside underutilised buildings and do great things with them?
In our conversation, Jess dives into the challenges, learnings and tactics behind effective property-focused community organising.
Question (Q): Jess, many people inspired by Hastings Commons want to do something similar in their neighbourhood, but they don’t know where to start. What tactics can you share to get from 0 to multiple buildings?
Jess: When I think of tactics, I think of things like legislative tools or development leases (like the lease we created to tackle a delay between an opportunity and funding). Those do play a key role. But, for me, getting ready to do something like this is about much broader capacity-building for a person. Structures, risks, knowledge, preparedness and persistence: these are the pillars of community-led regeneration.
Q: Let’s talk about preparedness. How did you approach this?
Jess: It’s about being in the right place at the right time. Be ready for that moment when an estate agent shares some inside knowledge or you catch wind of a new council initiative. It’s rare for communities to buy through conventional means. With Rock House, we started paying £200 a month rent for the basement, then 8 months later the agent asked if we wanted to buy the whole building.
I would love to see community organisers in every neighbourhood ‘getting ready’. Start looking for grants that align with your vision, not necessarily ones that allow immediate purchase. Understand that community regeneration isn’t a linear process. There’ll be dead ends and uncertainties. There will be setbacks and projects that don’t pan out. Building the resilience and confidence to handle such situations is vital.
Q: What about the mindset required to navigate this kind of work?
Jess: You need to be comfortable with uncertainty, ready to seize opportunities, make quick decisions, overcome nerves, and sometimes take risks without having all the information to hand. Interestingly, those without prior knowledge or experience are often best suited as they bring passion and a willingness to learn from scratch.
Q: Is it just about financial risks?
Jess: Absolutely not. There’s reputation, and there’s hope and trust on the line. When acquiring community buildings, especially significant ones, setting expectations is paramount.
Unlike the private sector, where the deals can be done in secret, community ventures must galvanise public support and excitement, which creates enormous pressure. It was only on our 13th building acquisition in Hastings that we were able to remain secretive until completion, and even then we wanted to talk about it as part of the longer term neighbourhood development.
“When acquiring community buildings, especially significant ones, setting expectations is paramount… community ventures must galvanise public support and excitement, which creates enormous pressure”
Q: How can community organisations protect themselves from risks? How did you structure your projects?
Jess: Managing risks is so much more important when you’re not just out to save one building, but when you’re trying to use the creative rescue of buildings at scale over time for community development — to ‘darn the fabric’ of a place — physically, economically, socially and environmentally…
There are lots of ways to do this. Our approach with Hastings Commons was to put in place a deliberate ‘‘risk space’ to protect our community organisation and enable progress.
We set up Neighbourhood Ventures, which protected our Community Land Trust (CLT) by sharing the most risky decisions with two mission-led enterprises (Jericho Road Solutions and Meanwhile Space CIC). It's structured so that the CLT owns one-third of the shares. This way, the CLT has strong influence over the venture, but even if the venture was to fail, the CLT is safe; its primary assets remain intact.
We acquired Rock House for £230k in 2014. When it was valued four years later at £1.6 million, we took a big risk to mortgage it and buy the adjoining derelict building, without sight of the many millions of pounds it would take to renovate. Such moves, though in line with our mission and community’s interest, are risks that a typical charitable organisation would likely avoid.
Image: Rock House (a 9 storey office block transformed into 6 living rent flats, 20 commercial units and a coworking space) © Hastings Commons
Image: Public living room at Eagle House, which Hastings Commons acquired on a development lease before purchasing with support from the Towns Fund © Jonny Thompson Photography
Q: Any advice for people dealing with local authorities and commercial agents for the first time?
Jess: If you don’t have political power or money, then ultimately, your knowledge of their business can be your biggest strength. You need to understand the inner working of councils, know the difference between councillors and officers, and between the regeneration and estates departments. You need to explore whether the council has a policy or action plan statement so you can position your idea appropriately. Some councils will only transfer assets if there’s a “robust and fully-funded business plan”. Estate agents need to believe that you’re serious.
In the end it will be down to the story you can tell, your confidence, capacity and credibility. All of these things can be developed over time.
“If you don’t have political power or money, then ultimately, your knowledge of their business can be your biggest strength”
Q: Have you experienced internal misalignment between council departments? How did you overcome this?
Jess: Legal departments in local authorities are often totally separate and very risk-averse. When we won a bid for a community asset transfer to create a live-work space for artists, our proposal was accepted, but the project stalled with the legal department for over 3 and a half years. The lawyers ended up rejecting a core element of our proposal that the council had agreed to (to include housing in the building). For the lawyers, this was too risky, despite the fact that the area desperately needs affordable housing. They were worried that if the CLT failed, the council would become de facto social landlord, and tenants would have right to buy. So we had to change the whole business model.
Q: What are the best ways of dealing with key partners like councils going quiet?
Jess: Internal processes can get extremely delayed. It happens. Be persistent and proactive in your communication. You need to phone them every 3 days, not every 3 months. Don’t be embarrassed. Even if it doesn’t speed up the process or affect the outcome, at least you get the information earlier. In our case, it took so long that by the time the lease was finally signed, Hastings Commons had raised all the money to renovate the building (£2.3 million).
“Be persistent and proactive in your communication… phone them every 3 days, not every 3 months”
Q: And what about campaigning?
Jess: Campaigning can be powerful. Street marches, for example, can compel councils to act and make compulsory purchases. But remember, the individuals campaigning and those executing the project afterwards may have different skill sets. Acknowledge this and ensure both groups are valued and work harmoniously.
Q: Speaking of including and valuing different groups, how do you know when there’s genuine buy-in from local residents?
Jess: Local people need to be involved from the beginning and over and over. Use every possible creative outreach approach — all kinds of events, drop-ins, walkabouts, door-knocking. Be visible and open, soaking up input and feedback. People should feel able to make suggestions and be an active part of the regeneration. Occupying a space long before full redevelopment helps with this.
Q: Can you elaborate on this idea of occupying a building before it’s ready?
Jess: Absolutely. Occupying helps you familiarise yourselves with the space and potentially raise funds. It brings the space to life, giving people a sense of what it could become. It gives you a chance to test out all kinds of uses and partnerships.
We had a big project in Ore Valley, where the ‘bottom-up development’ team were on site 3 or more days a week for 2.5 years improving the land, getting familiar with it, while the eco village was being planned.
With Rock House, the redevelopment took five years. When we bought it we only had £80,000 while the survey indicated we needed £1.9 million. We got started on what we now call ‘phased organic development’ and throughout this period, there were tenants actively using parts of the building, paying rent, becoming part of the journey and eventually part of the Commons.
If you can't occupy your primary target, find a nearby space. When we couldn’t get into a key target building (the Pier), we took on a shop nearby as a base to say, “we’re here!”. You can't simply ideate in pubs; you need to be on the ground, running things, building a reputation, telling stories, making things happen.
“If you can't occupy your primary target, find a nearby space…
You can't simply ideate in pubs; you need to be on the ground, running things, building a reputation, telling stories, making things happen.”
Q: Lastly, you mentioned 'getting ready' - why is peer mentorship crucial for this?
Jess: The journey of community regeneration is a marathon. There’s some valuable infrastructure for sharing expertise; take Locality for example.
What we also need is peer-to-peer mentoring. It’s invaluable to get mentorship from someone who's been in the trenches — those experiences and scars are the best teachers.
I would love to see a network that grassroots neighbourhood organisers can tap into at any moment they need guidance, help or the next relevant funding injection. Think of it as a 'national grid for neighbourhoods’. Like the electricity grid, you can draw down resource as you need it, then if you do well you can feed resources back up like renewable energy.
It's essential to recognise and value the time and effort mentors invest. They should be compensated. That's a programme that Platform Places (a movement I’m passionate about) is working on.
“It’s invaluable to get mentorship from someone who's been in the trenches — those experiences and scars are the best teachers.”
Today, 12 buildings and spaces are being brought to life by Hastings Commons, including 3 large key historic buildings
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