Established in October 2014 as a community interest company, Sustainable Bridges C.I.C aims to accelerate the growth of SMEs with a low carbon and sustainability focus based in the London Borough of Southwark.
Following successful negotiations with Network Rail, Sustainable Bridges has renovated four railway arches at London Bridge. This entailed the successful transformation of 630m² of vacant industrial space into a vibrant workspace tailored to the needs of low carbon SMEs and innovators.
Adopting a bottom-up ethos; for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, Sustainable Bridges provides flexible and affordable working space, incubation and networking services. This allows beneficiary companies to attract inward investment to the area, increase SME revenue, create new employment opportunities, and accelerate the transition to a low carbon economy.
Since the first members entered the space in January 2015, membership at Sustainable Bridges has steadily risen to over 40 individuals with 10 ventures now operating from the site. By harnessing the advantages of co-working and shared resources, Sustainable Bridges enables more talented entrepreneurs and pioneering SMEs to share in the advantages of a central London location and benefit from each other’s’ knowledge and experience.
In addition, by delivering a series of events designed to disseminate entrepreneurial learning, Sustainable Bridges furthers facilitates knowledge transfer and maximises the opportunity for members to build their connections. Here, Sustainable Bridges’ Management team have leveraged their extensive connections across the cleantech and entrepreneurial sectors to strengthen sector-wide engagement, drawing on connected experts to deliver learning sessions.
Collectively, by building a hub for sustainability entrepreneurs in the heart of London, leveraging the benefits of co-working along-side entrepreneurial learning sessions to support ventures through the hurdles of early stage development and then championing their role in driving the transition to a low carbon society, Sustainable Bridges is successfully delivering multiple social, environmental and economic benefits to London, to Southwark and crucially to aspiring innovators. From here, Sustainable Bridges seeks to extend the benefits it is generating to benefit more low carbon ventures and their members.
