All Saints Action Network
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car park to wood chipping enterprise is hardly what you expect when you arrive
at the huge wooden doors of the former All Saints church. But
the impressive Victorian structure is home to a wide-ranging enterprise
that is making business work for the community.
The All Saints Action Network (ASAN) employs a radical approach to community development and regeneration that has established a portfolio of businesses whose profits benefit an inner city Wolverhampton area.
ASAN runs a car park, a recycling franchise, a sports centre, has bought and refurbished an old school and now turns old furniture into wood chip for fuel to heat it.
"We have a very broad range of interests and make no apology for trying to take on the world at ASAN," says chief executive Mike Swain (pictured). "The advantage of such a wide range is that we are spreading our risks but the disadvantages are that we have to stretch our staffing capabilities.
"We are not averse to receiving funding and applying for grants but we like to have the core of the business operating by our own means."
ASAN, founded by the community and based in the redundant All Saints church, started with buying a patch of land and, with national and local grants, transforming into a floodlit Astroturf.
Its entrepreneurial flair has been demonstrated across a number of schemes and its prime revenue source is a car parking business based at a 100,000 square feet old bus garage secured on peppercorn rent in 2001.
The garage also houses a recycling centre and ASAN runs a successful franchise which collects and refurbishes office furniture. The profits enable it to run a Tool Library, which provides community members with equipment that encourages people to maintain their homes and gardens and have a greater pride in their community and a recycling service for larger furniture items to prevent ugly fly-tipping.
ASAN now has an annual turnover of £930,000, employs 29 staff and has inspired more than 25 per cent of the local population to take an active part in improving the area. It has ambitious plans to boost both turnover and participation.
"We are built on a model of asset development - making what we have work well for the community," adds Mike. "ASAN was a great idea for the community but without a clear business agenda it would not have had a long-term future. The key has been to make sure this did not die when grants ran out. It needed to have a business focus to keep up the good work.
"We are very opportunistic and we are trying to develop services in a sustained
way."
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prime example is purchasing the local All Saints school four years ago with a
combination of their funds, grants and an Adventure Capital Fund loan of
£250,000 and refurbishing it into a managed workspace that can be hired out for
anything from voluntary sector conferences to karate classes and office space
for new business.
Ingeniously,
ASAN bought a pulverizing machine and makes wood chips from old furniture
beyond restoration that is used to heat the building. Renamed the Workspace, it
is on target to be sustainable by mid 2010. "The
really pleasing thing is that we can integrate local people into ASAN by giving
them jobs," adds Mike.
"We've got one young guy who had a fairly difficult
background but has joined as a supervisor on the sports site and everyone
locally is really pleased to see that. Another guy who joined us as a car park
supervisor is now managing a number of staff.
"The downside is of course as a business we are not immune from the hard facts of economic life and we have had to make people redundant in the past and that is very hard.
"It can also be difficult satisfying our community programme with our business programme. There are issues and there are often debates over the conflicting cultures. It can be tricky to manage."
ASAN serves a community of 6,000 people in 2,000 homes in an area that suffers from a range of inner city issues. It is subject to a searching Social Accounting process that examines the impact of ASAN's work on the local population.
"We have said to the community that we can start things and get them going but they need to be part of it. ASAN can't stand on its own," adds Mike, who works to a board of local representatives.
"There has to be a constant review of what has been achieved and planning for the future. If we are part of enterprise employment sector then we have to prove that by looking at what we are doing and examining ways we can take that further. You can only get stronger from reflecting on what you do.
"Good businesses always learns from their customers and adapts. We have a similar approach although our task is more complex because it has to link in with community development and is not profit-driven.
"We have a long term approach to asset development. If you get a grant for something for three years, the problem is always what you do after those three years. If you look long term then the benefits can be longer lasting and have much greater impact."