Brave Ideas Can Work Near Home Real Estate Revive Local Communities and Asset Values?
Brave Ideas Season 16, Episode 6
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The Opportunity?
In this episode, Brave Corp CEO, Caleb Parker, and co-host Gary Helm from MUTE sits down with Patch Founder, Freddie Fforde, and Head of Growth, Andy Smith, inside the MUTE showroom in Clerkenwell, London, to unpack how Patch is building a network of work near home hubs in smaller cities and towns, reactivating high street buildings, and creating town hall style workplaces that serve whole communities while lifting asset values for landlords and investors.
The conversation covers:
* The investment opportunity of focusing on smaller cities and towns
* How they choose buildings with “public memory”, from former department stores and libraries to heritage warehouses and turn them into town hall style hubs
* How Patch’s civic ground floor layer, cafes, kids corners, makers markets, clubs, and community uses, trades some margin for loyalty, demand, and brand strength
* What they are seeing in member behaviour
* The hardest parts of building Patch
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CONNECT
* Patch
* MUTE
What You’ll Learn in This Episode
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* How Patch defines “work near home” in real estate terms, and why smaller cities and towns are a scalable flex market, not a side show
* A simple lens for picking assets with “public memory” and embedded goodwill, and why those buildings outperform anonymous boxes
* How to think commercially about giving ground floor space to civic and community uses
* The two main demand patterns Patch is seeing across locations
* How Patch’s member base evolves
Key Takeaways for Operators
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* Why there is real spending power and demand for premium work near home workplaces outside major cities, and how to position for that segment
* How to approach building selection, focusing on assets with identity and public memory that already carry goodwill in the local community
* A practical view on trading some ground floor revenue for community uses, and how that can pay back through loyalty, word of mouth, and stronger occupancy
* How curated programming, from crochet clubs and cinema nights to citizen assemblies, turns a coworking space into a lighthouse for local life
* What Patch is learning about member segments, from hyper local walkable catchments to wider hub models, and how that shapes layout, product mix, and staffing
* How to balance premium experience with controlled CapEx, using contextual design and smart reuse rather than expensive one size fits all concepts
Key Takeaways for Real Estate Investors and Landlords
* Why smaller cities and towns represent a large, underserved flex market, and how work near home can become a new anchor use for challenged high streets
* How Patch typically fits into mixed use assets, taking around 15–20K SqFt in larger buildings and driving place making value for the entire property
* Practical signals investors and landlords should look for when assessing these assets, from event cadence and local sentiment to the performance gap versus generic flex
* Why high quality, community led operations can command a premium versus generic flex, in both pricing and occupancy, even when cheaper competitors sit nearby
* How to think about CapEx and OpEx in a work near home model, where value comes from activation, brand, and loyalty rather than just finishes
* What to look for when underwriting these assets, including footfall patterns, event cadence, and local sentiment, not just headline rent and yield
* How stronger occupancy, premium pricing, and place making effects can translate into improved NOI resilience and, ultimately, higher asset values at exit
Behind The Scenes
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💡 This episode is part of Brave Ideas Season 16, diving into the 6 Pillars of Space as a Service, spotlighting operator playbooks and practical moves that lift demand, protect margins, and build workplaces people choose.
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