Barclays Hatch

Big business reaching out beyond its borders with repurposed surplus Barclays bank branches to innovate, reach new customers and create shared value

With the range of digital banking tools now available it is perhaps inevitable that bank branches are closing. Banks often cannot immediately surrender their leases or find alternative tenants - leaving them with the property and the liabilities, but unable to extract any value. Furthermore with competition from new Fin-Tech models and challenger banks, traditional banks need to find new ways to innovate and reach customers.  In 2013 3Space answered Barclays call to address this problem and create value from these under-utilised assets. 

3Space devised, prototyped and delivered the Barclays Hatch project - to re-purpose empty Barclays branch spaces into co-working, event and maker space, supporting community engagement and growth of local start-ups. We opened spaces in Oxford and Brighton during the pilot, and the concept has now been rolled-out by Barclays across UK called Barclays Eagle Labs.

The two year project included detailed feasibility analysis of the Barclays portfolio of 100-200 closed branches, working closely with the property team. After consultation with external stakeholders such as universities and local maker groups design concepts were prepared by 3Space. A bespoke business model was also developed (which consisted of a percentage reduction in Barclays holding costs, free of charge use, and a 3Space fee to cover operating costs) along with a fully costed schedule of works.

Along with local community consultation a large internal consultation process was undertaken within Barclays, including with the retail bank, property team, innovation team, wealth division and marketing teams. 

The design was made to be plug and play for fast roll-out across the UK - with the ability to repurpose almost any high street branch space into a maker space, event space, co-working and meeting rooms. Average costs for set-up and fit-out were kept affordable, with each property costing between £15-£40K, within a branch size of 1500 - 4000 sq. ft. 

Along with the design, 3Space also managed all the construction process for the fit-out and delivered a significant portion of the work in-house. Once the site was ready for occupation 3Space were able to quickly establish connections and partnerships with local universities, entrepreneurial meet-ups, innovative social enterprises and start-ups. 

Over a year the 2000 sq. ft property in Oxford was home to 48 residents start-ups and social organisations, and with over 600 visitors a month at 29 events a month including maker meet-ups, coding classes, conferences, training sessions, innovation / technology education for the community, cultural events and art exhibitions. 

Client: Barclays

Location: Oxford and Brighton

Featured in the Innovation press, including PSFK and the book,Trend-Driven Innovation (Oct 2015 )

Status: Closed December 2015 (now Barclays Eagle Labs)