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Common problems and bottlenecks
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Recommendations and guidelines (*)
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- Given the amount of funds they require, the main risk of all managed
workspace schemes is that they can easily become funding rather than market
led.
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- Clarify the objectives of the managed workspaces. Costs and subsidies will
normally be higher when there are heavily interventionist economic or
social objectives (e.g. excluded groups and areas or problem sectors,
etc.).
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- The barriers to the creation of new activities may have little to do with
the availability or cost of premises and more to do with other factors,
such as the lack of markets.
- It is not unusual for projects involving managed workspaces to start up in
a context where there is actually a surplus of premises.
- The orientation of managed workspaces may be dictated by secondary
objectives such as:
- the desire to make use of or to rehabilitate an existing building;
- the desire to find a more equitable distribution of floor space by
increasing supply at village level (decentralised workspaces).
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- Carry out a survey of needs in terms of space for existing firms and
potential project promoters (e.g. price, size, location, physical
characteristics, interest in common services, etc.).
- An analysis of the existing supply in terms of floor space, in order to
detect the real gaps in the market, is also recommended.
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- The amounts spent on constructing new buildings may be exorbitant.
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- It may be possible to solve this problem by making small improvements to
existing premises.
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- In terms of businesses housed, the centre may not reach the minimum size
necessary to make a sufficient contribution to costs.
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- Orientate the workspace towards the real needs of new activities in the
area.
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- Rents and charges are often set to fill the building.
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- The centre turns into a collection of an odd assortment of heavily
subsidised projects which are unable to move out and on.
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- The location and characteristics of the building may not meet the real
needs of new activities.
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- Rather than generating new activities and resources for the support system,
the project ends up becoming a drain on both the energy and the finances of
the local action group.
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- Consider other options for supporting new activities. It may be far more
cost effective to provide people setting up new activities with additional
grant aid than to try and find solutions to their problems by finding
premises for them.
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