Amelia chats to Javelin Block
Amelia catches up with Stuart Holt, the founder of the design -led developing company, Javelin Block. Since 2008 JB have made a name for themselves purchasing, refurbishing and letting/selling ex industrial buildings in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham.
Amelia & Stuart Holt met on video call (image created by Space A).
Amelia (A) : Great to meet you & thank you for the time. Where are you speaking from today?
Stuart (S) : I am on the 100 acre estate we are developing in Oxfordshire. It’s a project that means alot to me and will eventually become my home. It's different from the projects we usually do as there was not much there to draw from - it had a few farm building shacks in corrugated iron & breeze blocks. We have really been reinventing the built landscape here, taking inspiration from the local rural context, topography and the materials that form the vernacular. There is a palette in the area we are using.
A : What other projects are exciting you right now?
S : We are 5 weeks away from finishing the works on Derwent House - a grade II listed former Taylor and Challen foundry (Victorian fabricator of lathes) being converted into apartments (for sale here). I am really excited about this one.
Derwent House in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Image from JB’s website
A : What is your story, how did you get into developing?
S : I come from a military background. But my father and brother are engineers so making was in the family. I focus on the aesthetic side of buildings but there is also a practical side which is important. I used to work in New York where I saw how successfully the industrial buildings had been transformed there and I saw the potential in Birmingham’s buildings too (particularly in the Jewellery Quarter.). After the 2008 financial crisis I saw my opportunity to buy and convert a building. It started from there.
A : What do you think the role of the developer should be?
S : Building owners have a responsibility to their building and to the community. In my opinion empty buildings are a tragedy and their owners should be charged full business rates. There are lots of short sightedness within developing. I am different from most developers - I am more interested in commercial units than residential.
A : You mention the term ‘building integrity’ on your website. What do you mean by that?
S: Before I buy a building - I always look at who built it and its history. This one plot we met an 85 year old guy who worked there when it was a motorbike factory (Comet works). We made a short film about it than won an award.
I don’t work against a building. It wants to be something it wants to be - I don’t fight that. Buildings have a story already. It's just about finding that story. It's not sentimental, it's about doing justice to the building like you would nurture anything else.
“Buildings have a story already. It’s just about finding that story.”
A : How do you operate your leaseholds?
S: I am not a fan of the leasehold model. I always like to offer my tenants the chance to buy the freehold. Ownership is the best form of community forming. For example in the Tramshed - ‘The Rolling Mill’ was based there and they bought it after years renting…. In this way we are different from most developers.
Stuart Holt (image from The Metro).
A: Do you purchase your buildings with specific tenants in mind?
S: Yes sometimes. The Digbeth Dining Club came to me and needed the right space. It took us 3 - 4 years but we eventually found the 16,000 ft they needed.
A : How do you balance your need to keep your business running profitably and your commitment to your tenants and the community that is formed from your buildings?
S : It's about timing. To be honest, at the moment there isn’t any money in developing. The final margins are not there like they were 10 years ago. Land prices have gone up and construction prices have gone up 20 - 30%. Some contractors are not giving out quotes at the moment, the prices are so uncertain
“... at the moment there isn’t any money in developing.”
A : What is to be done about saving old historic buildings with a deep connection to the local community? Like old cinemas, bingo halls and theatres?
S : It's difficult. As a society our recreation time is changing. Today we all operate off a piece of real estate that is 6 inches x 3 inches - our mobile phones. I have sat on the Birmingham Design & Review panel for 10 years where we saw many of these buildings. Unfortunately you can’t expect private developers to take on folly projects. The government needs to step in to save these buildings. It is for the public interest.
“Today we all operate off a piece of real estate that is 6 inches x 3 inches - our mobile phones”
A : You were widely praised for cancelling rents to your tenants during the lockdowns. What motivated you to do that?
S: I had lots of people patting me on the back for this but for me it was a purely common sense move. There is no point in having a business in the building that is struggling.
If you are passionate about the occupation of your buildings you will do everything to ensure this is working well. When the government enforced the lockdown we knew we couldn’t charge our businesses rent when they weren’t making money - luckily we were in an okay place to suspend rents whilst they couldn’t trade.
‘No point in having a business in the building that is struggling’
A : Where do you get your design inspiration from?
S : I draw inspiration from the building itself - its material, its history, its context. I love the work of the architect Tom Kundig - based in Seattle in the states. If I can design buildings half as good as him I will be happy!
A : So what's for the future?
S: My energy is being put into this estate in Oxfordshire right now. We are focusing on the new buildings as well as rewilding the farmland and woods to make it a real haven. We are using the natural streams to create wild water swimming lakes. Adidas has asked to film one of their collections here. After the pandemic we are embracing a more remote form of working so we are lucky to be based from here.
It's the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham this year so we are really excited about the energy that it will bring to the city and a bright future ahead.
Image taken from Javelin Block’s Facebook page- photo by New York photographer @lizaboone
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