NHS and FareShare foodbank secure free space from The Arch Company to support Coronavirus effort

30/04/2020

The NHS and FareShare foodbank are the latest community organisations to secure free space in railway arches to support their vital work during the Coronavirus pandemic.

FareShare works to relieve food poverty and reduce food waste in the UK and has moved into two previously unoccupied arches on the Parkside Business Estate in Deptford. Three other arches at the nearby Apollo Business Park are being used by the London Ambulance Service to store PPE equipment for NHS staff. The properties were offered to the organisations on a rent-free basis by The Arch Company, which committed to making vacant spaces available to charities and community organisations in its Tenants Charter published last year.

FareShare is using the properties to store food donations from supermarkets and other suppliers before they are packed and distributed to vulnerable people by Red Cross and NHS volunteers.

Kris Gibbon-Walsh, head of network and operations at FareShare, said: “We’re doing everything we can to step up our emergency response so frontline charities have the vital food supplies they need to feed those who are most vulnerable. This additional space means we’ll be able to get more food out to people at risk of going hungry during this crisis, and we’re extremely grateful to The Arch Company for their support.”

London Ambulance Service will use three railway arches to store essential Personal Protective Equipment for frontline paramedics and ambulance workers.

Adam Dakin, managing director of The Arch Company, said: “We’re delighted to help the community effort against Coronavirus in whatever small way we can. If other charities or community organisations could use one of our unoccupied arches to help with the current crisis, we encourage them to get in touch and we’ll see if we can help.”

Over a thousand companies and community organisations in England and Wales are now benefitting from three-month rent-free periods as a result of The Arch Company’s £10m Hardship Fund to support tenants through the Coronavirus pandemic.

More information about other businesses who are using previously vacant properties to support the Coronavirus response effort can be found here.