Cadogan Business Community Fund
Planning for the long-term impact of COVID-19 is vital. Cadogan has set up a Business Community Fund – which has so far delivered over £20 million of support to occupiers and the wider community – in order to protect what makes Chelsea such a special destination.
Taking the approach of doing what is necessary to support the recovery is consistent with Cadogan’s values as a long term responsible business and a steward of the area.
Core initiatives that the Business Community Fund has covered to date include:
• Emergency rent support measures
• A commitment to fund rent relief for over 30 hospitality sector occupiers throughout 2020 by switching them to turnover-based leases
• Extended rental support of other smaller and independent retailers on a case-by-case basis
• Rent support for cultural attractions, hotels, gyms, beauty and wellness operators and medical uses
• Allowing rental payments to be made monthly in arrears for many commercial leases across the Estate until the end of the year
• A donation to Chelsea & Westminster Hospital’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund, which has supported COVID-19 research and new treatment trials, provided patients with activity packs and technology so that they can communicate with loved ones, and initiated a memory box project to help the bereaved cope with loss. The funds have also contributed to an NHS staff wellbeing programme to help frontline workers relax, refuel and re-energise before and after shifts
• Provision of car parking spaces and hotel accommodation at 11 Cadogan Gardens for NHS frontline workers at both Chelsea & Westminster Hospital and the Royal Brompton Hospital
• A number of grants made available to safeguard future creative talent in the key sectors synonymous with Chelsea including fashion, arts and crafts, music, and food. This includes the Nucleo Project, which grants free musical instruments and lessons to children in the area who wish to learn new skills, and a partnership with the British Fashion Council
• A charitable donation to the Kensington + Chelsea Foundation which has – in partnership with Age UK – helped provide over 1,000 care packages each week to elderly people, while supporting numerous other charities including among BAME communities, the young and the most vulnerable in and around the area
• Sponsored accommodation and funding to ensure the provision of 1,500 medical gowns-per-day to local hospitals via The Fashion School. Over 32,000 gowns were delivered during the peak of the crisis
• A commitment to implement a dedicated destination marketing, events and tourism programme, over the next three years