About Wasps
Introduction Wasps, Scotland’s leading artist studio provider, has a rarely available opportunity now open to Head up our Property Team. An established social enterprise, this post is a permanent role to oversee the management and maintenance of Wasps portfolio of 20 properties across the length and breadth of Scotland. With around 1000 creative tenants from Orkney to the Scottish Borders, the role will be based in Glasgow. This is an exciting opportunity to develop your property career at a national level, while supporting Scotland’s largest cultural community, a network of professional artists, designers and creative industries. This post is supported by a Property Team, based in Glasgow, Perth and Inverness.
Background Wasps has been supporting the arts community in Scotland for 42 years. We have grown to become one of the UK’s largest studio providers and home to Scotland’s largest cultural community. We currently house 1000 visual artists, 35 arts charities and 33 creative businesses at 20 locations from the Scottish Borders to the Shetland Islands. Their work in turn touches the lives of thousands of people across Scotland and beyond.
In addition, our activities support the regeneration of many deprived communities across Scotland. We redevelop redundant, historic buildings into beautiful facilities for artists and creative industries, improving the physical appearance and economy of the communities in which they are located.
Wasps also delivers a range of arts enterprise activity including exhibition, workshop and residencies opportunities, along with professional development support for our creative tenants, delivered across our eight galleries and three residency spaces.
Our plans are exciting! We recently completed Phase 1 of Inverness Creative Academy with Phase 2 commencing onsite in January 2020. Perth Creative Exchange, our 20th property, was completed in November 2019 and are we letting spaces there presently. These projects between them will deliver over 60 new studios for artists and space for 30 creative businesses. We also have a programme of property upgrades and energy efficiency initiatives planned as part of our five-year Business Plan (2018-23) for our existing estate. The studios across our estate are presently 98% occupied with small amounts of movement managed in any quarter, a position we seek to maintain.
Wasps is a not for profit social enterprise and we are fully self- funded for our core operation from rental income. Key to our long-term future is the successful management and maintenance of our estate, ensuring our buildings remain fit for purpose and continue to provide safe, secure and inspiring spaces for our artists, makers and creative industries to work from. The Head of Property role is key to ensuring we achieve this.
More information can be found within the document below: