David Brown is in the business of transforming buildings into places of belonging. He and his wife Ashley opened a co-working space in Queen’s Park right before lockdown and after gradually building a tightly woven network, they’ve since opened two other sites in Spitalfields and Chiswick. 

David is someone who looks beyond bricks and mortar to understand how a building can become a space where businesses grow, teams thrive and people dream. We spoke to David about his career trajectory and the differences between a place and a non-place.

Can you briefly describe your career background and how you came to start Good Space?

I started working in finance, which was fulfilling to an extent but I wanted to be in a position where I could talk about the thing I’d built. 

I then left finance to start an apparel company. We made clothes for outdoor sports, like running and hiking with a line of different items from T-shirts to sweatpants. While running the business, I realised I didn’t love sourcing products from elsewhere because I wanted to create a thing rather than just create a brand that marketed a thing. 

It was this desire that prompted me to set up a manufacturing company based in the US. But instead of clothes, I went into producing home decor for cushion covers and other soft furnishings. I ran the business and grew it for a while but I realised I wasn’t using my core skillset of creating and planning. I’m less operationally minded so once the business was on its feet, I needed to transition! 

Looking for our next adventure, my wife and I decided to pack up our young family and move across the pond to London. We gravitated towards Queen’s Park – an area with a real sense of community spirit characterised by residential streets, a thriving high street and the park itself. It was while walking around the neighbourhood’s tree-lined streets that we decided to make our home here.

How do you find the spaces that become Good Spaces?

Initially, we just went on gut feeling and we knew we wanted to be in Queen’s Park. We viewed every building available on the market at the time. Lonsdale Road – a pedestrianised street just off the main drag of Salusbury Rd – was in the middle of being revitalised and it was here where we found the empty site that would become the first Good Space. 

The building was brick and steel and dirt but I could immediately see the layout of where desks and communal areas should be. It’s the prototype but it’s not easily replicated because London is really a city of villages. There are all these little communities connected by a bus, train or bike ride away, but it really does feel like each neighbourhood has its own personality. So it wouldn't make any sense to copy the Queen’s Park Good Space and paste it to a different spot in the city. 

The common thread between our three co-working sites is that they’re all in neighbourhoods that have a strong community feel. 

Sometimes we’ll find a lead on a building simply by starting a conversation and it’s amazing to see where these chance encounters can take us. We always have our eyes peeled for buildings that have stories and character. 

How do you want people to feel when they work/visit one of your co-working spaces?

One of the key components of what we do is to think of our co-working buildings more as hospitality than property. Our business is very much built on relationships and connecting people. We don’t have a reception space at any of our sites because we want people to feel at ease, and comfortable and that you’re welcome. 

You say The Good Space is for “the thinkers, dreamers, doers”, what does this look like?

Hopefully, that line captures almost everyone. Everyone in an aspirational sense at least. Whether it’s something big or small, we want to encourage people to embrace their dreams. The secret superpower of getting anything done is taking one small step. Doing a little thing that moves you even just a little bit closer towards your big end goal is a large part of getting just an inch towards the thing you’re dreaming of. 

Aside from your own spaces, what in your mind makes a good space?

There is a difference between a place and a non-place. Think of parks, restaurants, outdoor markets, meeting rooms, kitchens and gardens; these are places with energy where things happen. People gather, share food, do business and admire beauty. 

A non-place is a car park or a road, a vague green place like a verge, or inside, it’s a corridor or a massive lobby. These places are a means of getting to a place. Like physical pauses punctuating a punchline. At Good Space, it’s our mission to transform buildings into places of belonging. We have the idea of transforming a non-place into a place where things happen. 

We think about how we can make a building accessible and comfortable, enhancing its appeal and charm by making it useful. We want people to spend time in the places we create because it's the people who help to give a place its identity. 

We work to bring all these factors together to create a really good place; one that helps you appreciate some form of beauty, whether it’s different types of humanity, the building itself or its surroundings. A good space reminds you that there’s good in the world. 

What’s been your proudest achievement since starting The Good Space Company?

The real goal is encouraging connection and building relationships between people. We want to facilitate the kinds of relationships that shape people’s lives and we have already seen this happening in our co-working spaces. We’ve had members begin to collaborate with other members on projects, like Chris and Stuart. We had multiple sets of members become friends and go on holiday together. We also had a member called Lisa, move closer to the area so she could spend more time at the space. 

I’ve been invited to a member’s wedding and we often have members host their milestone birthday parties at the space, inviting many other members to celebrate with them. It’s an incredible thing and I’m humbled to have been able to allow it to happen under our roof!    

Find out more about Good Space here and Hanbury Hall, here. You can also sign up to What Makes Good – for a monthly dose of creative inspiration and other interesting reads.