Non-Executive Board Members

As with many organisations, the pandemic had sudden and significant implications for Coin Street. We had to shift daily, face-to-face community groups online, and saw our income drop from lack of footfall to Central London. As our community faced loss of jobs, closure of schools and isolation, we partnered with local business and organisations to provide over 16,000 meals, 1,000 activity care packages and are collaborating as part of the new Waterloo Community Resilience Hub to support the local recovery effort. More recently we have again adapted to the needs of our community: reaching out to Afghan refugee arrivals and preparing to support families from Ukraine. Longer term, we have consent to build a new public swimming pool and leisure centre along with flats as part of phase two of a development site on Doon Street. We are also raising funds to enhance the public park of Bernie Spain Gardens.

This is an incredibly exciting time to join us as a Non-Executive Board Member to support Coin Street to achieve these plans. Our boards play the role of a critical friend, advising on vision, connectivity, governance, and strategy, ensuring Coin Street remains true to its community mission, is well run and successful. As some of our members are due to rotate off the Board and following a recent skills audit, our CSCB board is now recruiting.

We are looking for people who live in North Southwark or Waterloo (North Lambeth); local lived experience is so important to us it is enshrined in our organisation’s legal framework. We are particularly interested in those with experience in Finance & Treasury; Audit & Risk and/or Corporate Services (Legal, Health & Safety, IT) as well as those with a commercial background in landlord tenancy, conferencing, and events.

We want to better reflect the community that we serve, and we particularly encourage applications from Black, Asian, and other Minority Ethnic groups, women, and members of the LGBTQ+ community who are currently underrepresented on our boards. As a community-based organisation, we are also keen to see applications from those with experience of community development initiatives as well as those with knowledge of Waterloo and North Southwark neighbourhoods.

Coin Street is one of Europe’s largest social developments. Located on London’s iconic Southbank – and established in 1984 – its 13-acre site is at the heart of a thriving neighbourhood with co-operative homes, parks and gardens, shops and design studios, galleries, restaurants, a family and children’s centre, sports pitches, and a range of community programmes and activities.

Coin Street is overseen by three independent organisations working together: Coin Street Community Builders (CSCB), Coin Street Secondary Housing Co-operative (CSS) and Coin Street Centre Trust (CSCT). These organisations are governed by voluntary boards, made up of members from the local community and experts from the sectors in which we work. All three organisations are served by a single staff team, employed by CSCB. Coin Street’s vision is one where diverse groups of people come together to live, work and play. We generate around 75% of our income from commercial activities and then reinvest the majority of those funds back into our community.