Why I started Estavelle

I’m Jamie Pratt. I started Estavelle because I’m fed up with how hard it can be for people trying to make something work in Britain.

An owner has space they could offer. A business needs somewhere to work or grow. There may be a useful arrangement between them, but someone still has to find it, understand what each side needs and work through the obstacles.

Too often, that becomes another job for people who already have enough to do.

My background is in development and construction project management. My degree is in building surveying, and my work has involved housing sites, historic buildings and operational aerodromes. Much of it comes down to practical questions: what is possible here, what must keep working, who needs to be involved and what would make the proposal worth doing?

Estavelle brings that approach to owners and independent businesses. We assess possible uses, find businesses whose requirements could fit, and help turn a promising match into a proposal you can judge. You decide what space to offer and the terms you would accept. The business runs its operation.

If you already have an agent, accountant or solicitor, we work alongside them. The aim is to make a worthwhile opportunity easier to assess and deliver.

And the work does not become less important after an agreement is signed. More space may be needed. Access may have to change. A renewal will come around. We agree our role at the start, but the principle stays the same: we should make the arrangement easier to manage and more worthwhile to keep.

This is a commercial business. Estavelle earns through the arrangements it helps create and support, and landowners pay no Estavelle fee. Your first desktop Asset Passport is free because it gives you something useful on which to judge us before deciding whether to go further.

Estavelle is new. I won’t ask you to take its usefulness on trust. I’ll explain the thinking, show you what we know and what we still need to establish, and be straight with you if an opportunity doesn’t justify the work.

I don’t think we should have to wait for everything around us to get easier before making better use of what is already here. There are capable people on both sides. I want to help them get something worthwhile working.