This is the company formed to take over the old Network Rail properties [which were owned by the nation] after that idiot scumbag chancellor Osborne decided to sell them off on 125-year leases, to an Amercian consortium comprising Blackstone and the Pears soap family - so another load of money flowing out of the UK. There was NO opportunity for individual UK tenants to lease these, as the deal was done for every single Network Rail property, as a whole. When they took over the leases, Arch Co immediately began massively increasing rents, bullying, threatening and intimidating tenants, both directly and via the parasitical third-party surveyor companies they use, such as [in my case] Grant Mills Wood. We have been a Network Rail tenant for over 20 years, which apparently counts for nothing, and Arch Co trebled our current rent [from £59k to £171K], forcing us to look for new premises out of London, where we have been for 20 years, and to make cuts to our workforce. There are a wealth of empty arches around us, and indeed all over London, where Arch Co have employed this "pay it or f off" tactic - they seemingly could not care less about long term tenants, or keeping the arches let out, as they have VERY deep pockets and their attitude seems to be that they would rather leave arches standing empty, to be able to justify the mouth-watering and extortionate rents they are charging others, than let them out or renew at a fair rent. My advice to anyone reading this review whilst considering renting premises from Arch Co is - STOP! DONT DO IT! Because if you do get any sort of initial deal from them [or think you have!] - such as a "reduced" rent initially, or a [tiny] rent free period whilst you are setting the business up, then you will pay for this long term. You will have a 3 yearly rent review, and once your business is established, and it is difficult, time consuming and costly to re-locate your operation then Arch Co will start tightening the screw on you. This will not only ultimately cost you a lot financially in higher rent, but will cost you loads of time yourself in dealing with it [detracting from trying to actually run your business] and an absolute fortune in surveyors and lawyer's costs fighting Arch Co. In my case, it has also cost me 3 years of stress and sleepless nights. There is a wealth of other commercial premises available, from a whole host of smaller, private, commercial landlords who will value your tenancy and custom and do all they can to retain tenants who pay on time and don't cause any problems - as is the case with most normal thinking and fair landlords. The Arch Co certainly do not fall into this category, and if there is any justice in this world, they will lose all their tenants eventually, the gravy train will hit the buffers, and their staff along with the third-party parasite industry that supports them will all find themselves out of a job. How I will laugh when that day comes.
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The Arch Company is the UK's largest provider of properties for small and medium businesses. We have arches, small offices, warehouses and other industrial units to let. We're responsible for 5,200 properties across England and Wales and 23 million sq. ft of lettable space. Two thirds of our properties are in London with others concentrated in metropolitan centres like Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, Newcastle, and Bristol. The Arch Company is investing £200 million into Project 1000, which will create space for 1,000 businesses by 2030. This will support approximately 5,000 jobs and add to the estimated 25,000 people already employed in arch businesses. The Arch Company exists to make space for businesses to thrive.See more
