Revealing the Life of Camley Street - ALARA by Catherine Chao

REVEALING THE LIFE OF CAMLEY STREET - ALARA BENVGPD3 Collaborative City Planning Strategies | TASK2

GROUP 4 Nixon AU | Catherine CHAO | Sannie CHUNG | Kai Lok WONG

BENVGPD3 Collaborative City Planning Strategies | TASK2

TABLE OF CONTENT

TEAM

NIXON AU University College London BSc Urban Planning, Design & Management

CATHERINE CHAO University of Sheffield BA Urban Studies

SANNIE CHUNG

VINCENT WONG

University of Sheffield BA Urban Studies & Planning

WHAT IS ALARA?

02 02.1 02.2 02.3 02.4 02.5 02.6

SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS RAW INGREDIENTS MACHINES & EQUIPMENT MAINTENANCE PACKAGING CLIENTS & RETAILERS TRANSPORT & DELIVERY

06 08 10 11 12 13 15

03 03.1 03.2 03.3

SUSTAINABLE AGENDA ECONOMIC SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

16 16 17 17

CAMLEY STREET NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM

05 06

KEY INSIGHTS SUMMARY

19 21

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01 WHAT IS ALARA?

ALARA was originally a wholefood shop that sold mixed muesli to Community Food. Since 1983, ALARA started to provide delivery services and manufacture organic muesli. Two years later, ALARA developed its own label for natural food wholesale. And now, ALARA becomes the largest organic muesli manufacturer in England.

01 | WHAT IS ALARA?

FACTS & BACKGROUND ALEX SMITH FOUNDER

EMPLOYEES

110 Camley St. King’s Cross

WHAT IS ALARA?

LOCATION

1,580 m2

FACTORY FLOOR AREA

6 PRODUCTION LINE

ALEX SMITH MR. SUSTAINABILITY Most sustainable food manufacturer on world

60-70 tons (pw)

PRODUCTION CAPACITY

ALARA is the largest organic manufacturer in England. The company was founded in 1976 by Alex Smith and his wife. ‘AL’ stands for Alex, ‘ARA’ is the name of another founder Ciara. The world ALARA also means “corn garden” in Hebrew. In 2009 Alex was nominated as the London Leader for Sustainability by Boris Johnson, he is also being referred to in different media as Mr. Sustainability.

Over 250

NUMBER OF PRODUCT

START UP STORY

In 1975, Alex and his wife found two £1 notes in Tolmers Square by chance in Central London.

He started picking up thrown away vegetable and fruits, borrowed a van from his friend and used the 2 pounds as an entry fee to the New Covent Garden Market for wholesale activities.

By doing wholesale activities in the New Covent Garden Market, Alex and his wife gained profit with £2-5 a day.

Later, they began to make self-bake bread and sell in the market as well as wholesaling beans & rice. Their business had grown to a profit of £40 per day. This is how they start Alara.

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PAST LOCATION

PRODUCTS In order to accommodate the growing demand and scale of business, Alex has become a brick-and-mortar retailer ever since 1976, and had his first shop in Tolmers Square. After that, his company moved to Cromer Street in 1977, and then to Marchmont Street in 1981. Since 1983, ALARA have settled in the current site, King’s Cross Camley Street.

01 | WHAT IS ALARA?

CAMLEY STREET (1983-present)

GRANOLA

ALARA produces more than 250 varieties of organic products, including Muesli, superfoods, granola, porridge & cereal based snacks.

PORRIDGE

MUESLI

TOMLERS SQUARE (1976-77)

MARCHMONT STREET (1981-83)

ORGANISATION HIERARCHY This following shows the organisation chart of ALARA, with Alex and his wife as the founder and managing director respectively. The company is divided into two domains with one managerial tier dealing with technical, finance, marketing and warehouse matters as well as in charge of the administrative team. Another managerial tier handles manufacturing matters with a production team.

UNIQUE SELLING POINT (USP) Unique Selling Point is the method and measure for a company to differentiate its brands from its competitors. The most notable Unique Selling Point of ALARA is that its products are 100% organic. Also ALARA has a number of notable ‘firsts’. Since 1988, ALARA has affiliated with the Soil Association and has certified its organic products. By 2000, ALARA has been awarded the BRC Certification which recognises their food safety standard regionally and globally. ALARA is the first in being: - A certified fair trade cereal manufacturer in the world - A zero waste food manufacturer in the world; and - A manufacturer in making certified ‘free-from’ cereal in the world In addition, ALARA specialise in long tail business. Alex restructured his business in 1995 and has been concentrating on muesli manufacturing ever since. He shifted his products away from focusing on a relatively small number of mainstream markets at the head of the demand curve and towards a larger number of niches in the tail.

DEMAND

CROMER STREET (1977-81)

Joint and certificated by Soil Association 4

CEREAL BAR

BRC Food Safety Standard

HEAD

LONG TAIL PRODUCT

Long Tail Business Model

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MANUFACTURING PROCEDURE

The ALARA factory has two levels: first level consists of spaces for manufacturing, storage, office and employee space; second level are mainly for storage and manufacturing of products only. Activities and jobs dominantly take place on the first level.

4 3

ORDER RAW MATERIAL Deliver to factory Quality Check Pick up raw material by forklift truck

MIXING MACHINE Mixing & Blending

HOPPER & LINEAR WEIGHER

FOLD FILM & SEAL

After ALARA received recipe and orders, raw ingredients are picked up using forklift trucks and are placed into the mixer machine for blending and mixing. The ingredients are then carried to the hopper, and being checked on a linear weigher that is electrically connected to a fold film and seal machine. After metal detection and weight checking, products in bags will be placed into printed or labelled boxes manually, pass through a date machine, box line, and finally into the portion pack line. For products in jars, the whole process will be filled and labelled manually in a separate station. All products are packed into large boxes and bring to the outer cart, and are ready to be delivered and exported.

Metal Detection & Weight Checking

4 MANUFACTURE OFFICE STORAGE EMPLOYEE SPACE

1 Mixing Machine & Linear 2 Hopper Weigher

PACKAGING & LABELLING

70%

LOCAL

30%

OVERSEAS

DELIVER TO CUSTOMERS

3 Fold Film & Seal & 4 Packaging Labelling

4 5

01 | WHAT IS ALARA?

SPATIAL CONFIGURATION OF FACTORY

02 SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

EDIENT R G S N &

NT RE

TA X

RAW

RESOURCES & SERVICE PROVIDER

IMPORT GLOBAL

FREIGHT & CARGO

ALARA

PRODUCTION FLOW 6

RY E

DEL T & IV R O

OURC E ES S R HUM AN

UK ORGANIC LOCAL FARM

TRANS P

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

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Employee

ANCE EN T

ENT M IP U

EXPORT

In order to understand who is dependent on ALARA and who are the suppliers and service providers of ALARA, we have gathered data on the suppliers of raw ingredients, machines and equipment, machine maintenance services, packaging, transport and delivery by interviewing Alex Smith. We have also looked at the clients and retailers of ALARA to get a grasp of the types of products and its targeted market groups. With the data available from Alex and online, we have found that there are a total of 192 suppliers, and 276 UK and global clients and retailers associated with ALARA.

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

MA IN

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NE HI C A

MUSELI

ING AG K C

MUSELI

UK REGION 70%

OVERSEAS 30%

MUSELI

EXPORT

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CLIENT S

UK REGION

MA I

NT ME P I

P A

The maps illustrate that most of the suppliers are located in the south-earth and south-west part of the UK. While around 40% (18 units) of them are managed physically independently, 60% (24 units) of them are operated as a business G that ALARA is linking GIN NE cluster. the fact ANCE up its own business HI This demonstratesKA EN C T C A network with the wider business clusters in London and in the UK in order to N MUSELI form a greater bond of the enterprises partnership locally. M

EQ U

There are inIVtotal inAIthe providing raw materials to T LE UK and global DEL ER 76 suppliers RE RENT & R & & ALARA. While there are 42 UK-based suppliersX with 8 of them in London and T the rest of them in other parts of the UK, there are 29 non-UK based suppliers, and 5 multinational suppliers to support the ingredient needs by ALARA.

NSPO RA R T

IENTS ED R G

RAW

02.1 RAW INGREDIENTS Y

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

UK REGION SUPPLIER

LONDON SUPPLIER

LONDON

Trojan Business Centre

Sheraton Business Centre Action Park Industrial Estate

LONDON

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GLOBAL SUPPLIER

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

GLOBAL

BASE OF SUPPLIER

TOTAL 76

LEGEND Range of ingredients in terms of supplied by each country

LONDON

NON-UK 29

UK 34

LESS

MULTINATIONAL 5

UK 11% CHINA 8%

OTHER

COUNTRIES

71%

USA 5%

PERU 5%

EXAMPLE OF RAW INGREDIENTS

GLOBAL UK

LONDON CAMDEN

CAMLEY STREET

In terms of the origin of the ingredient, the thermal map illustrates the amount of raw materials species supplied by different countries. While the map shows that UK, China, United States and Peru are the independent countries supplying the broadest range of raw ingredients to ALARA in terms of their categories and species, they are merely taking up 29% of the ingredient species in total of the full ingredient list in ALARA. It demonstrates that the product of ALARA does not only relied on any single country or supplier as their ingredients are fairly and equally imported and supplied by an array of countries where far from the Western Europe, to the North and South American, and to the far East. Most importantly, the map illustrated that ALARA is not only contributing to the local society, local economy and the networking of countries, yet the knock-on effect generated through international trading with ALARA has also been influential to those countries in the global context.

45% FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES

10%

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

45% 9

VE R

ILE R

NE HI C A

GING KA C

LONDON SUPPLIER

RENT

UK REGION SUPPLIER

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES NANCE

MUSELI

According to the data provided by ALARA, there are a total of 58 suppliers for manufacturing machines and equipments, office supplies and miscellaneous items that are a part of muesli production. More than half of them are based in the UK, mainly evenly spread across the south and centre eBAY of England. 26% are located in London, mainly in areas near the London Borough of Camden. Some other notable suppliers are those from abroad (France and Germany), and multinational companies.Also 20 of the 58 have warehouses or offices located in either industrial estates or business parks, this could reflect that ALARA, being in an industrial estate, has formed a strong network with businesses in other industrial estates in other parts of the UK in which could be indirectly contributing to their local economy as well.

North Tyne Industrial Estate

MA I

NT ME P I

P A

02.2 MACHINES & EQUIPMENT EQ U

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

RAW

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CLIENT S

NSPO RA R T

E R G

E T N

Online AMAZON

DELL HP 30 ofﬁces and facilities 64 ofﬁces wordwide worldwide

Heysham Business Park UK REGION

EXAMPLE OF MACHINES & EQUIPMENT

Portland Business Park Holbrook Enterprise Park Parkgate Industrial Estate

Park View Business Centre

Business: CLEARMARK

Sherwood Business park

Shire Business Park Warehouse Shelving

Forklift Truck Sherwood Business Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DT Since 1995 70+ businesses

Hopper & Mixer Machine

Roughmoor Williton Industrial Estate

Dale Hall Industrial Estate

LONDON

Warren Business Park

1.2 million sq ft of ofﬁce, industrial and warehouse space

Milling Machine

Washford Industrial Estate

Telford Way Industrial Estate

Ebblake Industrial Estate

GLOBAL SUPPLIER GLOBAL UK

LONDON

Uxbridge Industrial Estate

Camley Street / Cedar Way Industrial Estate Bow Triangle Business Centre Cross Ways Business Park Orpington Business Park

LONDON CAMDEN

GLOBAL

GERMANY

CAMLEY STREET

62%

26% 4%

MACHINES SUPPLIER & EQUIPMENTS MANUFACTURES SUPPLIERS & MANUFACTURES INDUSTRIAL ESTATES FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

FRANCE

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

BUSINESS PARK

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MA I

ANCE EN T N

Whilst there may be a great demand for machines and equipments in ALARA, the need for machine maintenance services are comparatively less pressing. There are a total of 8 machine maintenance service providers hired by ALARA. 5 of them are located in the UK and none of them are based anywhere in London. The closest maintenance provider to ALARA is called JS Services which is located in Middlesex. However we are unable to assume nor conclude that JS Services might be the provider ALARA relies on the most. This is because there are two multinational companies who owns a number of branches across the UK, and could provide a wider range of services also provide ALARA with maintenance services.

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES

Eastman

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

02.3 MAINTENANCE

Ofﬁces in USA, Hong Kong, Ningbo, India, and Bangladesh

Chiorino

Afﬁliated companies in 17 countries, and distributors in 50 countries

GLOBAL SUPPLIER

Molinges

GLOBAL

UK REGION SUPPLIER

FRANCE

The Grange Industrial Park

GLOBAL UK

UK REGION

LONDON CAMDEN

Bingham Industrial Estate Meridian Business Park

MAINTENANCE SERVICE PROVIDERS

CAMLEY STREET

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

EQUIPMENTS MACHINES SUPPLIERS & SUPPLIER & MANUFACTURESMANUFACTURES INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

62%

FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

BUSINESS PARK

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

LONDON

38%

CLIENT S

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UK REGION SUPPLIER

GING KA C MUSELI

With regard to the following analysis, 29 companies are found associated with ANC E EN T packaging matters such as labelling and printing and 22 of them are based ALARAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s N in the UK. As illustrated from the maps, most of the packaging companies are lying within Midland area and the southern part of the country while the remaining are located in the United States, India and few are widely spread over the world. Particularly, nearly half of the UK based companies are found located in either industrial estates or business parks, in which reflects a relational network pattern with ALARA and the Cedar way Industrial Estate. MA I

P A

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

02.4 PACKAGING

MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES BEARDOW & ADAMS

6 OFFICES WORLD-WIDE

GLOBAL UK

AMCOR MPS

66 OFFICES WORLD-WIDE

UK REGION

Globe Lane Industrial Estate

LONDON CAMDEN

286 OFFICES WORLD-WIDE

CAMLEY STREET

Chapter Avenue Industrial Estate

69%

LONDON SUPPLIER

Macmerry Business Park

Claverings Industrial Estate

Oakham Business Park

Meridian Business Park Harrow Brook Industrial Estate Gold Nersury Business Park

Spring Valley Road Industrial Estate Swansea Enterprise Park

Manor Trading Estate

LONDON

24%

GLOBAL SUPPLIER

COMPETITORS

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

MACHINES SUPPLIER & MANUFACTURES FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

GLOBAL

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS MAINTENANCE SERVICE PROVIDERS INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

EQUIPMENTS SUPPLIERS & MANUFACTURES

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

BUSINESS PARK

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UK REGION RETAILER

TAIL RE ER

ALARA asEaNT UK-based manufacturer is majorly relied on UK customers (70%) and R & 48%X of which are located mainly in South-eastern and South-western part of the UK. Not only ALARA is supported by the local retailers, but also global retailers (30%) that 75% of them are sold solely by retailers in Spain. Based on the following statistics and analysis, it is found that ALARA is relying on both local retailers and overseas retailers. Although 70% of products are sold in the UK area, only 30% of those are sold through UK retailers as branded products and the remaining 70% are own-labelled products sold by UK large corporate clients. It is reflected that ALARA N isAconnected to different spatial level of retailers and clients, yet the level NCE E T of dependency on own-labelled clients are the highest among all. N TA

CLIENT S P A

ANCE EN

GING KA C MUSELI

MA I

VE R

LONDON SOUTH-WEST SOUTH-EAST ANGLIA WALES WEST-MIDLANDS EAST-MIDLANDS YORKSHIRE & HUMBER NORTH-WEST NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND NORTHERN IRELAND

LONDON RETAILER

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

02.5 CLIENTS & RETAILERS RENT

UK REGION

OHO Organic Stores, BIRMINGHAM

Beanfreaks Health Food Stores, CARDIFF

1 1 4

LONDON

1 2

1 LONDON

ALARA, MARCHMONT STREET

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OVERSEAS RETAILER

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

CASE STUDY From the information gathered through interviewing Alex, we know that there is an overall split between 70% own-labelled (for retailers) and 30% branded products (for clients). However in order to develop an in-depth understanding of the relationship between ALARA’s clients and retailers, an empirical research was performed in a Camden-based local retailer on Marchmont Street. Through interviewing with the shop owner and statistical investigation, ALARA is found to be one of the biggest provider, with 12 boxes of muesli stocked on shelf out of 33 in total. The shop owner informed us that ALARA’s products are some of the best sellers among the other competitors, and the purchasing preference is considered with respect to the order of price, taste and brand accordingly. It is reflected that ALARA’s niche marketing approach has enabled it to reach their targeted consumers. Yet, the competitiveness comes to be greater when comparing to the similar oat-based products such as granola, and suggests that this has an influence on product sale. Not only have muesli products been supplied, another ALARA’s branded branch ‘Off the Earth’ have also provided superfood products such as chia seeds and cocoa powder to the business(1 out of the 16 other superfood brand in the shop). According to the investigation and interview, it can be concluded that ALARA and their retailers are tightly linked, yet the dependency between them are found different with regard to their competitors, among stocks and consumers’ behaviour.

ALARA MUESLI

GLOBAL

BELGIUM FINLAND 2%

BRANDED

0.75 % CYPRUS GREECE TURKEY JAPAN KOREA JERSEY MALTA NETHERLAND PORTUGAL SLOVAKIA SLOVENIA SWEDEN

30 %

OWN-LABELLED

OFF THE EARTH

70%

IRELAND IRELAND 10% 4% 4% 10%

SPAIN 75% GLOBAL UK

LONDON CAMDEN

CLIENTS

ALARA

OFF THE EARTH

CUSTOMERS

ALARA MUESLI 36%

94%

OTHER SUPPERFOOD BRAND

ALL CEREAL BRAND

64% OTHER MUESLI BRAND

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

MACHINES SUPPLIER & MANUFACTURES

FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS

COMPETITORS

UK RETAILERS

CAMLEY STREET NON-UK RETAILERS

EQUIPMENTS SUPPLIERS & MANUFACTURES

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

BUSINESS PARK

48% 3%

MAINTENANCE SERVICE PROVIDERS

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

48%

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GING KA C MUSELI

MA I

NE HI C A

ALARA delivers its product to customers either by freight or cargo. There TAIL RE ER RENT & that support the transport and delivery serare &in total of 17 companies X vices of ALARA. According to the information provided by ALARA, all delivery and transport service provider are based within the UK, majority of them are located in East Midlands and outer London. In addition, over half of these service providers are based in a business / industrial cluster.

CLIENT S

DELIVE R

P A

NSPO RA R T

INDUSTRIAL SHIPPING & ESTATE DELIVERY SERVICE BUSINESS PROVIDERS MACHINES PARK SUPPLIER & CUSTOMERS

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS

89%

COMPETITORS

ANCE EN T N

MANUFACTURES

02 | SUPPLY CHAIN & CLIENTS

02.6 TRANSPORT & DELIVERY

GLOBAL UK LONDON CAMDEN CAMLEY STREET

EQUIPMENTS SUPPLIERS & MANUFACTURES

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

BUSINESS PARK

MAINTENANCE SERVICE PROVIDERS

NON-UK

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES RETAILERS

CLIENTS

UK RETAILERS

11%

DELIVERY METHOD UK REGION SUPPLIER TRUCK

Sunderland Enterprise Park

CARGO UK REGION

LONDON SUPPLIER

Business: PALLET-TRACK LONDON Fradley Distribution Park Brunel Way Spring Road Industrial Estate Birmingham International Park Business Park Bluebridge Industrial Estate

Canning Town Business Park Felthambrook Industrial Estate Spring Road Industrial Estate, Wolverhampton, WV4 6UD.

Beech Industrial Centre Apollo Business Park

LONDON

Hailey Road Business Park

03 | SUSTAINABLE AGENDA

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03 SUSTAINABLE AGENDA

ALARA is known to be a healthy, organic, and waste-free muesli manufacturer. Their Sustainability Agenda plays an important role in doing right by the planet and for the communities. We all have the responsibility and opportunity to take action on some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges. By collaborating with a number of businesses and charities, ALARA has adopted various impactful initiative to be responsible with economic, social and environmental sustainability at various scales.

1. ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY The niche market approach allows ALARA to run a credit-free business, meaning that ingredients are called in and produced only when with order. Proforma invoice is also created for newly joined companies to maintain ALARA’s credibility. To help with cash flow, shelf life and stock turn are maximised, and stock holding is minimised. ALARA is also certified by fair trade to protect their business. This way, ALARA can maintain a healthy economic status and reduce unwanted surplus. Further, it is found that 91% of people for whom Camden is their workplace live outside the borough (Camden Council, 2017, p.7). Among ALARA’s 60 staff, 10% are from London Borough of Islington, 20% are from London Borough of Camden, and the rest lives within the M25. This shows how ALARA has partly helped sustain economic value in Camden and London scale through employment of local people. ALARA has also contributed financially to London and local area through tax. There are several types of tax that ALARA have to pay, including employees national insurance rates, employees PAYE, packaging tax, corporation tax, and VAT.

Alara Net Assets

19%

2,000,000 £ 1,629,846

Company Profit

1,500,000

1,000,000 £ 60,807 Corporation Tax

500,000

2008

£ 18,674 Other Taxation & Social Security 2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

London Borough of Islington London Borough of Camden Within M25 Camden Council (2017) Camden Proﬁle. Retrieved from https://opendata.camden.gov.uk/download/9m7e-5qyt/application/pdf [accessed 18 March 2018]

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3. ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

A database is developed for ALARA that calculates or estimates the embedded CO2 equivalent in all of the food products they produce. The CO2 is then balanced with the contribution they make to a charity called Rainforest Saver that works with indigenous farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and central America to plant Inga trees (naturally nitrogen fixing crop). In addition, ALARA donates surplus ingredients and muesli to a local charity - Food For All - to distribute food to the homeless. The company also make financial donation to The Conservation Volunteer, a community volunteering charity, to fund the delivery of practical solutions for tackling challenges and issues the communities face.

To meet environmental sustainability and strengthen its value, ALARA advocates the concept of carbon neutral by using electricity vehicles. It has maintained the vision of achieving zero-waste by using sustainably produced pallets and auto-decompose packaging. Leftover food are also brought to an organic garden to maximise recycling rate. To minimise energy use, ALARA uses solar panels and at the same time working together with Ecotricity, a 100% green energy supplier, to power the warehouse and factory. Another thing that makes ALARA special is the “secret garden” behind its factory. The secret garden is being run as ‘permaculture’ - permanent agriculture - a way of using land with minimal disturbance to the natural environment. What is now the permaculture garden was in fact a strip of disused and derelict land with rubbish, rubble and health hazard. With the help of the community, the land has been transformed into a beautiful permaculture garden producing masses of fruit and vegetables. This has instigated similar projects such as growing a vineyard next to the ALARA warehouse and planting various fruit trees in an orchard. These environmental initiatives acts as an illustration of what everyone should be doing, that is to change our wasteful lifestyle, develop and promote green living, and to create a sustainable city.

INPUT

DELIVERY

PACKAGING

OUTPUT

ORGANIC GARDEN

ALARA’s ‘SECRET GARDEN’ ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY INDUSTRIAL

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY

SHIPPING & ESTATE DELIVERY SERVICE MACHINES PROVIDERS SUPPLIER & MANUFACTURES EQUIPMENTS BUSINESS SUPPLIERS & CUSTOMERS PARK MANUFACTURES FOOD RAW PROCESSING INGREDIENTS BUSINESSES MAINTENANCE PRODUCERS INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS

COMPETITORS

BUSINESS PARK

SERVICE PROVIDERS

NON-UK

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES RETAILERS

CLIENTS

UK RETAILERS

03 | SUSTAINABLE AGENDA

2. SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

04 | CAMLEY STREET NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM

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04 CALMEY STREET NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM

The Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum is formed by a group of individuals who live or work in the Camley Street and Elm Village neighbourhood area. This includes where ALARA is currently located - the Camley Street / Cedar Way Industrial Estate. Community activities such as the annual Harvest Party and Wassail Party are organised on ALARA site, which has provided a great platform for establishing stronger bonding between people and businesses within the same community. The project that the Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum is currently working on is the Camley Street Sustainable Zone. It is a project led by Alex and a few others from the industrial estate aiming to involve the local community in developing affordable housing with B1 and B2 space for business in which to secure jobs, avoid displacements, enhance the community, and generate income for Camden. This is a good example showing how future developments of neighbourhoods shaped by local people who live and work in the area can be as well-designed and planned as those carried out by outside private property developers who have minimal understanding of the people and the place.

CHRISTIAN SPENCER

CAMLEY STREET RESIDENTS / COMMUNITY

ALEX CAMLEY STREET CAMLEY STREET SMITH / CEDAR WAY NEIGHBOURHOOD INDUSTRIAL FORUM ECONOMIC ESTATE SUSTAINABILITY

INDUSTRIAL SOCIAL ESTATE SHIPPING & SUSTAINABILITY DELIVERY SERVICE MACHINES ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPLIER & PROVIDERS SUSTAINABILITY MANUFACTURES EQUIPMENTS BUSINESS SUPPLIERS & CUSTOMERS PARK MANUFACTURES FOOD RAW PROCESSING INGREDIENTS BUSINESSES MAINTENANCE PRODUCERS INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS

COMPETITORS

BUSINESS PARK

SERVICE PROVIDERS

NON-UK

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES RETAILERS

CLIENTS

UK RETAILERS

Source: (Camley Street Sustainable Zone, 2017) Camley Street Sustainable Zone (2017) Camley Street Sustainable Zone website. Retrieved from http://cssz.london/ [accessed 18 March 2018] 18

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ALARA has significance to Camley Street, Camden, London, the UK, and also in global scale, and the level of contribution comes in economic, social and environmental aspects. The supply chain, retailers and clients of ALARA mainly contributed to the economic value of London, the UK and worldwide. This is evident in the use of different suppliers mainly from the rest of the UK (excluding London, Camden and Camley Street), and also multinational companies. Importing raw ingredients from and exporting products to countries around the world are also creating solid connection with the wider economy. On the other hand, strong social and environmental values are sustained in Camley Street and Camden scale through the ALARA Sustainable Agenda and the establishment and involvement of the Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum. More local based or community-led initiatives can be identified.

05 | KEY INSIGHT

05 KEY INSIGHTS Level of contribution according to spatial scale High Mid

Low Minimal

Camley Street

Camden

London

UK Region

Global

Raw Ingredients Machine & Equipment Maintenance Packaging

MUSELI

Retailers & Clients Transport & Delivery Sustainable Agenda – Economic Sustainable Agenda – Social Sustainable Agenda – Environmental Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum 19

BENVGPD3 Collaborative City Planning Strategies | TASK2

05 | KEY INSIGHT

Another insight that has been devised from our analysis on ALARA is that all stakeholders can be interdependent on each other but in varying degree of dependency supported by the Actor-network theory. For instance, ALARA might be strongly dependent on the production of own-labelled products for clients such as Waitrose, however this does not mean that the production of branded products for local independent stores is not important. ALARAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s business requires a balance of both types of products in order to run smoothly. Similarly, to a lesser extent, the local independent stores are dependent on the sales of ALARA products because they may have other products in stock at the same time. As for suppliers, this network of relationship is intensified when various businesses are located in cluster layouts (e.g. industrial estates, business park). Even through ALARA is located and operated in a small local business hub with limited physical size, this does not bound their capacity to form a wider social and economic network with other counterparts either nationally or globally to create a strong bond and ally to achieve the common goals while complement with each other.

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

RAW INGREDIENTS PRODUCERS

FOOD PROCESSING BUSINESSES

BUSINESS PARK

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

SUSTAINABLE RAW INGREDIENTS

MACHINES SUPPLIER & MANUFACTURES

BUSINESS PARK

CHRISTIAN SPENCER

INDUSTRIAL ESTATE

CAMLEY STREET / CEDAR WAY INDUSTRIAL ESTATE

DELIVERY SERVICE PROVIDERS

COMMUNITY

EQUIPMENTS SUPPLIERS & MANUFACTURES

ALEX SMITH

CAMLEY STREET NEIGHBOURHOOD FORUM

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS COMPETITORS

MAINTENANCE SERVICE PROVIDERS

NON-UK RETAILERS INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

CUSTOMERS CLIENTS

COMMUNITY 20

CAMLEY STREET RESIDENTS

UK RETAILERS

BENVGPD3 Collaborative City Planning Strategies | TASK2

06 | SUMMARY

06 SUMMARY

CAMLEY STREET RESIDENTS / COMMUNITY

CHRISTIAN SPENCER

ALEX CAMLEY STREET CAMLEY STREET SMITH / CEDAR WAY NEIGHBOURHOOD INDUSTRIAL FORUM ECONOMIC ESTATE SUSTAINABILITY

This report investigated the relationship of ALARA to the wider economy of Camley Street, Camden, London, UK and world-wide. The report is divided into three main sections, looking into the detail of ALARA’s supply chain, Sustainability Agenda and the relationship to the Camley Street Neighbourhood Forum. In terms of methodology, mapping, interviews, site visit and data analysis have been taken and visualized through infographics, maps, graphs and charts. Given reference to our findings and insight, it is explored that ALARA has a significant level of contribution in different spatial level, an interconnected relationship between the company and different stakeholders, and certain extent of influences to the networking mechanism within the cluster. At the same time, ALARA’s sustainability agenda is believed to play an important role in the cluster and form stronger actor-network. As stated by Bembenek (2015), clustering development enables the identification of sustainability value that optimise the opportunities to individuals and benefit the cluster as a whole.

ESTATES

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES

SERVICE PROVIDERS

BUSINESS PARK

NON-UK

PACKAGING SUPPLIERS

INDUSTRIAL ESTATES RETAILERS

CLIENTS

COMPETITORS

UK RETAILERS

To sum up, the interdependent and yet dependent ‘actor-network theory’ is the best way to conclude ALARA’s position in different context of economy. It is reflected that it would not be easy to establish a durable relationship between various partners to maintain such an intensive network found in ALARA, in which might not easily be found in other SMEs in any business cluster. We believed that the success of ALARA is not merely about the sustainable agendas of the company itself, yet it could be even traced back to the notion of the ‘two pounds story’ and the wider interdependent network locally and globally built up by Alex’s valuable asset of social capital we discussed in this report. GLOBAL UK

GLOBAL UK

LONDON CAMDEN

GLOBAL UK LONDON CAMDEN CAMLEY STREET

LONDON CAMDEN

CAMLEY STREET

69%

45%

10%

89% 11%

LONDON CAMDEN

26%

GLOBAL

DEL T & IV R O FREIGHT & CARGO

EXPORT

NT ME IP U

TA X

RAW

CAMLEY STREET

62% 3%

UK ORGANIC LOCAL FARM

LONDON CAMDEN

CAMLEY STREET

48%

IMPORT

ANCE EN T

GLOBAL UK

RY E

CAMLEY STREET

GLOBAL UK

NT RE

GLOBAL UK

LONDON CAMDEN

LOGISTICS

RAW MARERIAL

TRANS P

PACKAGING

EDIENT GR S N

MA IN

45%

NE HI C A

ING AG K C MUSELI

UK REGION 70%

OVERSEAS 30%

OURC E ES S R HUM AN

24%

Employee

62%

ALARA

MUSELI

48% 10%

CLIENT & RETAILER

MACHINE & EQUIPEMENT

38%

MAINTENANCE

PRODUCTION FLOW

EXPORT

REVEALING THE LIFE OF CAMLEY STREET - ALARA BENVGPD3 Collaborative City Planning Strategies | TASK2 GROUP 4 Nixon AU Catherine CHAO Sannie CHUNG Kai Lok WONG