Photo by Colin OʼBrien
The History of Containerville
The concept for Containerville was born out of the desire to make a collective workspace in a former Victorian Era corner of East London. It was a bit of an experiment - how do we marry our many years of knowledge in the property industry with our passion for supporting small businesses? The answer: provide affordable, flexible and easy-to-move-into workspaces. And it just so happened that the best, ‘meanwhile’ solution was pre-loved shipping containers.
In an area of London known for it’s creative, diverse vibe, our upcycled shipping containers grew in popularity until we decided to acquire adjoining sites to replicate the original scheme. And so, Emma St Containerville was created. What was an experiment has now flourished into a vibrant community of 200 small businesses where derelict, unusable space previously stood.
The Team
Alex Bard
Founder
Alex is the founder of Containerville as well as The Max Barney Estate and Foundation. A chartered surveyor by training, he has worked in the commercial property sector for over 20 years.
Alex continues to oversee the continual development of the business.
Shraga Zaltzman MBE
CEO
Shraga joined The Max Barney Estate in 2017 and has led the development and expansion of Containerville.
As well as running Containerville, Shraga is also Director of The Max Barney Foundation, the philanthropic arm of The Max Barney Estate, that supports charitable initiatives around the world focused primarily on employment.
Shraga has always been passionate about small businesses and in 2016 was awarded and MBE from the Queen for services to enterprise and employment.
Office: 020 7583 5555
Olga is in charge of all enquiries, viewings and lettings. She is the one to contact if you’re interested in taking a space with us.
She also facilitates communications within Containerville, which in turn feeds into nurturing a healthy community.
Office: 020 7583 5555
Mobile: 07469 149024
Olga Wojciechowska
Lettings Manager
Lee Papadopoulos
Estate Manager
Lee is the Estate Manager for Containerville and is the port of call for all day to day onsite operations.
Lee has significant property management and construction experience and brings a wealth of knowledge in these areas to Containerville.
Based onsite at Unit 1 on Emma Street, he is there to ensure that the day to day experience at Containerville is a positive one.
Mobile: 07471 352 784
The Containerville Social and Economic Impact Report
Small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy and these are often the high growth firms that end up creating the jobs needed to sustain our livelihoods. This was the inspiration for the decision to establish Containerville, a community workspace for the 21st century situated in an area of London that had fallen on hard times.
Helping small businesses thrive is essential for creating jobs that are vital for people’s wellbeing and the establishment of strong and stable communities. It is easy to forget that giant corporations such as Amazon and Apple were themselves built on the success of small businesses using their platforms to sell their wares.
Our Social and Economic Impact report shows, almost 350 jobs have been created by the companies at Containerville since it started in 2015, which have in turn helped to sustain other jobs in the area.
We are not seeking unicorns — although we would love to nurture businesses that end up being worth $1 billion – rather, we are focused on helping what we call the ACES — Authentic, Connected, Entrepreneurial and Supportive businesses.