Eric Reynolds has been involved in numerous urban regeneration schemes since the early 1970’s, many including the practical re-use of historic buildings.  In 1972 he spearheaded the restoration of a derelict building in Clerkenwell as one of the first craft workshops in the country.  With two partners, in 1974, he started the conversion of Camden Lock, which is now one of the top tourist attractions in London.  He has repeated this success at many other locations around the country. 

He set up schemes in the Leeds Canal Basin, undertook the development of Gabriels’ Wharf and managed the refurbishment of the Bishopsgate Goodsyard,.  He initiated the Greenwich Gateway visitor welcoming attraction at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich

Those he has developed and/or runs include the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, Merton Abbey Mills, Spitalfields Old Fruit and Vegetable Market, Greenwich Market, Chelsea Farmers’ Market, Swindon Market Hall, Sneinton Market Square in Nottingham, Green Park Market in Bath, Gravesend Market, and 250 Kings Road office complex

He acts as a regeneration advisor across the country, is former Chairman of the London Safer Cities initiative and is a director and member of several other voluntary bodies.  He is Chairman of Leaside Regeneration, responsible for over £20 million of SRB 4, 5 & 6 funding.  He sat on English Heritage Working Group 5 inputting to the review Power of the Place: the Future of the Historic Environment. 

One such scheme is at Trinity Buoy Wharf, opposite the Millennium Dome.  This is the site of London’s only lighthouse, where he won a development/management competition from the LDDC to develop a centre for arts and creative activity.  This is where he pioneered the idea of converting shipping containers into buildings.  Initially creating workspace, it soon became clear that this form of building was replicable across other sites and could be put to a wide variety of uses including housing, live/work, workspace, community buildings, children’s nurseries, health & education buildings and music studios.  All these uses have been planned and/or implemented by Urban Space Management using the title “Container City”.  Eric continues to develop the concept, design and implementation of this novel form of construction.