Privacy notice

Our parent company is Circular UK Limited, company number 12510936, registered at Unit 1, 218 Kingsland Road, London E2 8DB. Where we use the words “HOT Spaces”, “we”, “us” and “our”, we are referring to Circular UK Limited.

HOT Spaces works with landlords to transform disused and underused space into coworking spaces focused on the impact economy. Our spaces provide our members with a community of purpose-driven businesses in a tech-forward, wellness-focused and thought-provoking environment.

If you have any questions about how we use your personal information or how we comply with our responsibilities, please email hello@circularuk.com or hello@hotspaces.org.

We may hold personal information relating to you from a number of sources:

• When you give it to us directly — for example, when you contact us with a query, ask for information about becoming a member, or sign up to our mailing list.
• When we obtain it indirectly — for example, a colleague of yours may have suggested that you would be interested in hearing about our spaces.
• When it is available publicly — depending on your privacy settings for social media services, we may access information from those accounts.
• When you visit the website — we automatically collect certain technical information, including your IP address and recent activity. We also use cookies to assist with the functioning of the website.

The personal information that we collect and use about individuals includes, but is not restricted to:

• name
• contact details (email, phone and address)
• role within your organisation
• social media handles
• records of your correspondence with us
• your marketing preferences
• any other information you may provide

If you contact us for any other reason we will collect your name, email and any information you provide to us as part of our correspondence.

Data protection law recognises that certain categories of personal information are sensitive and therefore require more protection. These categories include information about your race or ethnic origins, political opinions, sex life or sexual orientation, religious beliefs and health data. There are further rules concerning the use of criminal data.

We will not usually collect this type of data from you. We will only process this data if there is a valid reason for doing so and where the law allows it — for example, if we host an event at one of our spaces that you wish to attend, we may request your explicit consent to collect accessibility and dietary information.

When you give us your personal details you may receive follow-up information from us directly, including news about HOT Spaces in general as well as about any specific space you’ve enquired about. Some of these communications are administrative; others are marketing focused.

In general, we will only send marketing materials to your personal email address where you’ve requested to receive it. However, if you have made a purchase from us in the past or contacted us in relation to one of our services, we may contact you in the future about similar services. We may also send marketing materials to your work email address if we feel you may be interested in hearing more about our work.

We provide easy ways to stop our marketing, and you can opt out at any time. To opt out of emails, click the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our messages.

We use the personal information collected through the website:

• to provide you with information about HOT Spaces, our membership options and any other information you requested, and to communicate with you in general
• to arrange visits to HOT Spaces
• to arrange for your attendance at events held at HOT Spaces
• to promote HOT Spaces, for example through our social media platforms
• to analyse, evaluate and improve our services and spaces
• to provide updates on our work
• to conduct administrative tasks such as keeping track of activities and ensuring feedback has been addressed
• to satisfy legal obligations which are binding on us
• for research purposes
• for the prevention of fraud or misuse of services
• for the establishment, defence or enforcement of legal claims

We are required to rely on one or more lawful grounds to collect and use personal information. We consider the following grounds relevant:

• Legitimate interests — where applicable law allows us to collect and use personal information for our or another person’s legitimate interests, and the use is fair, balanced and does not unduly impact your rights.
• Consent — where we ask for your consent for a specific purpose. You always have the right to withdraw your consent.
• Contract — where it is necessary to use your personal information to fulfil a contract with you, or to take steps at your request prior to entering into one.
• Legal obligation — where processing is necessary for us to comply with a legal obligation to which we are subject.

The personal information we hold about you will be provided to our staff, and to our members where relevant. We operate each of our spaces through separate wholly owned companies, so if you express interest in a particular space we will share your details with that space. If you visit a space, we will provide your information to the relevant company as well as the landlord, if the landlord has requested information about those visiting the site.

We may disclose your personal information to selected third-party processors (for example, the company which provides technical support for the website). The third party will be required to use any personal information they receive in accordance with our instructions. If we share your information with any other third party, we will let you know in advance where reasonably possible.

We reserve the right to disclose your personal information to third parties:

• in the event that we buy or sell any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal information to the prospective buyer or seller
• if substantially all of our assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal information held by us may be one of the transferred assets
• with our professional advisors, e.g. lawyers, where necessary to protect our interests
• if we are under any legal or regulatory obligation to do so
• in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings, in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights

You will never receive marketing from other companies or organisations as a result of giving your details to us.

The website is hosted in the European Economic Area, however our membership and the landlords with whom we work may be located around the world. This means it is possible that personal information we collect from you will be transferred to and stored in a location outside the UK or the EEA.

Where your personal information is transferred, stored or otherwise processed outside the UK or EEA in a country which does not offer an equivalent standard of protection, we will take all reasonable steps necessary to ensure that the recipient implements appropriate safeguards designed to protect your personal information.

We will keep your personal information only for as long as required in connection with the purposes for which it was collected or is used. We may retain information for longer where we are required to do so in accordance with legal or regulatory requirements, such as tax and accounting, or so that we have an accurate record of your dealings with us in the event of any complaints or challenges.

When we use your personal information you have the right to:

• ask us for confirmation of what personal information we hold about you, and request access to a copy of that information
• request that we erase the personal information we hold about you, as far as we are legally required to do so
• ask that we correct any personal information that we hold about you which you believe to be inaccurate
• object to the processing of your personal information where we process on the basis of legitimate interests, use it for direct marketing, or use it for research purposes
• ask for the provision of your personal information in a machine-readable format (the data portability right)
• ask for processing of your personal information to be restricted if there is disagreement about its accuracy or legitimate usage

Where we rely on your consent, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time. If you decide you do not want to receive any further communications from us, please tell us.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant data protection supervisory authority. In the UK this is the Information Commissioner’s Office, at ico.org.uk/concerns.

We may update this notice. If we update it in a way that significantly changes how we use your personal information, we will bring these changes to your attention where reasonably possible. Otherwise, you can access the latest version of this notice on our website.