Stokes heralds new era for business centres
June 5th, 2008 | by James Welch
The new Chairman of the Business Centre Association (BCA), has declared the sector to be on the cusp of an exciting new era, and has the opportunity to play a significant role in boosting the UK’s economy and supporting the commercial property occupier market.
Despite of the continued downturn in the commercial property sector, with the conventional office market shrinking and the gloomy forecasts for the UK economy, Tom Stokes believes the prospects for the business centre sector have never looked so healthy - the industry has now “come of age.”
The sector has undergone major growth in recent years, a trend which shows no signs of slowing down. There are currently around 650 BCA member locations across the UK, providing over 40 million sq ft of office space to 40,000 SME-sized business occupiers. The sector is forecast to experience an overall growth of 3% over the course of the next twelve months.
In a rallying call to operators of serviced offices and managed business space, Stokes said: “In these uncertain economic times, it is inconceivable that occupiers will want to tie themselves in to lengthy and costly leaseholds. Companies, particularly start ups and SMEs, require flexibility in their leases, transparent costs and business support – the touchstones for any successful serviced office operator”.
“Larger companies and corporates will also be thinking twice about entering into long term commitments and serviced offices and managed workshops will be a favourable option in these unpredictable times”.
“For too long business centres have been the poor relation in the commercial property industry family. This is now changing, it is one of the best performing, prime growth sectors and has a key role to play in providing practical, flexible workspace solutions to meet the needs of modern day business operating in the current economic climate.
He continued: “While the conventional office market continues to struggle, the time has come for the flexible managed space sector to come to the fore. While there is a real problem of considerable oversupply of conventional office space, the opposite is true of serviced offices, which face the challenge of keeping up with overwhelming demand.”
Tom Stokes is Managing Director of Evans Easyspace, the UK’s leading provider of office and workshop space for small and growing businesses, says his company continues to receive a growing number of enquiries for flexible space, and will be opening eight new business centres across the country in the next three months. This is a trend – growing demand, increase in lettings and development of more space – which is reflected across the sector.
In addition to increasing the profile of business centres, Tom will also strive to increase overall quality standards in the sector. He is aiming to introduce greater transparency to help occupiers when selecting a new workplace, by implementing uniform classification to benchmark business centres according to the facilities offered and level of service provided. In a similar vein to the one to five star measurement adopted by hotels, and would be independently regulated for members of the BCA.
He will also be representing the sector in developing closer relationships with local authorities, where he believes there should be greater collaboration in developing workspace.
He said: Working in conjunction with local authorities it will benefit all elements of the community, leading to the creation of new and innovative flexible space that will meet the demands of businesses. I would like to see a wholesale change of the role of public bodies in the provision of space for the SME sector. They should cease trying to be direct providers, and focus on making land and premises available, and where possible work in partnership with the private sector.”
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