February – Blog from a Serviced Office Tenant.

Each month we will be following 2 companies, both sharing their highs and lows and everyday business challenges, as they describe any issues or problems connected to their office any and the choices and solutions they come up with or are presented with.

The companies will remain anonymous as we want an insight into their office situation and not create a branding or P.R. exercise for them. Both are SME’s, in totally different industries where one company has decided to lease their own offices and the second is in a Serviced Office.

This is the post from the Company in a Serviced Office – they will be posting every month. We hope you enjoy the insight……………

 

February 2014

Dear Readers

If we thought January was an unpleasant month of virtually incessant rain then we can only shudder at the grimness that followed in the first two weeks of February. Our thoughts and sympathy go to all the people who have been affected by the floods.  Where our serviced offices are situated we are very close to the river Thames and only a few hundred yards from a part of the main road which remained flooded for several days. As we know the floods have been widespread but it hits home when some neighbouring towns have been severely affected:  Staines in particular, its’ name change to Staines upon Thames now seems a rather a cruel twist of fate;  Chertsey was also affected to the point where it was graced by a visit from David Cameron himself. Of course, Chertsey was once home to Keith Moon the drummer of The Who, who lived at the bottom of St Anne’s Hill where he famously drove his Rolls Royce into the lake in front of his house.  I think a visit by Keith Moon (RIP) would have been a little more exciting. [NB. There may be some readers who have no idea who Keith Moon is so I will refer you to Wikipedia for any further enlightenment.]

 

 

Fortunately for us the site and office building remained unaffected. My only immediate observation was that a number of umbrellas exchanged hands in a communal effort of camaraderie among the tenants for the short walk to Waitrose to get lunch. On this point I would like to point out how much better equipped women are when facing the elements and thus in the event I have left my umbrella in my car (almost always) I resort to our nearest and dearest Cagney, Lacey and Stacie. Other than an umbrella fit for a Widow Twankey audition the girls seem to have a comprehensive range to suit most needs and outfits.

 

In my last blog I think I mentioned that a small separate office building has been completed on the office site and will be available for viewing by the existing tenants at the end of February.  I will elaborate more on how things progress in the forthcoming blog/s.  I think the landlord has made excellent use of an old structure to the side of the car park which has undergone a very modern renovation essentially providing 2 large open plan rooms on two floors available as a single unit for one company or two floors, one for each company. My only concern is the pressure on parking availability but we shall see.

I am very curious to have a look at the new offices but am in no position to consider it as there are never more than two people in my office at any given time…. and I am south-facing! However, I know quite a few tenants who are interested to have a look. It could offer the opportunity for an existing company in the building, who may have outgrown its current space, to consider a move to a larger space without the traumatic and costly process of moving to a different geographical location.

In fact, this is a tangible benefit of being in a serviced office where there are now more than 60 office separate office spaces in varying sizes. It means that if and when an existing tenant should need to upgrade to a bigger office they can alert Cagney and will get first opportunity to view anything that becomes available. Such a move would completely remove the upheaval and cost of: changing letterheads, employees reviewing travel to work, advising all customers, advising all suppliers and banks, advising all professional bodies, etc. All post and deliveries arrive through one door and are sorted and delivered internally therefore the main business address won’t change.

As I look out of my south-facing window (well most of it is south) I can see the sun is shining which may be an indication of things to come as spring approaches and I hope very much that we won’t be needing our umbrellas……at least for a little while.

Until next month, my best wishes to you all.