Month: January 2019

It’s been a turbulent decade for businesses as a whole – so as we enter the last year of the 2010s, it’s a good time to take a look at the levels of demand for north-west SME office space.

Just before the end of 2018, a House of Commons Library Briefing Paper was published showing a range of business statistics for the UK as a whole, including business size and location.

Some of the headline figures include:

• A 63% increase in the number of UK businesses between 2000 and 2018.
• A total of 5.7 million UK businesses in the private sector in 2018.
• Around three quarters have no employees (i.e. are self-employed individuals).
• About 96% are micro businesses (i.e. fewer than 10 employees).
• Over 99% are SMEs (i.e. fewer than 250 employees).

Not all of these are office-based – many self-employed individuals may work from home, on location or from rented workshops for more industrial roles – but it gives a good indicator of the relative sizes of businesses in general.

That makes over 5.4 million private sector businesses up and down the UK with less than 10 people working for them – but how does north-west SME workspace demand stack up against the other regions?

A growing north-west business community

We’re proud of the vibrant business community that exists in the north-west, as our serviced office space in Manchester sees a rich and diverse range of tenants who can share ideas in the communal spaces in our buildings.

So we’re not surprised that in 2018, the total number of businesses in the north-west continued to rise by 3% to reach 545,000.

This growth rate matches London – and we are equally proud of our well appointed serviced office space in London adjacent to Canary Wharf, helping to provide good quality workplaces for new and growing businesses in the capital.

Of the other UK regions, the south-west scored a 3% growth rate and the north-east, starting from a relatively low benchmark, grew an impressive 14% year-on-year to reach 163,000 enterprises in 2018.

Every other region achieved growth of 1% or less, including a fall in the number of businesses in six regions and in the UK total for the first time this century.

Why you should choose serviced office space in Manchester

If you’re setting up a new business or trying to grow your brand, it’s important to be based in a prosperous region, and in one with an established business community for networking opportunities.

Our north-west serviced office space ticks both of these boxes – with well over half a million private enterprises across the region and one of the fastest growth rates signalling a prosperous future as well.

For those in the south, our serviced office space in London puts you on the doorstep of Canary Wharf and in amongst over a million other businesses.

We choose our locations carefully – our serviced office space in MediaCity, for example, has been at the heart of massive growth and regeneration in recent years and given our tenants a real head start.

If you’re looking for new SME business premises for 2019, we would encourage you to think carefully too, and then choose our serviced offices in London and Manchester as the clear best option.

Serviced offices could give you the opportunity you need to grow your self-employed business in the new year, providing a place where you can hit the ground running during a crucial phase in the self-employed business calendar.

Before Christmas, we looked at how virtual offices can help new businesses to get set up, while giving a legitimate, fully serviced professional address in a prime location for correspondence.

Virtual offices are good if you already have somewhere to work from, if you work from home, if you travel around a lot, or if your job doesn’t need its own premises at all.

But if you do need a place to work, serviced offices are the sensible next step to help grow a self-employed business in the new year, or at any time.

Why is the new year important for self-employed businesses?

A new calendar year is naturally a common time to think about making some changes – especially if you’re self-employed and want to grow your business as part of personal New Year’s resolutions relating to money.

The end of January also brings the self-assessment tax deadline, making it a good time to take stock of how your business is performing and what changes you can make to prosper more in the new year.

And in April, a new tax year begins – giving you a window of opportunity between New Year’s and the springtime to get your business affairs into better order.

How do serviced offices help grow self-employed businesses?

Virtual offices give you a front for your self-employed business, a professional address to trade from and legitimate contact details in a desirable postcode area.

Serviced offices give you all of this and back-office services too, with furnished office space ready to occupy immediately, supported by meeting rooms to hire and informal breakout spaces for chats and relaxation.

You’re no longer stuck holding professional meetings in the local coffee shop – although with plenty of amenities located close to our serviced offices in Manchester and London, you still have that option too!

Why choose serviced offices for my self-employed business?

If you’re looking for your first physical office space – whether you’ve used a virtual office until now, or simply traded from your home address – there’s plenty to recommend serviced offices for a self-employed business.

As well as getting all of the on-site facilities and the option of office space with an immediate start date, your new office simply gives you an environment conducive to productivity, and away from your home.

It’s often this separation of work from home life that helps self-employed individuals to strike a better balance, while shutting out the distractions you can face in a home office, from noisy neighbours to visits from the gas man.

This can make serviced offices the best first step for a self-employed business owner targeting bigger growth as the new year progresses – and there’s arguably no better time to make that move than when the calendar is still just one page old.