If you’re new in business, or are looking to relocate an existing business, where to base yourself is an important question.
Perhaps you’ve just started up (or you have been going for a while) but are working from home and would like to upgrade to an office. Maybe you’ve outgrown your current location and need more space. Or, with the new era of hybrid working, are you looking to downsize, now that some of your team are working from home or hotdesking?
If you trawl online looking for available space, or even go to an agent, you might find you are overwhelmed with options, yet remain unclear about what’s best for you.
So, before you start looking, why not take a step back. First work out what you need and where you want to be based, and then narrow the search down to two or three potential locations. In the long run, you’ll save yourself a lot of time.
Here’s our handy guide to finding the right office space for you.
1. What Does Your Business Look Like Now & What Do You Plan For Its Future?
You may, at the moment, be a solopreneur or be running a small business with two or three employees. However, if your business plan involves growth – and that growth is coming soon – then go for office space that’s already set up to accommodate a larger team.
2. Where Does The Talent Lie?
Currently, we are in an employees’ market place – lots of available jobs, and too few jobseekers to fill them. This means it’s more important than ever to locate your business where you have a source of potential staff. You can find lots of information about local employment rates and the skill level of the labour force in the area by searching online, or liaising with the local job centre.
Similarly, what talent do you need in terms of suppliers, partners or associates? If yours is a tech company, you may want to gravitate towards areas where other tech businesses are located, which you can work with or for.
Finally, types of clients are you looking for and where are they? If it’s important to be based near your clients, that will help dictate your location.
3. What Are The Transport Links Like?
This is an important question, particularly if your team has to come into the office and if you need to get to and from clients’ locations. At Rombourne serviced office locations – Bristol, Cardiff, Swindon and Newport – we have fantastic transport links, with the M4 motorway and high speed rail network, and this is one of the many reasons our clients locate with us.
4. What Sort Of Office Space Do You Need?
The type of business you run will dictate your office space needs. For example, if you want your team in all the time, you’ll want enough room to accommodate them. If some work from home, then you may need less space.
Have you thought of a virtual office? Here, you have an office address, plus the benefit of having a reception team to take calls, take messages, sort your mail and also give you access to meeting rooms. This arrangement brings another, big advantage of ensuring you present a professional image for your business. If you need your business to appear larger than it is, having a virtual office does this too.
At Rombourne, we have hundreds of virtual office clients, who enjoy our services without leasing physical office space.
An alternative is serviced offices, which Rombourne are renown for. This provides an ideal solution – all the advantages of having your own office, with the convenience of one simple, flexible contract. Serviced offices have everything you need: space, Wi-Fi, reception, parking, meeting rooms, breakout rooms, kitchen facilities and much more. Plus, as you share the premises with other businesses, so there is scope for networking, as well as finding new clients, suppliers, and associates.
5. What’s In The Area?
It’s important to check out local amenities to ensure what you need is on hand. For example, do you want access to open space for lunchtime breaks? Do you need a gym nearby? Is hotel accommodation for visitors important? Make a checklist and see what is on offer.
6. Location & Brand Image
You’ll want to base yourself in premises that reflect your brand. So, a downmarket office on an industrial estate where you need to hold regular client meetings probably won’t do. However, if you are looking for workshop space for a small engineering unit, an industrial estate may be ideal.
Once you have narrowed down the field for the location and type of premises you are looking for (or, perhaps you have decided on virtual office space), now is the time to start making connections.
Write a list of potential office space, look at reviews online, ask other businesses for their opinion, the book appointments to view.
If you are interested in serviced offices, and have decided that Bristol, Cardiff, Newport or Swindon – is the idea location, the please get in touch with the Rombourne team. We would love to show you around.
