Expansion is a positive time for any flexible workspace business. For BE Offices, the past few years have seen a prolonged spell of high demand, new clients, extra space and a growing team.
The only fly in the ointment? Being squeezed out of your head office by your own clients.
That’s the new reality for BE Offices, which is moving to new headquarters on Monday 3rd April from its current location in 150 Minories, EC3, where the team has been based since April 2014.
“The Minories area, along with Shoreditch and East London, have experienced a huge increase in demand,” says Julie Tucker, PR & Marketing Officer at BE Offices. “This has led to lack of space for the expansion that we now require to house our growing head offices team, which has increased by 12% since 2014.”
Of course, this is a welcome situation and one that will enable the company to free up valuable space in The City – one of London’s most sought-after locations. As such, 150 Minories will soon be occupied exclusively by clients and a handful of frontline business centre staff, while the company’s management team will relocate to CentralPoint at Barbican, just under 2 miles away.
Furthermore, this particular move comes with an added benefit: a fresh opportunity for staff to directly influence the look and feel of their new space.
Prior to fitting out their new head office, BE Offices brought together an “internal working party” of employees from different departments, who submitted ideas and suggestions for their new workspace. This included an overhaul of the interior space with the ability to “design the office space from scratch.”
Julie added: “Realising the importance of breakout space, 20% of the new office is dedicated to collaborative seating areas and kitchens, with a TopBrewer Bluetooth coffee machine [pictured left] as an added perk.”
“Everyone is looking forward to the move and the amazing new space we will be occupying. The management team at CentralPoint are also very much looking forward to having us in the building.”
As for their former headquarters, it appears the company’s departure has been well-timed. BE Offices has revealed that they are currently in discussions with two global organisations who are interested in occupying the newly vacated space at Minories.