Serviced
office rentals of london
Why
serviced office rentals
Having
a perfectly professional looking office is one of the vital aspects
for the success of any business, especially in a city like London
where commercial space is the most precious commodity. But most
business owners complain that start-up activities such as finding
the ideal premises, negotiating the lease terms, setting up the
necessary infrastructure, giving the premises a professional look
turn out to be very time consuming and tedious. Some times finding
a reasonably priced office space in a prime business location in
London is almost impossible for small and medium size businesses
with limited financial resources.
Even
if the business owner finds suitable premises more often than not
day-to-day office maintenance matters tend to come in the way of
actual running of the business. London serviced office rentals are
designed to provide a ‘one-stop-solution’ to all such office space
related problems. They are also popularly known as London Business
Centres and London Executive Suits. Sometimes they are also called
shared office space arrangements because the building premises are
shared by many companies or businesses.
Facilities
provided by serviced offices
London
serviced offices are professionally run, ready-to-move-in buildings
with all the basic amenities required for running an office.
Basic
Facilities
The
basic facilities include office furniture such as cubicles, ergonomic
chairs, partitions and file cabinets; cutting edge IT support coupled
with Local Area and Wide Area network and broadband Internet connection;
telephones equipped with intercom; photocopy and fax machines; water
facilities; electricity; heating and air-conditioning. In addition
to these basic office requirements the agency also provides kitchens,
which are sometimes shared with other offices, and washrooms. Building
premises, both common areas and offices, are cleaned at least once
in a day during working days. The building is secured round the
clock through closed circuit cameras and the professional security
staff appointed by the agency.
Reception
area is a common area and is managed by a team of professional receptionists.
Services are available from 8.30am-6.30pm during the weekdays. Apart
from receiving your calls and clients on the premises reception
staff also takes care of your travel arrangements, booking your
conference rooms etc.
If
you take the agency’s switchboard telephone service all your calls
are answered in your company’s name, which gives a very professional
touch. The operator will announce the caller to you and if you are
not present at your desk or unable to attend to the call the operator
will divert the call to your voice mail service. All your incoming
and outgoing calls are tracked and the records are presented at
the end of the month. The agency’s administrative staff handles
your post with utmost confidentiality.
The
building is guarded by security staff on a 24x7 basis. However,
if you want to work after business hours, during weekends or on
holidays you must remember that reception and telephone handling
services are available only during weekdays during business hours.
You share all these expenses with other occupants of the premises
and pay only a fraction for each facility as a part of your lump
sum rental. However, broadband, photocopy, fax and telephone services
are charged on the basis of ‘pay as you use’.
Additional
Facilities
Some
agencies such as ‘Longford Business Centre’ and ‘Gainsborough Business
Centre’ provide support services, which include well-trained secretarial,
accounting and clerical staff. Apart from the regular shorthand,
word processing and filing works they are also trained to do high-end
works such as database creation and maintenance and corporate presentations.
Usually
all the business centres have well appointed boardrooms and conference
halls, which can be hired separately on hourly basis. Some agencies
provide health club or a gym also on the premises for the use of
your employees.
‘MWB
Business Centre’, which has a network of business centres across
the UK, allow its clients to use any of its serviced offices for
free of cost for three days in a month. You just need to make an
advance booking. You can utilize its meeting rooms at any of the
agency’s locations while you are doing business there.
If
you want extra partitions, workstations or any other additional
features you can inform the agency before signing the rental. The
agency provides those additional facilities by charging some extra
amount.
Advantages
of serviced offices
The
major attraction of serviced offices is that they provide end-to-end
solutions to all your office needs. The agencies go for circumspect
branding so that they don’t overshadow the individual brands of
the businesses on the premises.
There’s
absolutely no need to run from pillar to post to organize things
and spend the best of your time coordinating with various vendors.
Since the agencies provide a readymade office you can move in with
your staff and start working within 24 hours of signing the rental
agreement. Agencies call it ‘plug and play’ facility, which results
in sizeable savings in opportunity costs.
One
monthly payment towards the rent covers all the office expenses.
Since the facilities are shared with various other occupants of
the premises overheads expenses are very low irrespective of whether
your office is situated in the most expensive West End or the relatively
cheaper Croydon area. Studies show that serviced offices result
in a cost saving of around 30%-45% compared to traditional offices.
In some cases it could be even 62%.
There’s
absolutely no need to worry about building insurance as it is taken
care of by the service provider. However, other liabilities such
as employer’s liability, public liability, business interruption
etc. are the individual responsibility of the business owner. The
agency also looks after building decoration, repairs and maintenance.
Unlike
the traditional office leases serviced office leases are very flexible
and can be tailored according to your needs. You don’t have to give
any personal guarantees or sign 10-20 yearlong leases; it is possible
to lease a serviced office on a month-to-month basis for any length
of time. There are agencies, which provide you with a temporary
office just for a day when your office team visits that particular
place. Usually the lease agreement is very simple and short, running
to not more than two pages. You just have to make a refundable deposit
of one or two months’ rental before moving in. You can evacuate
the office by giving one or two months notice in writing as per
the lease agreement.
This
arrangement is especially suitable and economical for start-up companies
and small businesses that cannot afford huge capital outlays for
furnishings and infrastructure. London address provides a huge clout
to any business. So businesses which just want to have a presence
in London through a branch office and foreign companies, which want
a London base, and a professional looking office without having
to spend much on real estate and infrastructure prefer these business
centers.
A
standard office accommodates 1-150 employees, but there isn’t any
upper limit. They provide a very flexible arrangement. As and when
the business expands you can lease more office space on the same
premises subject to availability.
Finding
your dream office
There
are many bureaus such as ‘Property Mall’, ‘A-Z Serviced Office Search’
and ‘Free Office Finder’, which maintain a database of agencies
that provide serviced office rentals in London. If you give basic
details such as the nature of your business, the number of employees,
your choice of location and price range they will give you a list
of suitable premises from their database. If you are unsure of your
space requirements and how much you will have to pay for the facilities
they assess your needs and give a rough estimate. They also make
arrangements for your personal visits to various offices so that
you get a clear picture about how your own office would look. All
these services are provided absolutely free because they get a commission
from the agencies. So finding the most professional looking office
in the prime commercial locations of London is no longer distant
dream.
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