Great Aspect – as business centre fills up in Nottingham

From left: Jacklyn Chester of Rushcliffe Development Ltd, Mark Lambert from IT firm Bear IT, Chris Sinclair of Innes England. Picture by: Shawn Ryan

A Notts business centre, which changed its offering from large office space to serviced units to support demand, is more than 80% full – with more occupiers keen to move in.

Situated in the north west of Nottingham city, Aspect Business Centre hosts and manages high specification serviced office accommodation at the Aspect Business Park. All together, it is supporting more than 125 jobs.

Originally created for larger office space, there was a re-think during the economic downturn – and on the advice of Chris Sinclair at Innes England acting with joint agent Bilfinger GVA, Aspect Business Centre transformed the space into serviced office space.

The Business Centre, which has a range of offices suitable for start-up enterprises to 10,000 sq ft, underwent an extensive fit out in 2013 and 2015.

Chris Sinclair of Innes England said: “Aspect Business Centre has been a great success. The first floor was the first stage of the fitout in 2013 It has 22 units and two meetings rooms – and this quickly became full.

“Because of that success, the ground floor was then converted. With 18 units and two meetings rooms, it is now almost full. The centre has become a hotbed of demand – occupiers like the space, like the location – which is close to junction 26 of the M1 – and they like the flexibility.

“Here is a situation where we put our heads together to come up with a new solution for a building which was expected to attract larger occupiers. By thinking differently, Aspect has made a success of the business centre.”

Aspect Business Centre with the help of Innes England, has managed to secure permission for 140 additional car parking spaces on the site for people working at the centre.  Within the business centre are growing start-ups as well as NHS and city council departments. On the wider business park, Marks and Spencer has taken a large space.

Jon Higham, director of Aspect Business Centre, said: “We are absolutely delighted that the centre is almost full. Serviced office space is a highly competitive market, but we have worked hard to make the centre appeal to a range of organisations – combining public sector with private sector occupiers.”

One business which is benefiting from moving into the business centre is expanding IT firm Bear IT. It moved from its Colwick base to Aspect Business Centre in order to support its growing customer base throughout the East Midlands and nationally.

Its MD Mark Lambert said: “We were really impressed with the space at Aspect, which was one of the reasons we moved – but the main reason is because of its location.

“Bear IT’s customers are now throughout the region and we have clients nationally so it was crucial that we are close to the motorway – but also close to the city centre to service our existing client base.

“It’s been a win-win for us as a business, but also for staff who are getting to work much more easily. Aspect understand your business needs and are there to support growing companies every step of the way.”