Caerphilly-based Welsh Innovation Centre for Enterprise (Welsh ICE) is to expand its Campus after securing a further 2,500 square foot of office space.
This comes after the centre opened its third building, the Octagon in September last year and means the Campus now consists of 30,000 square foot of office space, housing 170 businesses and 400 staff and entrepreneurs.
The former open-plan floor has now been totally renovated creating nine new medium-sized offices, with the aim of providing private space for larger start-ups.
Community manager at Welsh ICE, Jamie McGowan said the new space was necessary for the continued growth of the Campus: “For the past six months at ICE we have been operating at a 95% capacity, so in order to continue to grow, we knew we simply needed more space. When the extra space became available we jumped at it, and we are now proud to say that we will occupy the entire ground floor at Britannia house.
“The office space will be used to support smaller teams who perhaps have outgrown a single desk in our coworking spaces, but are not yet ready for one of our larger offices. The new space will be a perfect and affordable answer for the 4-6 person teams.
“Along with our other buildings, the Octagon and The Lodge, this expansion is all part of our ongoing long-term vision at ICE to have 1000 businesses on site, and with the popularity of our ICE 50 funded spaces, we are well on course to achieve that.”
Welsh ICE is currently running its ICE 50 scheme, where 50 start-up businesses will receive a fully-funded package including a full-time desk, a tailored mentoring programme, creative workshops, telephone and high-speed internet access and one-to-one support for 12 months.