Where is the Office Space for Creatives in Manchester?
We are often approached by businesses or individuals looking for office space that is good for creative industries and the Northern Quarter in Manchester is proving to be the area of choice for the sector. Character space or office space with designer touches tend to be the preferred specifications, so we take a look at eOffice at 1 Portland Street to see how that suits.
The Location
The traditional (if it can really be called traditional?) boundary for the Northern Quarter is Piccadilly Gardens with space behind towards Ancoats ‘in’ but anything on the Piccadilly side ‘out’. On those grounds, eOffice is just out of the area.
However, put this in to context, it is a matter of 15 meters across one road before you are on Newton Street heading towards Stevenson Square, a natural centre for the area.
I can’t help but feel the Portland Street address is for some reason thought of as ‘too normal’ but really it shouldn’t be.
The Office Space
Character office space in a converted NQ factory this isn’t; 1 Portland Street is a new build, but a stunning one at that with fantastic floor to ceiling windows ensuring great natural light.
Head up to the 1st floor for the reception for eOffice (and client offices) and this is where the personality of the office space shines through. So although it doesn’t have the traditional character, it has bags of charisma with bright furnishings, plenty of light, and designer touches.
The floor is effectively split into three areas – co-working, conference / meeting rooms, and serviced offices.
Perhaps the one area where I think the creative / technology / web-based companies can make the most use of is the co-working space.
A few dismiss the idea outright, but why? You still have your own space, your own area, but have the opportunity to interact with those around you if you want. Where else can you find a ready network of like-minded individuals / businesses? Surely that is the spirit of the Northern Quarter right there?
The founder of eOffice, Pier Paolo Mucelli is passionate about this aspect of co-working and is constantly striving to improve how businesses can interact within his offices.
Perhaps you have gone past the stage of co-working and want private space for your business, well they do that too and do it well.
The Future
We do think co-working will increase in the coming months, we’ve seen a number of traditional serviced offices put in shared suites, including the Regus campus offices as they seek to help the mobile worker. However, none dedicate themselves to the cause quite like eOffice.
The Northern Quarter will most likely continue to be a real pull for the smaller creative companies with MediaCityUK perhaps pulling in the larger players but as yet we see no sign of an operator opening up a business centre for the smaller businesses or new start-ups. The Hive, one of the largest developments in the area looks set to offer space from 500 sq ft upwards according to their site, which for many fledgling businesses will be over and above the size of space required.
eOffice sits nicely into that market and perhaps those looking for offices in the Northern Quarter should broaden their area by those 15 meters. Keep an eye out for their co-working open days where you can try their offices for free!
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eOffice is the pioneer of co-working in the UK so if anyone can make it a success, Pier Paolo and his team can. I am sure that there is a demand for this type of space particularly for creative industries and that this will tend to increase just as the demand for business centres generally has done over the last 10 years.