A NEW facility for Scottish businesses to use as a hub in London has had a “phenomenal response” since Scottish Enterprise began a soft recruitment process earlier this month.
Scotland House, based close to Westminster on Victoria Embankment, is being opened to give Scottish companies with no base in the capital a place to work, meet and hold events.
Within two weeks of the location being revealed on March 1, and a website launching with some basic information, Scottish Enterprise had received more than 200 enquires.
It is hoped that membership packages will be validated by the end of the month, and Mark Hallan, head of EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) at Scotland Development International said he hoped the doors would open the week after Easter.
Enterprise and tourism agencies Scottish Enterprise, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Scottish Development International and VisitScotland, plus the Scottish Government, have already set up in the building.
“The aim is that it will be the focal point for Scotland’s engagement with London and with the world,” said Mr Hallan. “We’re essentially targeting those organisations who don’t have access to their own space down here. That includes our ambitious SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises), the type for entrepreneurs and business people using Costa and Starbucks between meetings. We’re providing them with a flexible, portable and cost-competitive to that.”
The concept developed allows members to rent hot desks, possibly by buying packages so they can spend a certain numbers of days a year based in London. Meeting and event space can also be rented.
The hub will start with 25 to 30 hot desks, said Mr Hallan, commenting: “This is new, it’s ground-breaking, so we don’t know what the true interest will be but if you multiply the number of hot desks by the working days per year it’s 6,500 hot desks we have to fill in a year.
“It would be great if we had more demand than we’ve got capacity which would allow us to think about how we could expand the offering in years to come.”
The acquisition of the lease and its refurbishment was paid for by public funds, but it is hoped that the facility will be self-sustaining.
Mr Hallan said the prospect of a second independence referendum would not be an issue for the hub, highlighting just how vital the links with London are for growing Scottish businesses.
“Our role is to continue to focus on identifying and delivering growth opportunities for Scotland,” he said. “There is a massive important, significant market here in London. Scotland’s exports to the rest of the UK are just shy of £50bn and it’s safe to assume that a significant amount of that will end up in London and the south east, so there is a very strong foundation to build on, and that’s what we’ll be doing.
“Scotland House will act as a shop window to Scotland that’s why it’s critical that we’ve got a steady flow of companies coming down to use it. At every opportunity we’ll be using it to showcase our great innovative companies, the sector specialisms, the great things going on in universities and the innovation community.”
The first such hub opened in Dublin last year and there are plans for similar facilities planned for Brussels and Berlin.
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