Scarborough Group re-enters serviced office market

Scarborough Group International is returning to the serviced office market, with a debut in Scotland that is set to launch a new brand. [caption id="attachment_1113751" align="alignright" width="200"] Scott McCabe[/caption] The group’s Blueprint Workspace will offer tenants open-plan co-working space as well as individual office suites, with flexible membership options starting at three-month contracts. The offices will include business lounges, call-handling services, virtual assistants and various other amenities. Scarborough’s initial foray into the serviced office market was in 1991, when it established the Forsyth brand. That business grew to more than 30 centres, most of which were sold to Regus – now IWG – in 2014. “In the past couple of years, we’ve been thinking about moving back into the sector,” said Scarborough’s Scott McCabe, who had headed up the Forsyth business and will be director of Blueprint Workspace. “What we have seen in the market is that because of the pandemic there is a need for agility from occupiers. I don’t think the market is 100% sure what it wants yet, but it certainly needs flexibility.” The first Blueprint Workspace site will open this month at Scarborough-owned Lomond Court in Stirling, Scotland (pictured) – a former Regus and Forsyth space. Scarborough expects to open sites in other cities across the north of England during the coming year. A site in Sheffield is likely to be confirmed in the first half of next year, followed by others in Manchester and Leeds. “In the next 12 to 18 months, it’s going to be more organic growth within our wider group – product that’s in the pipeline,” McCabe said. “But beyond that we’ll look to push the acceleration pedal once we’re into 2023 and we’ve got an established business with a team that’s growing and can look at other opportunities [such as] third-party leases and management contracts.” McCabe acknowledged how much the sector has changed since Regus bought Forsyth. “We were last in the space only seven years ago, but the market has changed so, so much,” he said.  “Let’s say we [once] had a centre of 30,000 sq ft, split between two or three floor plates – it used to be that you put a corridor down the middle, put offices on either side with meetings rooms, a reception and maybe a kitchen on each floor, and that was that. “Now you have got to offer so much more. What we’d have said a few years ago were ‘nice to haves’ – break-out areas, business lounges – have become ‘must haves’. So while we have been in the sector before, and understand the need for flexibility, we are very mindful of [changes] going into this sector that has evolved so much.” McCabe is currently working with two Scarborough colleagues on the business and expects to recruit more heavily for head office functions next year. The business will target start-ups, micro-business and SMEs, all of which it expects to see growth from after the Covid-19 pandemic passes. “When Forsyth was set up, it was during the recession, and history shows that as people come out of a recession it does lead to more SMEs, more entrepreneurs coming up on the back of it,” McCabe said. “The pandemic is something we’ve never seen before, and we believe there will be more demand for space in serviced office-type environments.” To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@eg.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @EGPropertyNews Photos © Scarborough Group