An innovation hub in Southampton has appointed a new centre manager amid growing occupancy.
Robert Greenberg heads up five-storey Ocean Village Innovation Centre (OVIC), with occupancy already at 65% since the installation five months ago of 72 new serviced offices, break-out areas and meeting rooms for hire.
A £1m refit over three floors was carried out because the other two floors were already fully occupied since OVIC launched in September 2010.
Five firms, from IT to marine, have signed up in the past few weeks, bringing the number of businesses on site to 32 and generating employment for 110 people between them.
OVIC is managed by Oxford Innovation, which operates 21 similar innovation centres across England.
The company turns empty property – old or new – into serviced offices to meet the business support needs of start-up or growing firms.
Robert, 25, said: “We’re experiencing strong demand from firms who want to develop without any long-term commitments to office space – they prefer the option of being able to flex on space in a thriving can-do environment. With the new signings of five firms, occupancy is now at 65%, a 10% rise in the past 10 weeks alone.”
He added: “OVIC is increasingly becoming a magnet for maritime-related firms because of our location close to the commercial port, marinas and National Oceanography Centre – 70% of our occupiers are from the sector.”
Robert’s position was previously occupied by Stephen Brownlie, who is senior centre manager with responsibility for OVIC and Portsmouth Technopole, where 150 people work for 42 diverse businesses and occupancy is at a record-high of 97%.
Occupiers at OVIC include Complete Marine Freight Services, tugs company Svitzer Towage, shipping logistics provider YA Logistics (UK), Maxi Charger, which supplies battery case chargers for mobile phones, water environment consultancy DHI Water Environment, TMC (Marine Consultancy), IT@Sea, Project Kudos, the international asset-backed investment specialist, business organisation Business South and recruiter Capita Resourcing.
