A serviced business centre in Portsmouth has unveiled a new cafe and three meeting rooms following a £100,000 investment.
Portsmouth Technopole, the five-storey landmark building by the M275 city gateway, has already seen usage of the ground floor rooms soar by a third compared to what was previously available.
Peter Outen, the centre manager, said: “We listened to our customers, who suggested that a contemporary cafe and new meeting rooms, with advanced audio-visual facilities and connectivity, would be well utilised by them and their own customers and suppliers.
“We’ve invested £100,000 in enhancing the service offering here at the Technopole and it is already paying off, with meeting rooms usage already up by 34% in just a few weeks.”
The meeting rooms, break-out areas and cafe have been installed by fit-out company Hampshire Interiors.
Crumbs, which runs a coffee shop in nearby Kingston Crescent, was awarded a contract to run the Technopole cafe.
The cafe and hired meeting rooms are available to external companies.
There are 37 registered firms, with nearly 200 people employed between them, at 20,000 sq ft Technopole. An office package includes telephone answering and message services, reception services, mail handling, use of meeting and conference rooms and access to networking events, workshops and business support.
Customers include Bladez Toyz Plc, which recently took a third office due to product demand from high street retailers. Bladez is a market-leading brand of innovative radio-controlled gadgets and toys, employing 15 people locally.
Bladez’ jumbo-size Minion, which can speak different phrases, has become an international sell-out success for the business on the back of the box office hit Minions. For example, the product has been snapped up across all 65 stores of Australian retailer Myer.
Another innovative company at the Technopole is SupaPowa, which provides wireless charging solutions for smartphones.
The tech firm’s surface-embedded devices are set to become a welcome feature in coffee shops, offices, hotels and restaurants, bringing an end to battery-life anxiety.
Portsmouth Technopole is run by Oxford Innovation, which operates 20 similar serviced centres across the country.
Pictured far right with customers is Peter Outen, Technopole’s centre manager. Front right is Rebecca Evans from Crumbs, a local food firm which won the contract to run the cafe. Customers in the photograph include staff from Bladez Toyz Plc and SupaPowa.
