The Hive celebrates five years of support for North Somerset businesses
The Hive, based at the M5 Junction 21 Enterprise area, will celebrate its first five years of success on 10 May 2019 with a celebratory lunch for tenants and supporters.
Angela Hicks, The Hive’s CEO, said,
“Since opening in 2014, The Hive has got busier and busier. We’re helping to support more local business people and entrepreneurs than ever by providing office space, professional advice and training. “It’s been an incredibly exciting journey and we’re pleased to be able to mark this milestone at our Hive 5 event with so many of our office tenants, Virtual Office entrepreneurs, funders and supporters.”
The Hive currently has 34 businesses taking up 38 offices within the building, with 37 further virtual tenants – people whose businesses are registered at The Hive and who use its services and access its support without having a physical office.
Speakers at the Hive Five event will include John Penrose MP, Andrew Brown from sponsors Thomas Westcott Chartered Accountants, Charles Walker, Chair of the Board of the North Somerset Enterprise Agency (NSEA) and businesses who use The Hive.
Office tenant Andy Fisher of ResourceXpress says,
“Without going to great expense in a standalone office, we couldn’t provide what The Hive offers us. Our business is about maximising resources, so a flexible environment that gives us more space only when we need it is vital.”
Ketchup is a creative agency based at The Hive. Their Account Manager, Steve Jackson, says of their move to the building,
“It was time to grow to keep ahead of the competition and to be taken seriously on the global stage.”
Since the move, Ketchup’s team has doubled in size.
Sara de Neut is Managing Director of Xenint, a tech R&D company based at The Hive. Sara says,
“Location, security and office configurability were our main draws to The Hive, alongside its proximity to the motorway and to Bristol and Bath’s world-class tech cluster.”
Testimonies like these, alongside dozens of others at The Hive, help paint a positive picture of economic growth in the region. Though the economic gap between coastal and non-coastal places has widened nationally, according to think tank The Social Market Foundation, it has narrowed in North Somerset. Weston Mercury journalist Sam Frost reported online, “North Somerset is bucking the trend of Britain’s seaside communities, with the district ranking as the top-performing coastal economy in the South”.
Angela Hicks concluded,
“The Hive is currently running at 90% capacity and we have plans to add a second building as soon as possible. This will add a further 1,560 square metres – around 40 purpose-built contemporary offices – to our current offer. We hope this will help our dynamic region’s economy continue to expand as The Hive enters its next five-year growth period”.
Press representatives are invited to attend the Hive Five Celebratory Lunch, which is sponsored by Thomas Westcott Chartered Accountants. Contact The Hive for further information on 0800 083 3093.