Monday Morning at Harland Works

Monday morning and I have just toured the building with a visitor who’s measuring up to check our building measurements are right. 

Happily, they were ;). This is thanks to architect tenants Norton Mayfield who have helped me with successive phases of refurbishment and gradually worked their way round measuring the whole building.

My guest this morning was impressed by this: it is unusual to have such accurate measurements apparently! But he was also impressed by the variety of businesses he met as we went round this morning.

We saw 4eyespatisserie making almond croissants, Flycheese helping a student build a set for animating later, the Third Angel team planning their week in a morning staff meeting (ahead of their event tonight with Off the Shelf) , Chris Halstead helping a customer with a repair to a bow, Skeet and Coutie Architects working on complicated looking digital building designs, Monica practicing her own yoga, Louise of Sincerely Louise unloading from her week at a knitting trade fair at Alexandra Palace, Steve teaching someone how to throw a pot on a potter’s wheel… and that’s not to mention the buzz and temptation of the tasty cakes on offer happening in the café. 

In fact, as a rough back of the envelope estimate, I reckon that the building hosts nearly 50 people at work in 20 or so independent businesses. 

This is pretty typical of the UK economy, believe it or not. The vast majority of businesses in the UK (96%) are like this. Small businesses employing fewer than 9 people account for just over one third of all private sector turnover. 

But the stand-out fact about small businesses over the last 10 years is the rapid growth of one person businesses: there are 82% more now than in 2001. This is much faster growth than the 25% increase in the number of businesses over all.

In Sheffield, this translates into a strong demand for workspace which is suitable for small businesses. These businesses may not always have very big budgets, but they are often looking for specific things they need from their workspace in order to do well. Harland Works has managed to adapt to offer spaces which work for yoga, baking, a cafe, tattooing, furniture making, bow repairs… and more.

And I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the requests from tenants yet!