A key consideration for any business is flexibility – the ability to be able to react to positive and negative changes in the market and company performance. This is especially important for small businesses, which perhaps lack the resilience of more established organisations.

So that’s why the more traditional set-up of office terms don’t really suit what a modern small business is looking for. Firstly, many traditional offices require tenants to sign up to a five-year lease, but five years is a long time in the life of a small business. Many business plans only look ahead three years into the future, so would a five year lease end up being prohibitive to growth and performance? What if the company enjoyed unexpected growth, and outgrew the space faster than expected? Or what if the market took a downturn and a business was saddled with an expensive space? 

Traditional office set-up may require furnishing and fitting out, which also comes at a substantial cost to the business. This can often prove to be a big barrier – the company has to weigh up the opportunity cost of putting money into a fit-out rather than using that capital towards driving their business. Serviced offices may solve the problem of fit-out, but these are often poor quality, high density and crucially, don’t give a business their own identity. 

The solution between a serviced office and a traditional offer would provide beautifully designed, ready to occupy space together with the greatest flexibility. Forge Studios, the new workspaces for small businesses at Kirkstall Forge offer fully fitted offices and leases as short as 12 months, meaning organisations can flourish without worrying about contracts which they may live to regret in years to come.