Cullompton’s new Work Hub ready to ‘break the mould’
Devon County Council is supporting the third of Devon’s work hub projects which is opening in Cullompton on Friday 18th January.
The Hayridge Work Hub is hosting a ‘Jelly’ Event from 10am – 4pm to showcase the facilities on offer and give visitors the opportunity to meet the team, tour the building and meet other potential work hub users.
A jelly is an informal co-working event where home-based and mobile workers and small business owners can bring their laptop or papers to a venue to work, chat and collaborate with others.
In addition to flexible office areas, desk space and professional meeting rooms, the Hayridge Work Hub will offer; access to reliable broadband (currently 10Mb but plans to improve), Wifi and wired connections, offices and meeting rooms available to rent on a daily/hourly basis, hot desks to rent by the day, a postal address to receive business mail, business support and training, a space to meet and work with other like minded people, cycle racks, a convenient location near the M5 junction 28, an adjacent car park, use of an on site café with great coffee and cakes, use of a garden and library resources.
Cabinet member for Economy, Enterprise and Employment, Will Mumford said; “Work hubs are just one of several projects to support the development of a stronger economy in Devon. We have already established hubs in Totnes and Tavistock so this latest development in Cullompton represents an ever extending network through Devon. With such a large proportion of small businesses and home workers in the county, the idea of work hubs has been a natural concept for us to adopt. In Cullompton, the Hayridge Work Hub is providing low cost, high quality work spaces with the opportunity for peer to peer networking and business support and I would recommend anyone currently working from home or running their own business to see what it has to offer.”
Local member for Cullompton Rural Councillor John Berry, said; “In these times of changing and fast moving technology, the work hub provides a great opportunity for business people and local residents to tap into all these services at a reasonable rate. Here in Cullompton, we have the most modern library building in Devon so let’s use it!”
Hayridge Work Hub manager Tim Duxbury said; “We are really looking forward to welcoming anyone who might be interested in seeing what we have to offer here. There’ll be a chance to discuss how we could help with their work hub requirements, use the free Wifi and Skype, network with other potential workhub users, look at our meeting rooms and garden, parking and storage facilities. We envisage being able to offer up to 12 work hub hot desks initially and then to accommodate on demand.”
Work hubs make smart use of space, serving more businesses than a traditional office by allowing people to book a ‘hot desk’ closer to home as and when they need it. This offers a more flexible working pattern for people in rural areas and market towns, enhancing collaboration opportunities, staggering the rush hour and providing a better work-life balance.
Tim Duxbury, work hub Manager can be contacted on tim.duxbury@devon.gov.uk or 01392 388400 to find out more or arrange a tour and discuss requirements.
It is estimated that around 85,000 people (20% of the working age population) in Devon are home-based.
For more about The Hayridge, go here
For more on Devon Work Hubs, go here
Background information:
‘Jelly’ was established in 2006 when two New York freelancers were talking about a major drawback of working alone; namely the lack of company. They decided to invite a group of freelancers to bring their laptops and work together in their apartment for the day, and called it Jelly as they were eating Jelly beans at the time!
Worldwide Jelly Week is being celebrated this week – 14th-20th Jan 2013 For more, go here.
The Hayridge opened in September 2011. It has a large ground floor library with a wide ranging selection of books, DVDs, public computers with high speed broadband and self service machines and there is flexible space for adult learning and community use, several meeting rooms for private and public organisations and community groups and an impressive IT suite on the first floor.
The centre serves as a gateway to other local services, providing a customer access point as well as café and courtyard garden, and a ‘Changing Places’ facility designed for people with mobility difficulties.
