Car rental firm drives into new era
MANCHESTER-based online car rental service Rentalcars.com has moved to a new office off Piccadilly Gardens following a £2.7m refurbishment of the building.
The company, which is responsible for more than five million car rentals per year and is currently celebrating its 10th birthday, has taken residency at 35 Fountain Street, occupying 38,000sq ft of office floor.
Each floor has been designed with its own unique theme including ‘road trip’, ‘world cars’, ‘drive-in movies’ and ‘metropolis’. And within each floor are a number of quirky meeting rooms including James Bond, Italian Job, Manchester, Route 66 and World Map.
The office also offers a number of fun break-out rooms including an ‘open air cinema’ where staff can jam with their friends, play PS4 or watch a movie, and ‘The Park’ which provides a tranquil setting for teams to get together.
The office even boasts its own beach on the top floor, complete with beach huts, Starbucks bar, swings and pool table in a car. Not only does The Beach offer fantastic views over Manchester, it also serves free breakfasts for all staff as well as hot fresh food and a salad bar that’s open daily.
More than 90 large flat screen TVs are situated around the office keeping staff up to date with vital company information such as web-site performance and current projects, demonstrating the technological detail that has gone in to every floor.
For those who wish to commute by bicycle, the purpose built bike store has capacity for 100 bikes alongside lockers and private shower-rooms.
More than 350 members of staff from marketing, HR, IT, legal, front end and finance have relocated from Sunlight House on Quay Street, which will also undergo a major refurbishment later this year. Approximately 70 contact centre staff remain at the old site where they speak 40 different languages and are open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Ian Brown, chief executive of Rentalcars.com, said: “Since Rentalcars.com was founded 10 years ago, we’ve gone from strength to strength. With more than 1,000 colleagues currently employed in Manchester, our old office just didn’t have the capacity to sustain our rate of growth. Even though we’ve moved 350 colleagues from Sunlight House, we’re expecting to fill that space up again very quickly.”
