Flexible office firm opens new scheme in former manor house

Flexible workspace provider Regus has opened its newest business location in a converted Grade II listed manor house.

The firm has opened offices at Grange Park near Cheltenham and almost two thirds of the 8,147 sq ft building has already been snapped up.

Regus has a ten-year agreement for the Manor House and is offering businesses, freelancers and hybrid workers access to more than 100 desks and co-working spaces on the 14 acre parkland campus currently seeing multi-million pound improvements.

IWG said a 30 per cent pre-let at the Manor House was well ahead of its target opening occupancy, underlining the attractiveness of the facilities and location of the 185,000 sq ft mixed use Grange Park on the A435 at Bishop’s Cleeve.

Regus’ opening at Grange Park comes on the heels of parent company, IWG posting record quarterly revenue and achieving rapid network growth, adding more than 850 new locations over the course of 2023.

Mark Dixon, chief executive and founder of IWG, said: “We are very pleased to be expanding our footprint in Gloucestershire with this latest opening. Bishops Cleeve is a fantastic place for us to boost our expansion plans and we are very pleased to work in partnership to develop the Regus brand under a management agreement that will add a cutting-edge workspace to our partner’s building.

“This opening in Bishop Cleeve comes at a time when more and more companies are discovering that flexible working boosts employee happiness and satisfaction, while helping the environment. Our workplace model is also proven to increase productivity and allows for a business to scale up or down at significantly reduced costs.”

The opening of The Manor follows business services provider Capita signing for newly refurbished, EPC A rated office space in the adjacent building The Grange, taking total new lettings at the green ‘people first’ campus beyond 55,000 square feet.

Ian Wills, at joint agent JLL, said: “Regus are a powerful international brand and their confidence in Grange Park marks the next stage of the evolving scheme.  With only 5,000 sq ft remaining of the reimagined office space delivered in Phase 1, work on Phase 2 will follow soon and maintain the momentum”.

The Manor was built in 1865 as a family home and bought in 1939 by Smiths Industries which made hairsprings for aviation clocks for Spitfires and other iconic aircraft until 1982.

Refurbishment of the four-storey listed building, inside and out, has been led by Hitchen Contracts from Halesowen. They retained and cleaned all the original features, including oak panelling, stone fireplaces and ornate plasterwork. The Manor will be run for Regus by incoming manager Davey Jones.

Ryan Hitchen, managing director of Hitchen Contracts, said: “Our biggest challenge was to retain the building’s character while upgrading it by introducing energy efficient heat and lighting and high speed data.

“We wanted to ensure that nothing was surface mounted so we removed all the cables pipes and trunking before installing and concealing new plumbing, power and data cables, and blending in a VRF heating and cooling system which has contributed to an EPC B rating, excellent for a Grade II Listed building with original windows”.

The period fireplaces at The Manor have been opened up and any of the lath and plaster walls disturbed in the installation of the services have been repaired using traditional craftsmanship and materials. The original features are set off by bespoke contemporary lighting.

Richard Crabb, at joint agent THP, said: “The Manor is a fine building and a focal point at the front of the 14 acre site.  Regus have already signed up new businesses to the area and the Grange Park site can now offer space from individual rooms to over 100,000 sq ft, with the largest floorplates in the area, at rates which are up to 30 per cent less than equivalent space in the town centre”.

Grange Park is well connected by road to Cheltenham and the M5’s junction nine. Bus services stop every 15 minutes on the site, which is just three miles from Cheltenham town centre.