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July news
Challenge Enterprise Centre reaches full capacity
Local businesses are continuing to flourish in spite of the challenging economic environment.
Portsmouth City Council's Challenge Enterprise Centre is back to full capacity having welcomed M Legg Decorating Services Ltd as its latest new tenant. Since opening in 1996, the centre has been home to many small and start-up businesses, providing the flexibility of monthly terms, essential to the cash-flow requirements of fledgling firms.
Clare Seek, manager of the city council's Enterprise Centres said; "Although there is a lot of press coverage at the moment relating to the challenging economic times, we are still receiving lots of enquiries for units across the three centres that I manage. Firms are thinking carefully before committing to agreements, but the easy-in, easy-out terms provided by the council's premises ensure that they have maximum flexibility in the current climate."
Speaking regularly with her tenants, Clare finds that most of them do have extra challenges that they are facing, but they also feel that there is a lot of unhelpful hype that is generating unfounded fear. "Tenants are frustrated by rising costs, but are still winning business and are optimistic about their future."
Mark Legg, director of M Legg Decorating Services Ltd has moved the firm from home to the Challenge Enterprise Centre on the Airport Industrial Estate to enable the company to expand. "We've specialized in painting and decorating for the last two years and are now expanding into minor refurbishments on residential properties. Moving to the centre enables me to recruit office staff, which means that I can be out getting more business."
The company has expanded rapidly in the last two years and has won business with management letting companies across the south of England and as far north as Worcestershire. Mark said; "I saw the centre advertised in the council's Flagship magazine, and having the monthly flexibility of the license means that I'm not restricted to taking on space that I don't currently need. We can move to larger premises when we need to, rather than being tied into a lease for a number of years."
Clare Seek continues to be encouraged by the good news stories coming from start-up businesses. "Our objective is to provide a supportive environment for companies to be able to grow, so it's great to see companies such as Mark's using the facilities and benefiting from the free additional business support on offer."
To find out more about M Legg Decorating Services Ltd contact 023 92669165.
To find out more about Portsmouth City Council's Enterprise Centres contact 023 9282 6225 or visit www.portsmouth.gov.uk/enterprisecentres
