The Rise of Using Self-Storage As Office Space

The business landscape as we know it is changing on a national and global scale. While you may see high streets full of empty shops and more and more office spaces lying vacant due to absurd rental prices, you may find it surprising to know that there are still plenty of shops and businesses out there, particularly with the ever-expanding use of technology and new start-ups. However, these new breed of businesses are moving with the times and finding more cost-effective and flexible alternatives for business premises, with the main one being self-storage.

Why Choose Self Storage?

Due to their location, which is typically on the outskirts of cities or large towns, storage facilities in London can offer considerably cheaper rental space and better value for money. This makes it a very sensible option for all manner of businesses, from start-up offices to e-commerce. And this isn’t a rare phenomenon either, as the BBC estimated that in the past decade there are now over 1,000 sites across the UK that provide more than 30 million square feet of storage and office space to start-ups. The perks of turning to self-storage for office space speak for themselves, with companies such as Little Green Self Storage offering all sorts of enticements including:

• Flexibility unique to your needs, from fully furnished and unfurnished office space available for short, medium and long term occupiers.
• Lighting, heating, shared kitchen, high-speed internet all rolled into rental
• Option to upsize or downsize depending on the needs of the business
• Hireable meeting rooms, variety of spaces available
• Onsite storage facilities for housing stock

Needless to say, the self-storage industry has quickly adapted to the increasing demand in the business market to find more affordable and flexible working space, with reports showing a significant increase in the commercial use of businesses since 2012. Thus they have expanded their storage services to offer more than traditional storage space, and as a result have created great working space that is suitable for a variety of businesses.

 Making The Right Impression

Naturally, you may be a little sceptical about how using a storage unit for office space may work, but this is where you need to think outside of the realms of its traditional use as storing belongings. Storage facilities have created an entirely separate areas onsite for their office space, with tailored amenities that include reception areas, parking facilities and more that make it look and feel more like a shared business centre than a storage facility. This means that you won’t need to be concerned about giving your client’s the wrong impression when they’re visiting you, as your office space will look the part inside and out.

 Match Your Office Space To Your Requirements

Finding the right office or retail space to suit your business is a fine balancing act between cost, location and specification. However, with a well-positioned office space at a storage facility you can tick all the boxes as the rental price will invariably be lower and you have a blank canvas that can be customised to meet your business specifications, whether you need a single desk office or a larger retail outlet.

In addition to this, storage units afford greater flexibility in terms of leases, so seasonal businesses can have a space to house, pack and ship stock at key points of the year. This means that regardless of whether you need a short-term space for a pop-up store or a long term solution for an expanding office-based business, you can find the term that exactly meets your needs at a far more affordable price than traditional office or retail space.

With more and more storage facilities going down the route of offering multi-use storage services, it’s highly likely that we’ll see the rise in storage as office space continuing well into the future. For many businesses, it makes perfect sense.