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Business centres open on motorway network
[November 26, 2012]

Business centres open on motorway network


Nov 26, 2012 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- Business centres are now open on UK motorways, similar to the work hubs that are springing up on road and rail networks across Europe. They are designed to cater for the rising number of people working flexibly and on the move.



Regus has opened its first roadside locations in the South - M25 Cobham, M40 J2 Beaconsfield and A14 Cambridge - in partnership with Extra Motorway Service Area Group.

Deals with other UK transport operators will see the initiative extended to other areas of the country in the coming months.


The centres include business lounges, meeting rooms, secure business class Wi-Fi and other administrative support services such as printing. The shared workspace and meeting rooms are proving popular with local businesses as well as motorists passing through or touching down between meetings.

One of the first visitors to the new Cobham centre was James Roberts from Warrington. As a National Account Manager for AKW, UK's largest disabled bathroom suppliers, he does 40,000 miles a year on business.

He comments, "I was on the M25 from Crawley to Warrington when I stopped for lunch and to send some reports. I went upstairs to the business centre and was very impressed. The motorway service station location is ideal. It's a great concept and I hope it is extended to the North too." Britain's workers are becoming ever more flexible in their approach to work. Two fifths work from locations other than their employer's main office for at least half the week, thanks to mobile, tablet and cloud technologies.

Steve Purdy is UK Managing Director at Regus, the world's largest provider of flexible workplaces. He comments: "This is an important step forward for mobile workers in the UK for whom a table in a roadside cafe is no longer enough. The centres will help people meet, work and communicate more effectively." "Flexible working, technology and changing attitudes are fundamentally reshaping our relationship to the physical office. Companies are also looking for ways of slashing overheads and empty desk space is often identified as the silent killer of company finances. All these factors point to the demise of the fixed, single location office. People want walk-in workspace anywhere, anytime and for however long they need." On the Continent, Regus is rolling out business centres in train stations and motorway service areas with partners including Shell and the national rail network operators of France (SNCF), Italy, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

Membership to Regus Businessworld costs GBP25 per month for unlimited access to the national network of business lounges or GBP35 for a global pass. The 'Regus in a Box' selection of products starts at GBP10 for 5 visits and can be purchased in WH Smiths travel stores, Staples or www.regusdirect.co.uk About Regus Regus is the world's largest provider of flexible workplaces, with products and services ranging from fully equipped offices to professional meeting rooms, business lounges and the world's largest network of video communication studios. Regus enables people to work their way, whether it's from home, on the road or from an office. Customers such as Google, GlaxoSmithKline, and Nokia join hundreds of thousands of growing small and medium businesses that benefit from outsourcing their office and workplace needs to Regus, allowing them to focus on their core activities.

Over 1,000,000 customers a day benefit from Regus facilities spread across a global footprint of 1,300 locations in 550 cities and 97 countries, which allow individuals and companies to work wherever, however and whenever they want to. Regus was founded in Brussels, Belgium in 1989, is headquartered in Luxembourg and listed on the London Stock Exchange. For more information please visit: www.regus.co.uk ((M2 Communications disclaims all liability for information provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties. Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at http://www.presswire.net on the world wide web. Inquiries to [email protected].

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