COMMERCIAL PROPERTY
The best connected workspace in the UK?
Vilified and destroyed by the establishment, the legend of perhaps Britain’s most famous code breaker echoes – for those in the know – around a new development in Cheltenham. As the town celebrates the emergence of The Brewery Quarter as a retail outlet, within its walls is thriving office space for the likes of beauty brand specialist SLG and insurance and risk management firm THB Group. And alongside it, those with eagle-eyes will also spot a shared workspace soon to officially open called HUB8. If you are already guessing it is part of the chain of Growth Hubs powered by GFirst LEP you are not too far wide of the mark. But this is something different – and hinting at its purpose is the name, HUB8, a gentle reference to those who know about the likes of Alan Turing, who worked at Bletchley Park and what went on to become the foundations of today’s GCHQ. No, this is not a rival to GCHQ, but the tentacles of the government listening post reach here (you can just tell). It is a space created with the blessing of the aforementioned local enterprise partnership, but driven by a group called CyNam, and it is already one of the
best connected shared spaces for businesses in Gloucestershire – if not the UK. That is ‘best connected’ in terms of businesses associated with it behind the scenes and in terms of its broadband – the country’s fastest at 1GB.
Bruce Gregory
Bruce Gregory, managing director of HUB8 – 7,000 square feet of working space, said: “We already have strong cyber tech companies in Cheltenham and Gloucester and we realised we needed a space dedicated to that sector.” Looming large behind what might seem like the tiniest of ripples in the world of commercial property is the potentially almighty tidal wave of cyber related activity we are told is imminent in the form of the Cyber Business Park. That is being billed as a £650 million, 45 hectare development, bringing 1,200 homes and 7,000 jobs – and all driven by a need to keep us safe in our new online world. No one is saying it out loud, but concern this will become
Commercial Property Specialists Find out more at www.daviesandpartners.com
120 | July 2019 | www. punchline-gloucester .com
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