Angela Kirby is Office Manager at Lighthouse Workspaces, a 75,000 sq ft mixed-use development at Spectrum Business Park in Seaham, which was recently acquired by commercial property company Clearwater Developments.
Having been responsible for its upkeep and supporting tenants for five years now, Angela tells more about the centre, her role on a day to basis and what she’d say to anyone thinking of relocating to the centre..
EDB. Tell us more about Lighthouse Workspaces?
- Lighthouse Workspace is a 75,000 sq ft building, comprising of three floors.
The first and second are un-serviced with larger size office spaces available, and our third floor, which has been open roughly three years, is our serviced floor. We have five meeting rooms, co-working space and virtual offices which are available to lease, and are available to offer future tenants.
There is ample car parking and our business centre is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to our tenants via a security fob. The building also comes with full CCTV support, free dedicated WIFI for all tenants and an art studio.
EDB. Tell us more about your role.
- As business centre manager, I am responsible for overseeing operations, including health and safety; strategy; and people coming in and our, to ensure that the business centre runs smoothly.
My role varies from day to day, it could be offering advice to a tenant or dealing with a contractor, but it usually combines leadership, planning, and financial management.
EDB So you’re there to support the tenants but also manage relationships with potential new businesses?
- I tend to be the first point of content, and access, for current and new potential tenants. This could mean working with a tenant who has evolved and now needs a larger office space, negotiating deals with new terms or if a tenant is struggling, arranging a solution that works for the business centre and also them. I will also carry out viewings with new potential tenants, showing them around our fantastic business centre, and listening to their needs and expectations of moving to Lighthouse Workspaces so we can help get the deal signed and them moved in.
EDB. What do you like most about the job?
- Knowing that tenants are happy and knowing that they love being part of our lovely community.
EDB. You’ve been at the centre for several years now, including through Covid. How have things changed in that time?
I have been here five years now and seen a lot of changes.
When I came here we were just coming out of Covid, still following Government guidelines around mixing, and we only had a handful of tenants occupying two floors. We found that during Covid, a lot of people had to, or were able to, work from home which led to businesses deciding to downsize the office space they occupied.
So we decided to re-fit the unoccupied third floor to serviced office space, with 34 offices available. This made a massive difference and meant we only had a few vacant offices left.
EDB. What would you say to anyone thinking about taking space in Lighthouse Workspaces?
- Come and see what we have to offer. People cannot believe what we have within the business centre. We have a fantastic tenant community, a bistro selling fresh food daily and an art studio, as well as flexible office space catering for many sized businesses.
It’s a beautiful building with fantastic views of the Seaham coastline so please come for a look, around, I guarantee you will not be disappointed.
