John Truslove helps Harborne Computers find new HQ for continued expansion
A growing IT services company is setting up its new headquarters in Bromsgrove with the aid of commercial property agents John Truslove after major growth in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Harborne Computers has seen growing demand for its IT support and consultancy services as companies moved as many staff as possible to home working over the last year.
Mike Taylor, director of Harborne Computers, said: “Companies needed projects that would normally take 12 or 18 months to be planned and completed within just a couple of weeks.
“Our ability to combine speed with attention to detail has seen a significant boost both to our reputation and demand for our services.
“We realised we needed more space to cater for that demand and started looking for premises in April 2020, but there was a dearth of properties that combined offices with warehouse space. Once our property adviser started working with the team at John Truslove we found Venture House on Saxon Business Park in Bromsgrove.
“The whole process of securing the lease and arranging the move has gone extremely smoothly.
“The layout at Venture House gave us a great starting point and we have carried out internal building work to create more office space so we can look to grow. We will retain our offices in Birmingham so we have a presence in the city, but a majority of our work is carried out remotely and Venture House is the ideal headquarters for us.”
Harborne Computers provides monthly IT support contracts, IT consultancy and cloud services to a growing customer-base of companies across the region, many of which have moved their workforce to home working.
Mr Taylor added: “There are all sorts of challenges to moving people to working from home, such as sharing bandwidth with other household members and ensuring they have the correct IT equipment available, but we have been able to guide our clients through the process and provide support over the subsequent months.
“Many firms were already looking at the idea of moving staff to working from home before the pandemic. It has worked so well that I think it will now be a regular part of working life in most businesses with people working from home at least a couple of days a week.
“We were already seeing year-on-year growth but that has accelerated enormously over the last year. We have a team of five at present but will be looking to recruit more people to handle both the IT support side of the business and our increasing e-commerce sales of computer accessories over the next 12 months.”
Ben Truslove, joint managing director at John Truslove, arranged a five-year lease on the 3,136 sq ft Saxon Business Park unit for Harborne Computers.
He said: “This type of commercial property, combining offices with factory or warehouse space, is at a premium. Fortunately, we represent a wide range of landlords across the region which gives us unrivalled access to a broad range of available properties. This is another case were we have been able to match the right tenant with the right landlord.
“Harborne Computers is a company that is clearly providing the right service at the right time and Venture House will provide it with the ideal platform to continue to grow. We wish Mike and his team well.”
Harborne Computer’s legal advisers were VWV in Birmingham. The landlords were advised by mfg Solicitors.
Redditch-based chartered surveyors and valuers John Truslove was recently named Most Active Agent in Worcestershire in the Radius Data Exchange survey produced in conjunction with EG, the commercial property market magazine.
Joint managing director Ian Parker was also named Worcestershire Dealmaker of the Year AND Warwickshire Dealmaker of the Year for 2020. The survey year, which runs from August to August, saw John Truslove record a 36% increase in deals negotiated over the 12 months.
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