A new coworking business is to open in Plymouth’s Royal William Yard – bringing with it a café, bar, and fitness and events space as part of a new way of working post-pandemic.
The company BLOCK will create a coworking space and private office suites, inside the refurbished Melville building at the historic waterfront former Royal Navy yard.
It will occupy the largest space ever leased by Urban Splash, which has been transforming abandoned victualling buildings for two decades, with 17,000sq ft taken across two floors of the Melville building.
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BLOCK will have spacious coworking zones, cellular private offices, and meeting rooms, designed to provide modern, flexible spaces for a vast range of businesses, whatever their needs and however they want to work.
There will also be the BLOCK Bar - a coffee shop that becomes a cocktail bar for after-work drinks - plus relaxed lounges and outside space, arranged to offer different ways of working, “fit for a new era of work”. It is set to open by the end of the year.
BLOCK is a new premium workspace brand, part of The Cheriton Group that is behind Pynes Hill business centre in Exeter and a host of successful leisure facilities.
Its new flagship offering, in Plymouth, aims to “offer class and professionalism alongside a sense of community, wellbeing and collaborative working”.
Further amenities are planned for the next phase of the project, after BLOCK Plymouth has opened, including new fitness and events facilities.
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Ben Cheriton, managing director of BLOCK, said his firm’s plan is to provide a space where workers can “innovate, socialise and relax”.
“Royal William Yard is a stunning location and we are thrilled to be creating a space that enables businesses to think differently about how and where they work,” he said. “The world of work has changed massively within the last year and will only continue to evolve.
“At BLOCK Plymouth, we will provide a hybrid that allows people to work as they want to, instead of or in addition to home working. Spaces to collaborate, innovate, socialise and relax are more important than ever and - with a café by day and cocktail bar by night, and wellbeing in the workplace at our heart - we are bringing something that does that and more.”
BLOCK’s plans for the Melville building fit with a new post-pandemic vision for offices, which will see them evolve into places were people have fun as well as work.
Leading property expert Joanne High, head of the Plymouth agency for South West property consultants Vickery Holman, told Business Live the enforced shift to working at home during the Covid crisis means fewer people will return to the office.
And that means companies will not only want less space, and out-of-town locations, but will have to provide an environment which does more than just give staff a place to work – but to hold meetings, socialise and have fun.
That could mean employers including such things as places to eat and even gyms to entice employees back in, who are likely to be splitting their working week between home and the office.
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BLOCK’s new spaces fits with that shift and will be designed by Devon’s RIBA award-winning Gillespie Yunnie Architects, which has worked with Urban Splash throughout the yard’s successful 17-year regeneration.
From stylish open-plan workspaces with sea views, to cosy lounges and meeting rooms, BLOCK will combine the historic architectural features of the Grade I-listed Georgian building, with an outstanding modern design where natural materials, light, and ventilation feature heavily.
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Sustainability is central to the business, which will be carbon neutral, use renewable energy, and seek environmentally-friendly and ethical products and practices at every turn.
Emily Handslip, commercial Ddrector at Urban Splash, said: “Plymouth has nothing like this and we are delighted to bring such an incredible new space to Royal William Yard.
“BLOCK completes the picture; from hot-desking and coworking, right through to individual premises and large corporate HQs, we now offer space for every type of business at Royal William Yard.”
Work to renovate the Melville building began in early 2019 and space has already been reserved for a boutique Everyman cinema and a water-facing restaurant run by Cornwall-headquartered Hubbox.
Mrs Handslip added: “Standing proud at the centre of the yard, Melville is an incredible building and we have always had a clear vision and high hopes for it. We have now exchanged on over 55% of commercial space available in Melville and expect to have some more exciting announcements to follow soon. We welcome interest from firms that would like to join us in one of the yard’s most impressive and last remaining buildings.”