INCREASED demand for serviced office space in Perth has prompted a new provider to enter the Western Australian market to compete with the sector’s two dominant players, UK-based Regus and Sydney-based Servcorp.
INCREASED demand for serviced office space in Perth has prompted a new provider to enter the Western Australian market to compete with the sector’s two dominant players, UK-based Regus and Sydney-based Servcorp.
Liberty Executive Offices, led by CEO Jamie Vine, will initially bring to market two floors at Allendale Square on St Georges Terrace.
Having secured a dozen sophisticated investors to fund the start-up business, Mr Vine said basic supply and demand made Perth a compelling location for Liberty.
“In Perth, the market is very busy; competitors are full or close to full and there are still people out there looking for office space,” he said.
Serviced office providers lease large spaces, which they sub-let to tenants complete with communications infrastructure, fit-out, shared support staff and facilities.
Mr Vine said serviced office space also provided flexible leasing options for SMEs and international corporations, with a minimum lease term of three months.
“A smaller or medium-size business may benefit from spending time working on their core business and therefore they would want to use more of the services available on site, however other large companies might need a flexible term because they are using the site as a project office,” he said.
Liberty will offer the standard in-house administrative support and infrastructure like printers and faxes and will also offer advanced IT services to reduce capital investment by businesses.
Mr Vine said he was not concerned about the Regus and Servcorp duopoly and believes his company will offer a more ‘local’ focus.
“I’m comfortable with it, I feel we will be better equipped to interpret the market, because being locally based, there will be a very senior level view of what’s happening on a day to day basis in Perth,” he said.
Despite a growing demand for serviced office space, Servcorp general manager for Australia,Taine Moufarrige warned that new serviced offers providers could face challenges.
“As a small organisation, they have to commit to a lease for a long period of time and if they can’t pay their rent because they can’t lease their space, or the market changes, it’s very difficult to make it work,” Mr Moufarrige said.
Servcorp has 22 office locations nationwide and is planning to further expand on its current two office locations in Perth, at Central Park and the AMP Building.
Regus is the world’s largest serviced office provider, with more than 21 office locations Australia-wide.
It has three locations in Perth.
