A serviced office is an office or office building that is fully equipped and managed by a facility management company, also known as an office provider , which then rents individual offices or floors to other companies . Serviced offices, also referred to as managed offices , flexible offices , business centers , executive suites or executive centers , are often found in the business districts of large cities around the world. A serviced office broker will commonly help business center owners and facility management companies to rent serviced office space. Companies offering serviced offices are generally able to offer more flexible rental terms, as opposed to a conventional leased office which may require furnishing, equipment, and more restrictive leases. Space is normally flexible, allowing for additional space to be allocated at short notice, should the size of an individual business change. Serviced office providers often allow tenants to share reception services, business machines and other resources, providing reduced costs and access to equipment which may otherwise be unaffordable. By providing businesses with access to a workplace, technology and people central to its operations, the serviced office can be considered a type of virtual office . Serviced offices are a central component to the flexible workspace industry.
15-600: The Alexandra Club was a private members club for women in Edwardian London. It was based at 12 Grosvenor Street , at the east end of the street on the north side, in London's Mayfair district. The club was founded in 1884, and closed in 1939. The club had 600 members by 1888. Membership of the club was only available to women eligible to attend the Queen's Drawing Rooms. Amy Levy in her 1888 novel, The Romance of
30-481: A Shop considered the merits of the Alexandra Club against other clubs for women and concluded that the phrase "who has been or who would probably be precluded from Her Majesty's Drawing Rooms" to be "full of the sound and fury of exclusiveness and signifying not so much after all". Smoking was forbidden at the club, and members were not permitted to entertain men. Accommodation was available. The entrance fee
45-624: A business report carried out by the Business Centre Association (renamed the Flexible Space Association in 2019) showed that serviced offices in the UK are using 70 million square feet of space, house around 80,000 businesses, provide over 400,000 jobs and generate in the region of £2bn to the UK economy. Coworking spaces are a branch of serviced offices that add elements of collaboration and community to
60-540: A distinctly corporate feel. The advances in computer technology during the 1980s reduced the amount of staff required to operate a serviced office, and increased the technologies a serviced office could offer its clients, including access to computers , voicemail , and fax machines . Richard Nissen founded Business Space Ltd. in London in 1980 and was a pioneer of the new digital exchange telecommunications system that used electronics to place and transfer telephone calls. Now primarily virtual offices offering businesses
75-471: A membership fee for access and use. Most are owned and controlled by their members even to this day. Some were originally gentlemen's clubs to which members first had to be elected; others are more modern commercial establishments with no class or gender bar, typically offering food, drink, comfortable surroundings, venue hire and business facilities, in return for members paying subscription or membership fees. The first gentlemen's clubs, mostly established in
90-473: A place, people and technology, serviced offices became an industry. Seminal reports on the industry were carried out by DTZ in the early 2000s, and published with the British Council for Offices. The National Audit Office of the UK has produced a guide to help Government Departments and public bodies to assess the case for flexible managed space instead of conventional office space. In November 2014,
105-847: The Groucho Club (established in 1985), Soho House (1995) and Home House (1998); similar clubs operate in other cities and countries: for example, the CORE Club was established in New York City in 2005. These typically offer memberships by subscription and are owned and run as commercial concerns. They offer similar facilities such as food, drink, comfortable surroundings, venue hire and in many cases accommodation. Mobile working (using phone and email) had put pressure on traditional London clubs, some of which discouraged use of mobiles and laptops, or discussion of business matters. By contrast, business-oriented private members' clubs combine
120-662: The West End of London from the late 17th century onwards, were highly exclusive, offering aristocratic and wealthy men a refuge from work and family. The eligibility of potential members depended on their class and gender, with women banned from joining any of them. Early clubs also provided an environment for gambling, illegal outside of members-only establishments. Individuals needed to be formally proposed for membership, and candidates were subject to election by committees which scrutinised individuals' character and suitability. Several private members' clubs for women were established in
135-587: The 1960s, with the creation of OmniOffices in 1962, followed by the launch of Paul Fegen's furnished law suites for attorneys in 1966. The concept then spread abroad to Australia, where Alf Moufarrige founded ServCorp in 1978, and to the U.K. where the Fuchs family launched a business center in Northampton, England, in 1979, which is still open under their family brand OSiT (Office Space in Town Ltd). During
150-483: The 1980s, serviced offices in the major US business cities, evolved from law suites into business centers. In the United Kingdom, the concept of working together and sharing premises, staff and other overheads was at first primarily used by barristers . They normally band together into "chambers" to share clerks (administrators) and operating expenses. Some chambers grow to be large and sophisticated, and have
165-437: The footman of the club. The prince's satisfaction over this caused him amusement and led him to say that the club was entitled to bear his wife's name as a result. 51°30′44.06″N 0°8′45.67″W / 51.5122389°N 0.1460194°W / 51.5122389; -0.1460194 Private members club Private members' clubs are organisations which provide social and other facilities to members who typically pay
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#1732766120479180-787: The late 19th century; among them the Alexandra Club , the Ladies' Institute, the Ladies' Athenaeum and the University Women's Club . Many of the traditional gentlemen's clubs now allow women as members, though a few, including - until May 2024 - the Garrick Club in London's Covent Garden , still refuse women membership. More modern but otherwise similar private members' clubs have since been established. Most of these, however, are for-profit commercial enterprises neither owned nor controlled by members. London examples include
195-462: The style, food and drink of a contemporary private members' club with the business facilities of a serviced office or coworking space. Notable examples of private members' clubs include: This organization-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Serviced office Pioneers of the serviced office industry in the United States are recorded as early as
210-417: The workspace. The term was coined by Bernard de Koven in 1999 and has since become a popular trend for start-ups and international satellites. Clients of serviced office facilities fall into the following categories: Services typically include: Facilities typically include: Serviced offices may offer benefits over conventional offices for new or dynamic businesses, including: A serviced office broker
225-421: Was 5 guineas , with the annual subscription fee 4 guineas for members from the country, and 5 guineas for those in town. The popularity of the club led to disputes between members over the best tables those in which according to the historian Anne de Courcy , the "lunchers could be viewed in all their glory from the street". The Prince of Wales , visiting his wife, Princess Alexandra , was once denied entrance by
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