#ADayInTheLife: Walter Urquhart

Walter is a highly-dedicated centre manager who embodies the BizSpace brand. He arrives at his centre around 7.30am every morning and throws himself into all aspects of life as a centre manager. Walter has worked for us for two years and is vital to the lifestyle Hollinwood. We caught up with Walter, below.

What is the secret to running an award-winning Workspace?

I think the secret, and it’s not much of a secret, is to focus on the customer’s needs. I like to start the day in the right way so that I can communicate with my customers, and I adopt an open-door policy with all my customers and they do so in return. This gives me the opportunity to manage their issues before they become problems. I am on first names terms with all my customers and I see customer service as an integral part of my role as centre manager not an extension to it.

We are delighted to announce that Bizspace in Oldham, Hollinwood has won ‘Work Space of the Year’ at the 2016 BCA awards

That winning feeling, talk us through it.

When they announced that the award for “Work Space of the Year” was the Hollinwood Business Centre, I was absolutely gobsmacked. I didn’t feel nervous beforehand, but I did at that point, but the nerves evaporated into sheer enjoyment as I received the award. I had the biggest smile ever and I felt so proud, not just proud in myself but absolute pride in the team around me such as Steven Humphreys (site admin), Seam O’Meara (Maintenance), Sean & Debbie Lawton (Site Cleaners) and also those who help us to be able to deliver a great service such as David Myring, Trish Gibbs, Ian Walker and Sally Keen who all play an active part in making the Hollinwood Business Centre an award-winning site.

In your eyes, what makes Hollinwood so special?

There is a feeling of community, my customers have a terrific heart and you can always find a smile. It’s a large site with many diverse businesses of varying sizes. The reception and conference area is the central part of the site, it’s a place where people come and meet. But just as important, is how our customers feel and every day we try to make our customers feel special and we work hard to keep it that way.

Rumours, Rumours.

RUMOUR HAS IT, THERE’S A LITTLE REFURBISHMENT HAPPENING AT HOLLINWOOD, SPILL THE BEANS.

There are a lot of projects that will go ahead in 2017: Refurbishment of office 9-15 (3800 sq ft), refurbishment of the reception and meeting room areas in line with the new brand, over 40 new windows on the east side of the building and upgrades in LED lighting and heating throughout the site.

CEO Gareth Evans has commented, “We’ve just changed our brand to represent who we are a little bit more, and as Walt has said, “it’s all about teamwork”. Our vision is to grow the business hugely over the next 2 to 3 years, small businesses are growing and we see a real opportunity in this sector.” When asked if Brexit will impact on small businesses, Gareth added, “the small and micro-businesses are very resilient people.”