Exciting time for organisation with a vision

May 7 2009 By The Journal

REVIVING the Heart of the West End (RHWE) has always been an organisation with a vision. Our ambition to improve enterprise and employment prospects in the West of the City has been carefully shaped over the last few years with the development of centres such as the Work Village and Buddle House.

Alongside the Board of RHWE Ltd, I am delighted to be celebrating our fifth year in business on Buddle Road.

We evolved from a Single Regeneration Business (SRB) partnership at the end of 2001 into a charity and company limited by guarantee and have steadily built a reputation working with new and young businesses needing assistance with office or workshop space. Currently, we work with 22 businesses employing over 160 staff on this site alone.

In 2004, our first business centre, John Buddle Work Village opened.

The centre has been home to over 35 start up companies needing good quality serviced office and workshop units. Over the five years we've seen many of our tenants grow and in fact over 40% have expanded into larger space usually within the first two years of trading.

There is a great buzz to the place and it is fantastic to be working with so many new and fresh young businesses.

And, even in these challenging times, it's been great to see over 100 new jobs created by our tenants.

Building on our success at the Work Village, Reviving the Heart secured funding to construct Buddle House designed as 'move-on accommodation for businesses ready to move out of managed workspace. Since 2005, we have supported three businesses safeguarding over 20 jobs and creating over 25 new jobs.

This year is an exciting time for our organisation. Our own growth and development, has enabled us to begin working with a Community Worker who will be helping us build a programme of reinvestment back to the local community. Our company structure is being reviewed to ensure we have the dynamic framework we need to take RHWE forward.

Alexandra Johnson is manager at John Buddle Work Village and Buddle House.