Commerce House Business Community in the heart of Middlesbrough has been chosen by forward thinking Smart Sociates as it's new business address.
The online market place is a platform for business services covering a wide range of sectors from marketing, IT, media, communication, computing and much more. Set up by Pascal Pemha, Smart Sociates was created in 2018, when it was developed in conjunction with Teesside University to be a medium between buyers and sellers online.
Since then Pascal has invested in the technology, which is now proving to be ideal for the way the UK is working throughout the current pandemic, with more remote working and the growing trend in outsourcing short term services on a project basis. Although Pascal and the team also currently work remotely, he is planning a team office for the future, so to sign up as a virtual tenant with Commerce House gives him the solid business address and base he currently needs. He said: “Our previous tenancy was coming to an end. I had visited Commerce House to attend an event just after I had signed for the previous lease two years ago, so I have been waiting ever since to transfer to the beautiful TS1 building! As a virtual tenant I will be using the postal service and address, and then once lockdown is lifted I will be using it for hot-desking and meetings, with a view to once we return to normal, securing a 3-4 man office on the premises.” Commerce House is a stunning grade II listed building which comprises of office space, hotdesking and meeting facilities, a business lounge, boardroom available to hire for meetings and virtual tenancy.
Christine Huntington, facilities manager, said: “We support our tenants every need, which at the moment are very varied. We are delighted to welcome Pascal and Smart Sociates to the community, along with his wife Coco and her healthcare business Tees Care.
“It is also great to hear on the back of a tour of the building with me two years ago Pascal was so impressed he contacted me as soon as his lease came to an end to become a virtual tenant with the view to take an office when things resume to some kind of normality, first impressions are so important!!”
Tees Care specialises in healthcare recruitment and training, where candidates are then placed in care homes. Coco will be looking to share the office space with Pascal post-pandemic as she delivers her services across Teesside and Durham. A father to two, Pascal lives in Middlesbrough so is keen to keep his families businesses based here.
He concluded: “The platform now has over 2000 businesses offering a range of services. I am currently concentrating on growing that base, so I can enter the next phase of investment drive and build on the technology further. I have recently launched a hiring assistance service where we match the right people to the right project. And I am investing in building out the training part of the platform further to bring inhouse learning to your desktop. I have a number of training providers now onboard and we are looking forward to taking the next step providing an accessible learning environment. “We can’t wait to be operating from Commerce House full time, but for now we are delighted to be onboard with the virtual tenancy!”
