In case you haven’t heard, we’ve moved! Yep, We Love Surveys are now based entirely from our Loughborough office in the lovely surroundings of the Advanced Technology Innovation Centre (ATIC).
We’ve waved a permanent goodbye to our HQ in Brixton and set up camp at the perfectly-situated ATIC at Loughborough University’s Enterprise & Science Park.
We’re still in the settling-in phase – there’s a bit of mild chaos because not everything is unpacked, we keep tripping over that same box every five minutes, and we can’t decide if we prefer our comfy new yellow sofa in that corner or this corner. Small-world problems…
It’s been a tumultuous few weeks, we won’t lie to you. The move has been stressful and not without the odd hiccup that every move brings, so thank the Lord there’s enough coffee on tap here to keep a koala bear on its toes. Just the smell of hot coffee must be one of the world’s greatest inventions, right?
But has it had any effect on the day-to-day running of We Love Surveys? Oh no. Not at all. What we can tell you is that everything is running as smoothly and efficiently as one of our Buzz Boxes, and we couldn’t be happier to be here at the ATIC, all of us in one fantastic place ready to challenge the world and help our clients – both existing and future – achieve their goals.
So, what does this move mean for We Love Surveys? And, more importantly, what does it mean for our clients?
Goodbye London, hello Loughborough
What it demonstrates, in no uncertain terms, is that as a business we’re growing and growing… and growing. And as we grow, so do our clients. It’s a win-win situation.
We’d been based in London since 2006 and then opened our second office here in Loughborough in 2018. Which was fine for a while, but let’s be honest, the running costs of two offices just wasn’t viable and it made more sense to have all our eggs in one basket. Plus, having everyone here has given Helen and Anna someone else to talk to during these long, cold winter days.
The 12 months since opening the Loughborough office helped stabilise us as here a team, and got us in a really good place to work with other local businesses, to grow our own offer.
It’s a really lovely office, it’s so accessible and it’s such a nice place for our clients to come to. It makes us feel so much more professional and together as a business.
We can’t emphasize how important it has been to have our clients come here to meet us. Well, actually we can – we’ve had more client meetings here in the last six months than we had in the last six years. That really speaks volumes in itself.
And the advantages keep on coming: We’ve taken on two new members of staff!
We’re not in the business of blowing our own trumpet, but we are quietly pleased with ourselves that our growth is having an impact on the local economy by creating jobs. And we don’t want to end there, we very much see more roles being created some time in the future.
Being on campus opens so many doors
Our new starters are in the midst of their training, getting them up to speed and helping them fit straight in to the WLS family. And those guys who were based in Brixton, we haven’t left them behind. Well, we sort of have in a way.
Some of them come up to Loughborough two or three times a week, and they work from home, or the café around the corner or wherever takes their fancy, when they’re not here. And one is quite happy to sit on the beach in Southsea doing clever client stuff on his computer. We’re all about flexible working.
Another of the great things about being here “on campus” – we love that phrase – is not just having direct access to research facilities and the opportunity to work with students, but also being so close to the wide range of exciting, innovative and knowledgeable businesses who are also based here.
The difference between working in a normal serviced office in London and working on a university campus really opens the door to so many different opportunities that we didn’t even think of before.
Our goal is to grow the business and improve the product. Now we’re here at the ATIC, happy under one roof, we’re in a great position to do both.
We’ve already cracked open the champers to celebrate being here, but we’ll happily raise our glass again and say a toast to the future – for us and for our clients.
If you’d like to talk to us about any of our services, or what we do and how we do it, we would love to hear from you. Just get in touch with us here and we’ll happily have a natter.