Montpellier’s BURO Club, human-sized business center
Office Space news by BURO Club

News of the 20/06/2016

Among the 101 BURO Club business centers located in France and abroad, there is Montpellier’s center, in the department of Hérault. It is directed by Annie Ferrandes and has a large 700 sqm area composed of 34 serviced offices for rent.

“This is a human-sized business center”, says Annie Ferrandes, when asked about the atmosphere within her company. At 65, this experienced manager takes care of more than one hundred customers. And this is without taking into account those who enjoy virtual offices and those who are using the two meeting rooms on a regular basis. In this universe dedicated to work, she manages to maintain a human touch. “I often deliver mails to clients myself. I also make coffee regularly and I’m pleased to serve them. It allows us to talk about their evolution, their state of mind. It is a good way to make sure they have everything they need.”

Waiting on clients’ hand and foot

Being attentive to the client is precisely the basis of the management in a business center, and it is something that Annie Ferrandes appreciates. “I’ve always liked working in the service field, and I need to share intellectually.” In addition to listening skills, the director knows the business world and its constraints as she experienced them through her previous activity. “I am an associate in a public accounting firm. I was in charge of administrative and social tasks.” Over the BURO Club adventure, she delegated her duties to devote herself to the business center, an activity she discovered by chance. “I found out about business centers during a business trip in Toulouse. I entered the BURO Club center of the city and asked how it worked. I liked it and in the meantime, we had to enlarge the premises of our firm. I started looking for the perfect place and I changed job.”

A strategic site in Montpellier

The perfect place is at 543, rue de la Castelle, and is "close to the highway”. Plus, it has an anecdote. "The agency in charge of my real estate search could not sell this building because it is not rectangular or square, it is triangular", explains Annie Ferrandes, amused. After thinking about its original forms, it appeared that this "airplane wing" shape suited perfectly to a business center. Located at ten minutes from the city center and providing easy access to the highway, Montpellier BURO Club’s center has 34 offices, two meeting rooms, two reception areas, a private parking that can accommodate thirty cars and a garden area.

Among the most requested office space solutions, in addition to offices for rent, there is telephone reception, organization of meetings in the meeting rooms as well as virtual offices. “Our business works very well. We are at the customers’ disposal and offer them any services that enable them to focus on their work. In a certain way, we are their executive secretary.”

BURO Club’s benefits

"From the beginning, we wanted to be independent", says the director of the center, which fits perfectly with BURO Club, first French network of independent business centers. “BURO Club’s network brings the whole experience we need since our opening in 2005. Some members have been practicing in this field for over twenty years. There is a real solidarity in the exchange of skills. You never feel alone.” Every three or four months, the fifty BURO Club members meet. “It is very useful because it enables us to develop the business centers field. We get updated and come back with a bag full of good practices, which are crucial to add value to our business centers. Concrete projects always come out of it.”