Meet the Yorkshire commercial property boss persuading clients to take less office space

The company offers bespoke working environments to clients which are designed to allow their teams to thrive and be more productive.

The business was originally set up by Mr Corrigan’s father, John Wilson, with the family running the operations alongside their continuing agricultural work at the nearby Woodlands Farm.

Their first leased building opened in 2002, with the first serviced office following in 2007.

Mr Corrigan said their business model has always been focused around providing quality office space catered to individual client needs – with their approach becoming increasingly popular following the impact of the pandemic on working culture and business practices.

He said: "The conversations we were having with people who were raising an eyebrow pre-Covid now really resonate post-Covid.

"People are flying towards quality over cost, people realise a generic office is not where work happens and there are various types of work we need to support people with.”

He said another part of the approach – assisted by analysing where Wi-Fi is being used in buildings – is frequently encouraging tenants to downsize. The move allows the client to save money while opening up space for WorkWell to provide to other businesses.

Mr Corrigan said: "We have members join us and normally within four to eight months we are asking them to reduce the size they have with us. We want to see utilisation of our assets because that is where we feel we are providing value.

"Our teams glean insights and if they feel a room is being underutilised, we will flag that up. People have the same fear you hear about a Tesla electric car running out of power – people are scared about running out of office space for staff. With us, if you have one day a year where you have more staff than space we can accomodate what your team wants to achieve that day.

"If a customer has 20 workspaces but only has three to five people coming in, how nice is that environment going to be for those people?

"Having just five to six workstations makes it more energetic and lively.

"At the beginning of the year we took one company which had 4,500 sq ft and put them in 1,200 sq ft and the feedback we have had from the staff has been unbelievable.

"You don’t just want a room to sit your staff in, you want an environment in which you can all perform.”

The company is now expanding its horizons beyond Leeds and into Harrogate.

Mr Corrigan said: “We have acquired a new space in Harrogate, Copthall Bridge, which will be opening in October this year.

"We will probably be trying to rebrand the building as something a bit more attractive."It is in a market close to us and we know there are a lot of professional businesses in Harrogate but there is very limited building options in the town centre that can be converted into Grade A stock and can’t provide the services we do."