Saxonvale is a carefully considered regeneration scheme, rooted in community and designed with a flexible live-work lifestyle in mind, offering plenty of opportunities for residents and local businesses to thrive. Acorn Property Group has given much thought to ensure Saxonvale caters for contemporary needs of living and working, creating a vibrant and sustainable new community, where residents can live, work, socialise and play within close proximity.
In an era where many of Britain’s high streets are reducing in size, the new commercial space planned for Saxonvale will expand central Frome and complement it, boosting the town’s economy, and further diversifying and enhancing Frome’s creative and social scene. Expected to provide a minimum 45,000 sq ft of new commercial space dedicated to business, culture and leisure. Saxonvale will provide the new community with a compelling range of amenities including retail units, workshops, offices, arts and culture centre, plus food and drink outlets and a new Riverside Café.
Saxonvale is also set to host an expansive new co-working space providing the people of Frome with a vibrant workspace that has the prospect of creating several hundred new job opportunities for the local area. Co-working is a popular business service provision model that supports a new way of working; involving individuals or businesses working independently or collaboratively in shared office space, allowing for cost savings through the use of common infrastructure.
This co-working space will be a great asset to Saxonvale and Frome as not only will it encourage a sense of community, collaboration, learning and sustainability in providing a place to work, it will also offer other amenities that strengthen the connection between people and the place they share.
Subject to planning and final agreement, the new building will be owned and managed by Forward Space, who have six co-working spaces across the South West. Gavin Eddy, Founder & CEO said “each of our buildings is uniquely tailored to its location to include co-working, full-time desks and private offices. We wrap these around a core consisting of a café, comfy lounge areas, shared resources, meeting rooms and event spaces. We believe you should have fun at work so we throw in a good dose of table-top football and table tennis, deck chairs and hammocks, beers and pizza on a Friday, cycling club, rounders in the park and loads of social events. We feel that to be productive, you also need time out”.
Gavin Eddy continues to say “We opened our first co-working space in Frome 13 years ago and Frome is still the HQ of our company, so it holds a special place in our hearts. The Old Church School has been a great success, with the premises at full capacity since we opened. We now have over a 2-year waiting list for new members. We have simply out-grown the building and know the demand exists. Saxonvale offers us the opportunity to create a new larger, purpose built workspace and would allow us to relocate and continue to do what we do, but on a much bigger scale. This new space could generate over 350 high value jobs from smart-thinking entrepreneurs, creative start-ups and ambitious small businesses. Our vision at Saxonvale is to create a vibrant co-working space right in the heart of the town. It will be more than just a place to work; it will be a buzzing space that could include a food hall and a multi-purpose event space. Saxonvale is an ideal location for us. We always try to be right in the town centre, so members can walk or cycle to work. This also brings money back in the town as members use the local shops, eateries and facilities such as hairdressers, dry-cleaners, butchers etc. during their lunch break.”
In addition to delivering the minimum 45,000 sq ft, Saxonvale has also been designed to incorporate unique live/work dwellings that offer occupiers the opportunity to change between residential and commercial uses. These properties will be delivered in an adaptable format to provide flexible workspace on the ground floor that can be used as an office or studio without having to apply for planning consent, enabling convenient living and working opportunities side by side.
If you are interested in the commercial opportunities at Saxonvale please email saxonvalecommercial@acornpg.org
For all the latest news on Saxonvale please visit www.saxonvaleredevelopment.org
