NEW serviced offices will be officially opened on Thursday, April 10 by Coun David Horton, the Lord Mayor of York.

Visitors from local businesses will afterwards tour Westminster Business Centre at York Business Park guided by Sandra and Matthew Tearney, the married couple who have taken out a ten-year lease on the entire new office complex.

Sandra, who once managed similar serviced offices in Teesside, is marketing director for the new venture. She said: "Serviced office space has become increasingly popular for small businesses to be able to share facilities such as reception, meeting rooms, and kitchens.

"We provide furnished offices with access to telephony and equipment that would normally be found in the offices of larger businesses. Included in the monthly rental is the electricity, heating, security, cleaning, parking, telephony and business rates, plus optional facilities such as fax, photocopier and secretarial support."

David, who used to sell telecoms and internet services in the UK and Europe, said: "A huge benefit to businesses is that we offer a minimum three-month contract.

"If all nine ground-floor offices sell quickly enough we may expand to another nine on the first floor."

So far the signs are good. Three companies have already moved in. Drivertime Industrial, which specialises in recruitment of transport and distribution staff, Inter City Fuel, a new venture which sells Shell fuel credit cards to businesses, and a York outpost of Health Care Connections, which organises medical checks for employees of Network Rail.

The new offices have been praised by Dave Taylor, marketing director of York Inward investment Board.

He said: "We welcome the addition of another quality provider of serviced office accommodation in the city. Westminster Business Centre will be an asset both to indigenous companies and to help us to attract small-scale inward investment to York."

Updated: 09:22 Tuesday, April 08, 2003