Empty government offices to be opened up to entrepreneurs
Posted by Dan Martin in Business trends, Regulation on Mon, 23/01/2012 - 12:21
The government is to free up unused buildings to small business owners.
Prime minister David Cameron made the announcement at the launch of the new Business In You campaign.
"The British Government has a huge stock of buildings at our disposal," Cameron said. "The first priority for the ones we aren't using is to sell them off, but in the meantime, many are going to be sitting idle.
"So let's match the capacity we've got with the need that's out there. Let's provide office space where we can to those who can use it."
Cameron also claimed that business owners using government facilities would help to make government staff more entrepreneurial.
"We'll have civil servants who will then be sharing the water coolers, the lifts, the corridors with entrepreneurs...and I think this will be a good connection between public and private sectors," he said.
It is believed that more than 300 government buildings will be offered to small businesses at low rates. Last year, a review of the government's properties revealed that more than 456,000 square metres at 550 sites across the UK were vacant.
During the meeting with entrepreneurs in the North East on Monday, Cameron continued: "I said 2012 has got to be the year we go for it, the year we light new fires of ambition in our economy, the year we get behind Britain's grafters, doers, hard-workers and entrepreneurs.
"This isn't something we'd quite like to do - it's something we've got to do because enterprise is critical to this country's future.
"Enterprise is what we do in Britain. This is the year that, more than ever, we've got to go for it."
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