St Leonards’ Innovation Centre refurbished to provide premises on flexible terms for local businesses.

The Innovation Centre in northwest St Leonards has been refurbished, with offices, workshops and studios available on flexible lease terms for local businesses.

Owned by economic development company Sea Change Sussex, the Innovation Centre is a three-storey contemporary property designed to help businesses in the Hastings and Bexhill area to start and grow. It has offices available from 157 to 1,030 sq ft – accommodating from one to eight people – as well as workshops and studios from 325 to 615 sq ft.

Sea Change Sussex has just completed a comprehensive refurbishment of the building, updating the reception, kitchens and break-out areas.

The company is also offering leases which incorporate a rolling three-month notice period to give occupiers the flexibility to adjust their accommodation if their business needs change.

The Innovation Centre is a fully managed building, with offices decorated and ready to move in. It has high-speed broadband and phones provided, plus light, heat, power and water included in the service charge. Sea Change Sussex has installed solar panels on the roof to keep energy costs low.

The Centre has on-site parking, meeting rooms, a staffed reception, shared kitchens, showers, an attractive break-out area and external gardens. It is three miles from Hastings’ town centre, mainline rail station and seafront, and a mile from the A21 to London.

One of the occupants of the Innovation Centre is Fresh Online, a digital marketing agency founded by local entrepreneur Mike Sherwood, which moved to an office in the Centre in 2021.

Providing websites and online marketing services to businesses across East Sussex, the company has expanded to employ eight people today. Sherwood has also taken a second office in the building to support the establishment of two additional businesses: Aesthetic Web, which provides marketing support for medical clinics, and a business coaching service.

Mike Sherwood said: “The Innovation Centre is easy for us and our clients to reach, with plenty of parking. It’s good value for money, we don’t have to worry about looking after the building, and the greatest benefit is the flexibility to expand as our business grows.

“The renovation programme has been great. Our clients have commented on how professional the building looks, and our staff are enjoying the refurbished kitchens and break-out areas.”

Another expanding company within the Centre is Radfield Home Care. The local franchise was set up in 2017 by former social worker Samuel Holmes in the annex of his home. By providing high-quality in-home care services across Hastings, St Leonards, Bexhill and Rye, the company has grown steadily and took an office in the Innovation Centre in 2019.

It now employs eight staff in two offices within the Centre, has 53 carers working in the community and holds an ‘Outstanding’ Care Quality Commission (CQC) rating.

Manager Jo Gardner said: “Our offices are a decent size with training and conference rooms we can use as we wish. The building is spacious, airy, clean and tidy.

“The parking is important for us as we have carers regularly coming and going, and the refurbishment has been excellent – bringing a freshness and vibrancy to the reception, kitchens and break-out areas.”

For letting enquiries

There are several offices and workshops available within the Centre.

Interested parties should visit the website of property agent Dyer & Hobbis or get in touch with Alex Hobbis on 01424 423 626 or ahobbis@dyerandhobbis.com.

First Bexhill Enterprise Park industrial units reach construction milestone – Seven units already under offer

The first three of the light industrial properties being developed on the Bexhill Enterprise Park have reached an important construction milestone – with the steel frames completed and the roofs installed. Seven of the forthcoming units are already under offer and set to be occupied in 2026.

The industrial units stand to the northwest of Combe Valley Way on the Bexhill Enterprise Park North, created by economic development company Sea Change Sussex.

Sea Change Sussex has installed utilities and built site roads leading off Haven Brook Avenue to make development of this area possible.

The units themselves are being built by Sea Change Sussex’s development partner, Westcott Leach. They will each provide between 2,228 and 14,879 sq ft (207 – 1,382 sq m) of manufacturing floor space.

Westcott Leach started construction work in 2024 and will complete the first three buildings by early next year. The company is also undertaking groundworks ready to build a further 16 units.

There has been considerable interest in the forthcoming properties, with seven units already under offer for occupation in 2026.

Over time, Westcott Leach plans to develop a total of 20 industrial units on the Bexhill Enterprise Park, surrounded by parking and landscaping, providing 85,000 sq ft of floorspace and accommodating up to 500 employees.

The properties are designed to address the severe shortage of modern manufacturing premises in East Sussex, which has been constraining the growth of local firms and preventing companies from moving to the county. They will add considerably to economic activity in the Bexhill area.

On the Bexhill Enterprise Park, the industrial units join the other developments delivered so far by Sea Change Sussex: Glovers House, now the HQ of leisure company Park Holidays UK; the High Weald House business centre, home to several small and medium companies – with some offices still available; and a range of serviced development sites.

The Bexhill Enterprise Park is part of the urban extension of Bexhill being rolled out across 66 acres to the north of the town. This includes the creation of local roads and housing, with scope for up to 600,000 sq ft of business premises and 2,000 new homes.

Anyone interested in finding out more about the industrial premises should visit the website of Westcott Leach’s property agent Dyer & Hobbis, or contact Alex Hobbis on 01424 423 626 or ahobbis@dyerandhobbis.com.

You can see all of the available commercial property listed by Sea Change Sussex on NovaLoca here.

For more on the Bexhill Enterprise Park, visit www.bexhillenterprisepark.co.uk

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