Welcome to the Scottish Provident Building Blog page. Here you’ll find interesting articles of what’s going on in and

It's all in the biscuits...

September 8, 2011, 7:59 pm

So how do you make a meeting room experience conducive to getting the most out of the issue at hand? All too often we have meetings for meeting's sake. So, best practises, such as concise agenda, actions to follow up, no mobile phones etc, are all essential, but what about the really important things like ambience, atmosphere ...and biscuits?

You may scoff (no pun intended) but recent research suggests that we take our meeting room decor, layout and refreshments very seriously. In fact, the choice of biscuit can be the difference between attention and... well, indifference!

The research suggested that the chocolate digestive makes the best impression and that crumbly biscuits are a big no-no in the meeting environment. When it comes to helping yourself to biscuits from a communal plate, the most acceptable number to take is two. Also, more than half of research subjects frown upon the dunking of biscuits in tea or coffee during a meeting. A survey of 7,000 people suggested that the custard cream is the nation’s favourite biscuit.

We recently took a look at the swanky new business centre next to City Hall; Scottish Provident Building. Apart from offering stunning offices for the more discerning businesses, their meeting rooms are actually available for any company to hire. Companies who may need to meet on neutral ground perhaps, or maybe for an out-of-town company looking to impress a potential new client in the city centre? What’s striking about the meeting room offerings at Scottish Provident Building is their attention to detail - knowing, and providing a range of styles and size that cater for most business types. Whether it’s a their quirky ‘Blue Sky Thinking’ room replete with a dry-wipe ‘thought bubble’ and funky decor, or the salubrious Mackenzie Suite, a beautiful meeting/boardroom that’s dressed to impress, not to mention the smaller, more intimate rooms for the odd ‘ad-hoc’ meeting or interviews.

And as for the biscuits? Well, as you’d expect of the first class service at Scottish Provident Building, whatever your heart desires will be catered for.

Well, whichever type you specify, you can be assured they will be V.I.B.s - very important biscuits.

Scottish Provident Building - virtually for everyone.

June 10, 2011, 10:02 pm

In a nutshell, a virtual office gives you all the benefits of renting office space, without the associated costs of the office itself. In its most basic guise a virtual office can be a mailing address, i.e you benefit from having the prestigious business address to use as your company’s own, giving your business a far greater professional image. For instance, you might want to give the impression of a larger, well-established company even if you are a sole trader working from home. Other companies who can benefit from a virtual office are those wishing to venture into new territory - test the water in a new city without the overheads of taking physical office space. But there’s no better way to get a step up onto the professional business accommodation ladder for new start up companies than with a virtual office.

Almost all business centres offer virtual office packages and there are a plethora of online services offering call handling or basic reception services. But they don’t come more prestigious in the city centre than at the very exclusive Scottish Provident Building next to Belfast City Hall. Prices for a virtual office start from as little as £55 per month. Why so reasonable for what is probably the most luxurious and talked about office venue in the city? Managing Director, Chris Johnston explains; “We truly believe that anyone with the desire and drive to start a business needs all the help they can get. They deserve to be able to position themselves directly in their market place with the best possible presence. For the established businesses it may be an easier decision to move directly into the building - after all, the offices and meeting rooms look a million dollars, but they also make excellent commercial sense once the beans have been counted. But we understand that our virtual clients have more basic needs from the outset and also need to keep a watchful eye on the cash flow. We also appreciate the important role they play not only in Belfast’s future economy, but also in the future of Scottish Provident Building when they hopefully make the move into the building itself once the time is right.”

Chris went on to describe their virtual offer; “As with most ‘address only’ virtual packages you get professional mail handling i.e. your post arrives and is sorted by our reception staff. Virtual clients can either pick it up at their convenience or we can arrange to have it sent on to them. Our Bronze package does this but they also get access to our meeting or boardrooms at preferential rates - which is the perfect way to impress their clients and for a very small cost per month.”

“The next level up - and an extremely popular choice - is the call answering package or Virtual Silver. This gives the user a virtual assistant - our professional receptionists - to answer their calls on their behalf. And it’s not just a matter of saying hello and passing it through - it will be answered as if it’s their staff working in their office and seamlessly passed through to whichever number they want - usually a mobile so they take the call wherever they are.”

“With our Virtual Gold package they really get the executive, VIP experience. As well as the mail and call answering services, clients get an increased level of access to the building itself. With included hours office or desk use per month you can really get a good sense of what Scottish Provident Building is about - we liken it to a five star hotel and the emphasis really is on a VIP service.”

So now everyone can feel special no matter what size their company with a virtual office from Scottish Provident Building. If you’d like to find out more speak to Chris direct on 02890 918 200.

Ipad2 Winner Announced!

May 10, 2011, 6:34 pm

And the winner is... Scot Jeffers!

Congratulations Scot you are now the proud owner of a brand new Apple iPad2 for liking our Facebook page during February-April.

Scot's name was pulled out of a hat (well, a box at least) by Graham Little, Sky Sports NI presenter and Scottish Provident Building client. Graham very kindly stepped into the breach to perform the draw at the second Fridays in The Lounge. For the uninitiated, Friday's in The Lounge is Scottish Provident Building's very own monthly social get together for tenants and guests to relax, unwind with fine food and wine and discuss all things business in Belfast.

To see the draw taking place we've uploaded a video here http://youtu.be/gRpY4Oy7-iM. Many thanks to Graham for doing the draw and apologies if you can't here the video over the noise of one of Belfast's newest and most popular networking event.

Fridays In The Lounge a great success

April 3, 2011, 9:45 pm

The inaugural event 'Fridays In The Lounge' at Scottish Provident Building proved very popular with the invited guests - both SPB client's, their guests and existing building tenants alike.

Guest's gathered in the newly refurbished lounge and were served fine hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine as they talked business and all things Belfast.

Fridays In The Lounge will be a regular event at Scottish Provident Building as the business community within grows and grows.

If you'd like an invite to the next F.i.t.L event drop us a line at enquiries@scottishprovidentbuilding.co.uk