| If doom mongers are correct, the UK may be facing | | | | company is confident its growth will be sustained. |
| a double dip recession. For small businesses it remains | | | | Equally, a company may want to downsize from its |
| a nervous time. Self storage provides a flexible and | | | | existing office but needs somewhere to temporarily |
| cost-effective solution for businesses scaling up or | | | | store its goods. |
| down. | | | | In contrast, rented office space often comes with |
| The self storage concept entered the UK from the | | | | considerable lease obligations. Similarly, freehold |
| US in the early nineties and is usually thought of as a | | | | property can tie up valuable capital at a time when |
| service for domestic users: families between homes, | | | | finance is difficult to come by. |
| as a store for the domestic overflow, or for | | | | Alan Wilson, a photographer from the north of |
| students on summer vacations. But more and more | | | | England, has rented a storage unit for three years. "I |
| small businesses are beginning to appreciate how | | | | do a lot of product photography and I needed a |
| useful self storage can be to them. | | | | place to store my props," he says. "There was not |
| There was a 10 per cent increase in the number of | | | | enough room in our garage at home and I was also |
| business tenants taking out space in self storage | | | | worried it wasn't dry enough, or secure enough. I've |
| units in the UK in 2009, according to the UK's Self | | | | got a small 6ft by 12ft storage unit five minutes |
| Storage Association. Businesses now take almost 35 | | | | from where I live. It's ideal. I can pick up anything I |
| per cent of all storage space in the UK. | | | | need on my way to a job. Sometimes I rent a unit |
| One leading self storage provider puts this down to | | | | an additional unit for a month and use it as my studio |
| the flexibility of the self storage offering. A business | | | | for indoor commissions." |
| can scale up or down its space requirements with | | | | It appears that businesses using self storage rarely |
| just a month's notice. A room in a storage unit the | | | | leave. One UK self storage operator says: "When a |
| size of a small child's bedroom can cost as little as | | | | self storage centre opens, 60 to 70 per cent of our |
| £60 per month. Often storage units will have 24 | | | | customers are domestic and 30 per cent business |
| hours access and a porter that can accept deliveries | | | | users. After four years we find that 60 per cent of |
| on businesses' behalf. Some storage warehouses, | | | | our tenants will be businesses and 40 per cent |
| typically those in old industrial buildings, even have | | | | domestic." |
| office space to rent. | | | | Proof is in the pudding. As Wilson says: "As I am |
| If a business needs more space to facilitate growth, | | | | freelance, my business flow can be unpredictable. |
| self storage may be the stop gap needed until the | | | | The flexibility of self storage suits me perfectly. |