County Wexford Chamber welcomes the launch of a Remote working center in Gorey. MHO SPACE, a company which specialises in developing remote-working centres, has partnered with Wexford Co. Council to develop a hub at the M11 Business Park in Gorey. The hub is already up and running and providing modern, state-of-the-art working facilities for up to 200 people. This initiative in Gorey is expected to be the first of up to four similar remote-working centres across Co. Wexford which MHO Space hopes to open in Enniscorthy, New Ross and Wexford Town.
With the Covid pandemic forcing tens of thousands of workers to switch from their former offices in Ireland’s cities and larger towns, the consequent explosion in working from home has accelerated the business case for remote-working hubs, which provide high-speed and secure broadband and all the other facilities of modern offices. This has two outstanding benefits: giving thousands of workers, who have been working from their homes a locally-based full-office alternative, and avoiding a return to long-distance commuting when the lockdown eventually ends, and their former office abodes re-open.
MHO SPACE not only develops the physical facility, but also manages all marketing and fulfilment operations to attract companies and individual workers to base themselves in these hubs.
Councillor Joe Sullivan, Chairman of the Gorey-Kilmuckridge Municipal District, warmly welcomed the proposal by MHO Space to bring significant jobs to Gorey and to build on the success of the Council’s Hatch Lab Innovation Centre which had 30 small companies operating there prior to the pandemic. Councillor Sullivan also paid tribute to the investment by local developers Tom and Paddy Redmond in the M11 Business Park and cited Gorey as one of the most vibrant and attractive towns in Leinster to work and live in.
Chief Executive of Wexford Co. Council, Mr. Tom Enright, said that the Council was seeing a lot of interest in remote working in Wexford by Dublin-based companies as people start to return to the office place and new hybrid models of work arrangements are being considered. He stressed that Wexford can offer a real alternative with affordable high-quality office accommodation, affordable housing and an unrivalled quality of life, all within a short distance of Dublin.
The CEO of the Cork-basedMHO SPACE, Dave Burke, said that the company’s offering fully aligns with the ambition of Wexford Co. Council, and other local authorities, to reinvigorate towns and villages across rural Ireland. “There is now a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring about a shift away from the ‘normal’ big office business model, and allow workers and their families to re-locate to rural Irish towns, thereby enjoying lower living costs, less commuting and a better quality of life”, he says.
Earlier this year, the Government published the first National Remote Working Strategy, which aims to make remote working a permanent option in post-pandemic Ireland, and DaveBurke also cites research by Colliers International, the real estate management company, which has found that while 58% of employees had never worked from home pre-Covid, 43% now want to work remotely longer-term. Dave Burke also cites other recent research in Ireland on the future of work which forecasts that, while 34% of employees will be required to be in an office full-time, 44% of workers will assume a hybrid status (some days in the main office/others remotely in home or hub), and 22% will assume full-time remote status.
And, he adds, there is the economic multiplier effect of every new skilled job located in a rural town creating up to three additional jobs in traded sectors like shops, bars and catering.
For further information:
Wexford Co. Council, – David Minogue, Communications Officer, Tel 053 9196260 or 087 7619555
