Chester SME incubator completes

Jersey property investor Spencer Bourne has opened a 42,000 sq ft office in Chester Business Park, with suites available for small and medium-sized businesses.

Honeycomb Chester features accommodation for up to 15 SMEs. The space was officially opened last week by Chester MP Stephen Mosley.

Bourne's company Palladium Group invested £2m in the purchase and renovation of four units on the park, to provide suites of between 1,000 sq ft and 10,000 sq ft.

Two businesses have already signed tenancies and will move in over the coming months.

Honeycomb Chester is the first UK branch of Honeycomb, with three already operational in St Helier, Jersey.

Planning permission has been granted for retail space at the Honeycomb, to include a coffee and sandwich bar to serve the business park.

Bourne said: "I chose Chester because it has a buoyant economy and plenty of ambitious firms seeking to grow and relocate to bigger and better premises. Chester Business Park boasts an attractive working environment and is very accessible.

"Honeycomb Chester offers the only small-scale accommodation of its kind on the business park. The honeycomb name really reflects the purpose of these offices – to provide a flexible office space for small business to grow together as a community.

"Honeycomb Chester will be the first of a number of similar business community projects that we will open across the UK."

BA Commercial and Legat Owen are agents on the scheme.