Danielle Jones on Boutique's
Grade II listed gems

Flex and The City had the true privilege of sitting down with the icon herself; Danielle Jones, MWB graduate turned driving force behind the Boutique Workplace Company. Danielle takes us through her flex highs and lows, the renowned Boutique brand and its evolution since 2009.

What motivated Boutique to expand from grade II listed buildings in London to larger, more modern buildings with breakout areas?

We've been established now for 15 years, and as we all know, the landscape of the flex market has changed drastically. When we first started the business, off the back of the recession in 2008/2009, we saw a gap in the market for smaller townhouses. There was a lot of Grade B, vacant product that landlords were struggling to lease at the time. Those townhouse buildings still work for us and make up most of our portfolio, and they're all 90% or 100% full. Of course, certain demands for clients have evolved, but it’s always subject to location and demographic. For example, the need for breakout space or phone booths doesn’t necessarily apply everywhere.

The Boutique site in Mayfair is 6,000 square feet and is a beautiful period building providing a private and professional environment for our clients who are seeking a Grade II listed property in Mayfair. Our clients here have probably never even heard of phone booths! Whereas clients in the tech industry in East London seek the amenities to suit their working environment, and therefore we have had to adapt our product. It’s all about learning over the last 15 years, bearing in mind my CEO, my ops director, and I have been in this industry combined for over 40 years. It's important to us to balance moving with the times and evolving our product so we don’t get left behind, while still retaining our unique identity as a leading provider.

Would you say that a USP for Boutique is that you can cater to all audiences?

Coming off the back of COVID, we redefined our position in the market. We conducted extensive research into our clients and currently accommodate over 700 clients in total, including 300 office tenants across 150 industries. This shows the diverse mix of our clientele, each with different demands. Fortunately, we have a range in our collection of both small and large spaces, allowing us to cater to various sectors. We are constantly cross-selling, which enables us to meet different needs, personalities, and preferences in the workplace. Similarly, if a certain workplace isn't working for a client, we can relocate them. The only challenge with our portfolio in terms of retention is sometimes expansion, due to the nature of some of our buildings. However, we firmly stand behind our 10,000 to 30,000 square foot buildings, as no other leading provider offers them.

Boutique has 40 locations across the collection and growing, what would you say is your favourite?

My favourite one is probably the one we're sitting in right now, Holborn Town Hall. I mean, it’s just beautiful. If we could open a building like this every time, we would. As we touched on at the very start, we are a boutique brand focused on restoring these listed period buildings in London that everyone loves, preserving their character. This location really ticks every box in terms of the period features, the more modernised interior, the higher ceilings, and the incredible natural light. You just can't get better than this building in terms of period style in the market. Each Boutique workplace has its own unique interior design and story. We are very lucky to rediscover these hidden treasures in London and bring them back to life.

You came into the industry in 2007. Tell us about your journey from then to where you are now.

I started out when I was almost 18 as front of house at MLS Business Centres, on Shaftesbury Avenue, their flagship building. And yes, they actually spelled out "business centres" in the company name. This is where I initially met my mentor and the CEO of Boutique, Dan Wheble. As a young woman starting her career, I gradually worked my way into sales. At the time, MLS was the second-largest provider behind Regus. During the last recession, much of their portfolio was acquired by MWB, the third-largest at the time. I transferred over to the MWB sales team, which was honestly the most fantastic team. I have still never seen anything like it. Most legends in this industry have come from MWB or have spent time there, including Amy Taylor, Ryan Squelch, and James Harrap, to name a few.

So, yeah, it was a good time in my career. But I was very young, and I knew that if I didn't go traveling then, I never would. It was very hard to leave MWB at the time because I absolutely loved that job and the wealth of experience around me. Fast forward to now: when I came back from traveling, Dan, my CEO, came knocking at my door, and we started a sales department at Boutique. There was never really a sales role at Ventia, as we were known back then. It was a completely different time; occupancy was at 98%, and leads were being handled by a receptionist in a quiet building. Madness! It was a somewhat easier time. That's when we started the central sales team, and my career and our growth evolved from there.

How does it feel to be Sales Director at one of the biggest providers in the UK?

Amazing! It's a great company to work for. Everyone has a voice, everyone feels involved, and everyone is a part of the day-to-day operations, right up to decision-making. Of course, it comes with some challenges. The industry, as we all know, is very fast-paced, so there's a lot of change. But it's great—it keeps us on our toes, keeps us moving with the times, keeps us evolving, keeps us thinking. It’s just a fun industry to be in. But yeah, it feels great.

After being at Boutique for almost 12 years, what’s been your highest and lowest points?

I think we should start with the lowest point. It was COVID. My gosh, that affected every business. Seeing partners, clients, and competitors really struggle during that time was tough. It was just an awful time, and I actually hate talking about it because I prefer to focus on the positives. I will say, I took the challenge in stride. You learn so much about the business, our clients, and how to respond to anything of this magnitude in the future. If that ever happened again, we've got it, we've got the textbook. So, I guess the highs are the same answer: coming out the other side. We will have opened ten new buildings in the last two years by the end of this year, which is brilliant. That is exactly why we have these huge growth plans—because of our resilience to COVID.

Providers have to keep up with the evolving trends in the industry. What do you think will be prevalent this year?

I think previously, it was more about asserting each company’s culture onto their staff—this is how we work, take it or leave it. However, there is now a huge shift in focus to the employee and how individuals want to work, which is brilliant and exactly what companies should be doing. The knock-on effect of this is that we are also listening to our clients as landlords, adapting to their new ways of working, and ensuring their new needs are catered for. It’s about always having our finger on the pulse of how clients are using the space and identifying what's missing. Our goal will always be to create environments that encourage people to continue coming into the office and to motivate teams to be present and engaged.