Lily Hill House, Bracknell, opens its doors for business

Lily Hill House, a prestigious new business centre offering 31,050 square feet of prime office space near Bracknell in Berkshire, has officially opened for business and already attracted its first occupier. The site, which provides high quality flexible managed premises for companies large and small, is being managed by Oxford Innovation, a leading business and innovation centre operator.

CBRE Investors, the leading property fund manager, appointed Oxford Innovation on behalf of a retained pension fund client.

Originally a 19th century country house, Lily Hill House now consists of two separate buildings that have been refurbished to a high standard set in idyllic parkland near Bracknell town centre. Oxford Innovation is marketing and managing the site as a multi-occupier business centre, with serviced offices and managed workspace. The first occupier has already taken space in the business centre with more companies scheduled to move in over the coming months.

With the addition of Lily Hill House, Oxford Innovation now manages 14 business and innovation centres in Berkshire, Oxfordshire, Greater London, Hampshire, Northamptonshire and Yorkshire. Totalling nearly 230,000 square feet of prime office premises, the centres have more than 400 occupier companies.

Oxford Innovation’s role at Lily Hill House is to attract companies with requirements ranging from a single serviced office through to larger managed workspace areas.

Chris Allington, Oxford Innovation’s managing director of business and innovation centres, said: “It will be a privilege to help local businesses and generate growth and employment in the Bracknell area by offering excellent office and commercial premises at the Lily Hill House business centre. We were delighted to be appointed by CBRE Investors to operate the centre on behalf of one of their managed pension funds.”

Mr Allington welcomed this latest contract win by Oxford Innovation, saying that it signals investor readiness to consider the company’s innovative solutions. “It will therefore assist us in converting other investor leads into management and operating agreements,” he said.

The first company to occupy premises at Lily Hill House is Anderson Zaks, a provider of card payment software and services for a range of blue chip clients.

Dianne Heath, regional director at Oxford Innovation, who has led the programme refurbishing Lily Hill House for multi-occupation, said: “We are delighted to welcome Anderson Zaks as our first occupier at Lily Hill House. We also have a number of interested potential occupiers that have been attracted to our combination of serviced offices and flexible managed workspace which enables companies to concentrate on their core business. Similarly structured agreements have proved very popular with customers in our other centres across the country.”

“As at our other sites nationwide, the creation of the Lily Hill House business centre will allow local talent, innovation and entrepreneurship to flourish, generating jobs and prosperity, as well as providing flexible accommodations for existing successful companies,” she said.

Iain High, Anderson Zaks managing director, said: “We are very pleased to have secured office premises at Lily Hill House, and have been delighted with the quality of service from the management team. The ambience in the building, and its appearance and surroundings, are all excellent, and we will be very comfortable inviting our customers to our new offices. The flexible accommodation available means that we will be able to expand as our business grows. And for us the location in Bracknell, with good transport links to London and its airports, is ideal.”

Lily Hill House is a period country house with a modern integral office extension totalling 19,941 sq ft, providing a blended mix of modern contemporary materials and period features. The Grade A office space is complemented by areas of the refurbished period house. The main house was originally created as a ‘gentleman’s residence’ by William Vincent in the early 1850s. Lily Hill Court is an adjacent, stand-alone modern office building of 11,109 sq ft.

Located near Bracknell town centre and with excellent links to the M4 and M3, the properties are sited in Lily Hill Park. This is a 23-hectare public open space of parkland, woodland and formal gardens and part of the estate originally belonging to Lily Hill House. Bracknell itself is home to some of the biggest names in IT, such as Panasonic, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Siemens Honeywell and Cable & Wireless.