One of the desk spaces at Crookstown

By Conor Forrest

A NEW business in Crookstown, Co Kildare looks set to take advantage of Ireland’s new norm – working from home.

Space at Venture House in Crookstown Business Park is a vibrant and modern hot desk and co-working service that helps people to both work and live local. It’s open Monday to Saturday and rentals are available from one week to one year; features include fibre broadband, secure lockers, ergonomic chairs, socially distanced desks, a conference room, private phone room and more.

It also takes an eco-friendly approach – furniture is upcycled or repurposed and it’s paperless as much as possible.

Lauren O’Reilly explained that she travelled for a few months and then returned home and started working locally. She wanted to start a business and, with office units available in the business park, decided to move forward.

“Probably from January I started looking at this and then obviously Covid happened,” she told the Kildare Nationalist. “There’s so many displaced workers at the moment and, you know, they just need somewhere to go… a professional environment.”

The doors to the new service opened around two weeks ago and Lauren explained that there’s been a good bit of interest so far. It’s ideal for people who need a dedicated space to finish a project, for example, or those who need a desk every now and then, and Lauren noted that “we are flexible around what people need to work”.

It’s a timely resource given that many offices have closed during the pandemic and people are working remotely, something that could well become engrained in our work culture in the years ahead. The Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation, for example, is conducting a public consultation on guidance for remote working and the information it receives will be used to shape public policy on the concept.

This new venture’s surroundings are certainly a big plus. The business park in Crookstown is home to the likes of a gym, hardware store, Crookstown Tyres & Batteries and a beautician, while there’s a service station, pharmacy and butcher just across the road.

So, too, is a fast broadband connection – a must for the remote worker in rural Ireland. “A business hinges on how fast you can connect to the internet and how fast you can connect, you know, to your customer, back to your head office,” said Lauren.

Anyone interested can visit venturehouse.ie for a virtual tour and get in touch by emailing [email protected] or phoning 085 7466566.