Welcome Return to Forward House for Fenix Rail Systems

Welcome Return to Forward House for Fenix Rail Systems

At UBC, one of the great things about operating flexible office centres is that we get to work closely with many different types of companies and witness their progression.

Case in point, back in 2015, Fenix Rail Systems moved into its very first office at UBC’s Forward House in Henley-in-Arden, with a small team of five people.

Since then the company has expanded rapidly and taken on more people, which prompted a relocation to a larger office in nearby Stratford upon Avon. Then came the pandemic and an incredibly efficient shift to hybrid working, which we are delighted to say, brought the Fenix team back to Forward House.

We spoke to Sue Grant​, Business Operations Director at Fenix Rail Systems, to learn more about their flexible working approach and what’s in the pipeline for the growing company.

Welcome back to Forward House! How are you settling in so far?

Forward House is a great location for our company, and the reception and management team have gone out of their way to make us feel very welcome!

What brought you back to Henley-in-Arden and to UBC?

We are relocating our hub-office having reached the end of our lease in Stratford upon Avon.

Forward House still has the right location for us but it now has even better facilities following recent improvements, and the feeling of being part of a larger “community”.

Having looked at several serviced office settings, Forward House is an impressive facility and a permanent base rather than a temporary space to work in.

We chose UBC as they were able to offer us a self-contained suite with the right square footage. It was already fitted in a configuration that absolutely matched our business needs; our concept is true ‘hot desking’ and staff can come in as needed for meetings. If they want to meet colleagues, they can pick a desk, plug in, and work.

UBC provides our ‘front of house’ service which is a super benefit for small companies.

As for Henley-in-Arden, it offers multiple food choices and our Costa points will be enhanced!

How has the pandemic influenced the way your team works?

Fenix are a rail signalling and control systems design, consulting and project management company; we work on major rail infrastructure projects, and worked throughout COVID in the ‘essential services’ sector.

This presented a challenge when lockdown happened. We accelerated our IT development to move our systems and infrastructure wholly into the cloud - so within 48 hours, risk assessments were in place, individual IT systems were taken home and Fenix Virtual Offices were ready to roll. The transition was done and productive.

During lockdown we recruited additional staff in remote locations, set their systems up, and did inductions online. The Technical Director was the only person office based - he was rescued from isolation on 19th April when Fenix relocated to Henley!

What are the benefits of flexible work for Fenix?

Remote working has opened recruitment options for Fenix. We can hire the expertise we need anywhere in the country, and we have a fully tested and legally appropriate Agile and Flexible Working Policy for all personnel - and that will not change.

Productivity has improved; we are not creating unnecessary carbon emissions with unproductive journeys; we manage our meetings and calendars more effectively; and the working day can be much more responsive to project needs and work/life balance.

What's in the pipeline for Fenix Rail in the near future?

Fenix is growing, and we are recruiting specialist rail signalling and support personnel. We will continue to operate in a ‘virtual’ setting with our offices at Henley as the Hub for our business operations.

Some of our current projects include Nexus Metro Newcastle; Depots for West Midlands Trains in Birmingham, Walsall; and new platform extension in Manchester. New projects are about to go live in Northampton and Milton Keynes connected with logistics centres and HS2.

It’s important to facilitate our ‘virtual office’ approach so that we have a super slick and professional Hub office location. This means we can invite our clients to meetings with the confidence that they will see a focused, professional operation.

Learn more about Fenix Rail Systems at www.fenixrailsystems.com. Or chat with our team at Forward House and we will happily connect you with the Fenix team.