Serviced office provider Servcorp is to open its biggest regional facility in Riyadh after taking an entire five-floor building at the Riyadh Business Front development, close to the Saudi capital's international airport.

Servcorp's Europe, Middle East and Africa CEO David Godchaux described the new facility as the "jewel in the crown" of the company's Middle East portfolio, with around 2,700 square metres on offer. The company currently has around 25 floors of serviced office space under management across eight countries in the Middle East, although the bulk of its space in the region is in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). It has seven floors across five locations in Riyadh, as well as space in Jeddah and Khobar, and has seven floors across six locations in the UAE.

Godchaux declined to say how much the company has invested in the new Saudi facility, but said it was "the first time we have taken a whole building" in the region. He added that it was part of an ongoing commitment, which has seen Servcorp recently refurbish space at Emirates Towers, Almas Tower, Habtoor Towers and Boulevard Plaza in Dubai. It is also currently refitting space at World Trade Centre Abu Dhabi.

Godchaux said that the company had invested around $100 million globally in technology in recent years to allow customers who take space in one of its facilities to seamlessly use the same services in another location. For instance, he said the company wi-fi can recognise a customer's mobile device and allow them to port voice over IP calls from their own office number.

“People who work with us when they travel from one place to another can focus only on one business and leave us the rest - the real estate, the HR, the admin... and everything is under one roof with one bill,” Godchaux said. “This is something we weren't ready to provide five years ago because it was not as integrated as is today.”

Australia-headquartered Servcorp has more than 3,600 office facilities available worldwide, according to its most recent annual report for the year ending June 30, 2018. The company declared a net profit of 10 million Australian dollars ($6.8 million) on revenue of 314.6 million Australian dollars.

Servcorp competes with British serviced office giant Regus, whose parent firm International Workplace Group declared revenues of £2.5 billion ($3.1 billion) last year and a net profit of £105.7 million. It also competes with newer firms such as US-based WeWork, the coworking space provider backed by Softbank's Vision Fund.

WeWork does not currently have a presence in the Middle East, but its website states that new facilities in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are "coming soon".

A spokesperson for the company told Zawya that it often puts "coming soon" pages onto its website to indicate its interest in a market, but added there was currently "nothing to report" in terms of regional activity.

(Reporting by Michael Fahy; Editing by Anoop Menon)

(michael.fahy@refinitiv.com)

© ZAWYA 2019