Grant Thornton already has similar office set ups in Chelmsford, St Albans, Oxford and London which has seen employees benefit from a flexible working environment.

The new office will see 65 client-facing staff use it as their base location with the space being used for networks and businesses to exchange ideas, attend events and access expert advice.

The new area will include: informal meeting booths; presentation space; a lounge; meeting rooms; a board room; work benches; project screens; and conference facilities.

Currently less than a third of Grant Thornton’s employees spend all day in the office. The new space will not work as a traditional office but will be used as a collaborative office for clients, contacts, intermediaries and partners to work together on a daily basis.

Norman Armstrong, partner at Grant Thornton LLP Southampton, said: ‘We are not alone in considering how changing technology and working behaviours impact on our office environments.  The space will be a place for people to spend an hour, a day, host a meeting, make a call or hold an offsite team session. 

‘We expect this creativity and collaboration to help shape the vibrant and thriving 21st century economy across our region. Traditional office environments generally do not provide this, so we hope businesses will be able to make use of the space to think more creatively, make new connections, exchange ideas and access expert advice.’

Peter Birkett, University of Southampton Science Park CEO said: ‘We’re delighted Grant Thornton has chosen the University of Southampton Science Park for its latest co-working initiative. It underlines the premium standard for our facilities which are designed to meet the needs of companies of all sizes from early stage SMEs to mature global businesses.’