Unit Management (UML)

Family-run since 1969, UML operates 17 business centres across South West London and Surrey, spanning office space, light industrial units, studio workshops and meeting rooms, mostly with onsite parking. Small and medium businesses can scale from 100 to 2,500 sq ft. A FlexSA member, UML keeps things straightforward and sensibly priced, backed by over five decades of family-owned continuity.

The estate runs in a tight band from Brixton and Battersea out through Kingston, Surbiton, Tolworth and Teddington to Walton-on-Thames and Weybridge. Named centres include The Link in Brixton, Battersea Business Centre on Lavender Hill, The Grange in Morden, Argent Court and Argent House in Tolworth, Liberty House and Victory House in Surbiton, Clock House and Endeavour House in Kingston, Crest House in Teddington and Investment House in Weybridge. Meeting rooms are open to non-clients as well as occupiers, and a flexible membership opens facilities across the other centres.

Battersea is the one most people picture. The building dates from 1891 as a paper-staining works and now holds more than 140 companies under one roof, with offices alongside maker workshops and micro-warehousing, a staffed entrance foyer, multiple kitchenettes, CCTV, 1GB internet and parking, which is close to unheard of this near Zone 2. Clapham Junction is twelve minutes on foot. What UML sells elsewhere is the same mix in smaller towns: light industrial units with high ceilings, excellent access and three-phase power, studio workshops and storage sharing a site with conventional offices, which suits trades, makers and stockholding businesses most flex operators cannot house. More than fifty years of continuous trading stands behind it, and the company says it views clients as partners rather than tenants.