The official inauguration of SeedBox on Thursday 25 June is indicative of the demand for ready-made offices. It followed hot on the heels of the low-cost office centre opened by GBN-Europe in Bertrange earlier in June and the Silversquare business centre on the Kirchberg in May. Both those centres offer basic office space at below 600 euros per month and are not afraid to draw comparisons to pricing structures used by airlines. GBN even likens itself to low cost airlines EasyJet and Ryanair in its no frills approach – customers pay for an enclosed, furnished office and are charged extra for any additional services, such as secretarial work. Silversquare’s open space work stations are sold according to the overbooking used by many airlines. The aim was to have 120 customers for the 60 available places, which, working on the theory that offices are used only 30% of the time still gives Silversquare a 20% margin of error.

Comprehensive package

SeedBox prices start a little higher at around 850 euros per month depending on size of office and duration of the contract. The newest player on the market prides itself on its two central locations in Luxembourg City – on rue Goethe and boulevard de la Petrusse – and its comprehensive package of services. “We offer business people everything they require,” says SeedBox general manager Jean-Marc Fernandez. “This is especially useful for businesses coming to Luxembourg who may not know the city and who don’t yet have contacts.” A partnership with a local lawyer, for instance, allows businesses installed at SeedBox access to legal advice. Clients can also take advantage of other partnerships with accounting or human resources specialists, or with apartment hotel group Key Inn.

The rue Goethe site is impressive – the interior of the old town house has been transformed by architect bureau Steinmetz De Meyer into a modern, light office complex which makes good use of the available space. The site has 24 offices for between one and 15 people, and meeting rooms (in the vault of what was formerly the Luxembourg Central Bank) that can be rented by clients for just 10 euros an hour. The boulevard de la Petrusse site has a further 25 offices available and currently enjoys a 93% occupancy rate, while the rue Goethe complex has an 87% occupancy rate. The types of businesses renting at SeedBox vary from specialist recruitment companies such as Vialegis to pay-per-view television broadcaster Top Up TV.