Guildford Business Guide 2024

Guildford business guide

Property Consultants

Over thirty years of providing specialist commercial building surveying services including;

• Project Management / Employer’s Agent

• Principal Designer role under CDM

• Contract Administration

• Dilapidations for Landlords and Tenants

• Party Wall and neighbourly matters

• Technical Due Diligence Surveys

• Schedule of Conditions

01483 678390

enquiries@bearcroftconsult.co.uk bearcroftconsult.co.uk

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resolution (300dpi). Thanks. Cont ac t us today on sesales@bif fa.co.uk for a compet it iv equote on al lyou rbus ines s needs.

•Savills

Investment / Development / Agency / Professional Services / Block and Estate Management

Gascoignes are independent Commercial Estate Agents and Char tered Sur veyors established following a Management buy-out from Black Horse Agencies in 1991.

The firm's history dates from the mid-1930s when the Gascoigne-Pees family developed a residential Estate Agency business in Surrey. As the firm grew, Commercial and Professional disciplines were added. We are locally based with personnel able to advise on the Retail, Office , Industrial and Residential development markets in the region.

The present Directors of Gascoignes have been serving the business community for many years, specialising in Commercial and Residential proper ty and offering a wide range of exper tise , which includes: Planning & Development, Commercial & Residential Block Ser vice Charge Management, Valuation, Rating and Taxation advice , in addition to the usual Commercial proper ty services.

Guildford business guide

Published by: My Business Client Ltd

Martinique House, Hampshire Road, Bordon, Hampshire GU35 0HJ

Tel: 01420 477080

Email: sales@mybusinessclient.com

Web: www.mybusinessclient.com

Please note:

This publication is wholly or partially funded by the advertisers herein and the publisher. It is provided at no charge to the Council.

Our Advertisers:

We gratefully acknowledge the support of all the firms whose advertisements appear in these pages. Without their help we would not be able to produce this guide.

As a reciprocal gesture we have pleasure in drawing the attention of our readers to their announcements, but wish to make it clear that Guildford Borough Council can accept no responsibility for their products or services advertised. All adverts correct at time they were signed off.

Welcome to Guildford

Guildford at a Glance

• County town of Surrey

• 150,000 population

• Highly-educated workforce

• £5.3 billion contribution to the UK economy

• More than 3 million visitors each year

• 660,000 visitors to Guildford town centre every month

• 7,000 businesses

• A major hub for key growth industries, such as Video Games, 5G, Finance and Healthcare

• Home to regional economic anchors University of Surrey, Surrey Research Park and Pirbright Institute

• Seven Green Flag parks

• Listed in The Sunday Times 2023 Best

Guildford Economic Strategy

Guildford has an important and high value local economy. Our Borough contributes around £5.3 billion in Gross Value Added each year and our economic performance is underpinned by regionally and nationally important economic anchors. This includes the University of Surrey, the Pirbright Institute and Surrey Satellite Technology.

Our Borough is home to strong economic clusters, such as a visitor economy that attracts more than five million trips each year, a vibrant games cluster producing video games that are enjoyed around the world and an entrepreneurial and ever-innovating rural economy. This is supported by our strategic location—easily accessible by rail, road and plane to other important national and international economic nodes—and a resident population that is highly-skilled and largely of working age.

In light of major economic shocks, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and Brexit, alongside persisting economic barriers that have constrained our growth, there is impetus to set out a refreshed vision and strategy to reinvigorate Guildford Borough’s economy.

Thus, our 2023-2040 Economic Development Strategy (EDS) and Action Plan aims to ensure our Borough continues to be a place where businesses and residents can thrive.

Following a detailed analysis of our economic position, and extensive

discussions with partners, we have agreed that we need to take concerted and focused action to reinvigorate our economy and restore our economic position. We must work closely together to unlock our economy by addressing our ‘barriers’ and building on our wideranging strengths and opportunities. To do this, we have six priority areas for intervention, each identifying tangible actions that we can take with our partners to help deliver our vision:

• Productivity: Boosting enterprise, clustering and innovation

• Property: Meeting business and worker needs

• People: Connecting people with opportunity

• Provision: Upgrading our physical and digital infrastructure

• Place: Transforming our town centre offer

• Planet: Mitigating the environmental impact of economic activity

Crucially, our EDS recognises that economic development must not come at the cost of our environment. Working alongside our Climate Change Action Plan, Guildford’s Economic Development Strategy intends to facilitate opportunities to support businesses in their net zero carbon journey and harness opportunities presented by the low-carbon economy.

To read Guildford Borough’s Economic Development Strategy, visit www.guildford.gov.uk/article/25424/ Strategies-and-economic-information.

Our Economic Development Vision Statement:

“We will re-establish Guildford as the beating heart of Surrey’s economy. We will be widely known for our modern, innovative, progressive, productive, inclusive and green economy, characterised by unique clusters of high growth knowledge- and production-based economic activity.

Attracted by our world-class university, ground-breaking hospital, regenerated town centre, intensified employment areas and unrivalled heritage, cultural and natural assets, we will become the number one place in the South East for workers, entrepreneurs and businesses to locate.

Enterprises that choose Guildford, or have roots here, will receive firstclass support from our pro-business partners to help them start-up, scale and grow, and, most importantly, clear and obvious connections will be created with our residents to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to benefit from economic success.”

Working Stronger Together: Guildford and Waverley’s Joint Collaboration

In 2021, Guildford Borough Council and Waverley Borough Council formally agreed to collaborate with one another to provide sustainable local public services and in 2022 formed a single Joint Management Team across both authorities.

In December 2022, the Economic Development Teams of both councils launched a Guildford and Waverley Business Question Time—their first joint business event. The event brought together a stellar panel of business leaders from across sectors to explore a range of immediate business concerns such as recruitment, energy security and the cost-of-living crisis.

Guildford and Waverley’s Economic Development Teams are working closely together to deliver initiatives that will benefit businesses across the two Boroughs, including a joint business support provision via IncuHive and financial support programmes as part of their UK Shared Prosperity Fund Allocation.

Connectivity to other important economic nodes

By Road

The A3 links Guildford directly to Portsmouth, London and the M25 (Junction 10), making it easily accessible. The M3 and A31 are only a stone’s throw away, linking Guildford to the rest of the UK.

By Rail

Guildford benefits from two train stations, both only a short walk from the town’s shops and attractions. Frequent train services operate from Guildford Station to London Waterloo, with an average journey time of 35 minutes. Direct trains also run to other major hubs including Reading and Portsmouth.

For train times and routes, visit www.nationalrail.co.uk

By Air

Centrally located between two major airports, Heathrow and Gatwick, both of which have direct public transport links to Guildford.

For coach links, visit www.railair.com

By Bus

Regular buses connect Guildford to the surrounding villages and further afield.

For timetables and information, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk

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DELIVERING LEGAL EXCELLENCE IN GUILDFORD

As a firm deeply rooted in the local community, we are

proud to announce our newly refurbished headquarters right here in Guildford.

At Stevens & Bolton, we take pride in offering excellence beyond the

City. Our team of highly skilled lawyers has extensive knowledge and experience across a wide range of legal areas, covering everything from business advice to personal legal matters. call us on +44 (0)1483 302264 or visit our website.

To find out more about how we can help with your legal requirements,

www.stevens-bolton.com

Productivity: Boosting enterprise, clustering and innovation

Guildford is a key contributor and beneficiary of a highly productive economic area. The region has a wide range of locational advantages, economic assets and high-value economic specialisms that present opportunities for future growth and receive support from valuable regional partners.

Guildford and the wider Surrey area is home to innovative economic clusters in Space, Digital, Cyber Security, Life Sciences, Medical-Technology and Gaming. Surrey is home to world-class universities that provide R&D support to innovative businesses. It is also the UK’s most wooded county with scenic countryside whilst having strong transportation links with London.

Guildford Economic Partnership – a stronger voice for our business community

As part of Guildford Borough’s 2023-2040 Economic Development Strategy and Action Plan, the Council has set out to convene the Guildford Economic Partnership (GEP)—a multi-sector partnership that aims to provide a stronger voice for our business community. The GEP board consists of representatives from sub-groups that reflect our business base and economic specialism, such as our Rural Forum and Town Centre Forum.

Business Networks

Experience Guildford

As Guildford town centre’s Business Improvement District (BID), Experience Guildford works tirelessly to make sure Guildford is an excellent place to visit and do business through a range of initiatives such as promotion of events, enhancing safety and cleanliness of the town, and providing business support for BID members, such as through their free training courses.

For more information, visit https:// www.experienceguildford.com/

UCA Creative Industries Network

UCA has created the Creative Industries Network for Surrey— an open voluntary network and working group that brings together a dynamic range of diverse practitioners and businesses from across the creative sector to exchange insights, promote collaboration and build vital relationships with businesses.  The aim is to connect creative businesses and key stakeholders with the University, and to

support collaboration ideas that can lead to large investment and funding opportunities to drive creativity infrastructure, products and services.

To find out more, contact Innovation@uca.ac.uk

Federation of Small Businesses Surrey

The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is a not-for-profit UK business organisation that aims to help smaller businesses achieve their ambitions. They offer members a wide range of vital business services including advice, financial expertise, support and a powerful voice heard in government. The FSB holds events open to all small businesses and the self-employed across the UK, including a Virtual Networking event for businesses in Surrey.

For more information, visit https:// www.fsb.org.uk

Surrey Chambers of Commerce

The Surrey Chambers of Commerce is an independent not-for-profit business support and networking organisation. Dedicated to providing a voice for businesses in Surrey, the Chambers acts as a catalyst by connecting businesses to opportunities, skills, knowledge and valuable contacts. The Chambers provide regular business-to-business events and networking opportunities.

For more information, visit https:// www.surrey-chambers.co.uk/

Surrey Chambers of Commerce

is the designated Employer Representative Body to create the Local Skills Improvement Plan (LSIP) covering Surrey and North and Mid-Hampshire. In partnership with Hampshire Chambers of Commerce, they are engaging with businesses via multiple channels to hear first-hand what their skills shortages and challenges are.

Find out more at www.surreychambers.co.uk/future-skills-hub

Hollywood of Games – home to innovative games studios

Guildford.Games

Guildford has been on the map as a Game Development town since the 1980s, with studios such as EA, Hello Games and Epic calling it home. Guildford.Games (G.G) is a grass roots, community initiative designed to support the thriving game development hub and raise its profile within the wider community.

G.G hosts regular events, open to those within and outside the industry, to celebrate and promote the creativity and technical excellence of the cluster. This includes the annual Guildford.Games Festival which showcases the amazing games produced in Guildford and in the region, an annual celebration of developer creativity via the Guildford.Games Awards, as well as provide networking opportunities and insights for those interested in getting into the industry.

G.G also supports a local Game Jam team, who meet periodically to create a playable game within a set time frame. Game Jams are one of the best ways for young people to get hands-on experience making games, and this is just one example of how G.G are always looking for ways to support the longevity and success of the Guildford Game Development scene.

To find out more and keep up-to-date with the latest events, visit https://guildford.games

Follow Guildford.Games on X - @GUGamesFest –or get in contact via hello@guildford.games

Business

support

Incuhive Business Support for Guildford Businesses

Incuhive provides business support for new and existing businesses in the Guildford and Waverley area free of charge. Whether you have a new business idea that you would like to explore or are looking to take your company to the next level, Incuhive’s team of advisors can offer a free, impartial and personalised business support package.

To find out more, visit http://www.incuhive.co.uk or get in touch with Andy Pringle, andy.pringle@incuhive.co.uk

Rural England Prosperity Fund Grant Scheme

£400,000 of grants for capital projects are available to rural enterprises in the Borough until 2025 as part of its Rural England Prosperity Fund Allocation from DEFRA to support innovation and promote innovation.

For more information, visit http://www.guildford.gov.uk/Businessadvice

To keep up to date with our latest business support offer and initiatives, follow us on LinkedIn or subscribe to our business e-bulletin by contacting business@guildford.gov.uk

The Future of Workspace in Guildford

It is widely predicted that 2024 will see a return to the workplace for many of us, at least on a more regular basis than we have got used to. After a lengthy period of home working, many people are keen to get out of the house and back to the of ce. For some, however, being able to walk ten paces to your desk in the morning, going to the kitchen for a snack and walking the dog at lunch time will be hard to give up. Businesses will need to attract their staff back to the of ce by providing a quality of ce environment that is easy to get to and with good local amenities. Guildford Business Park has recently attracted tenants such as MC2 Therapeutics and Barnett Waddingham exactly because it can meet the demands of the modern-day occupier.

Guildford Business Park is an urban business park located adjacent to the University of Surrey, within walking distance of the town centre and provides an all-day “hopper bus” service that runs to and from the train station every 10 minutes. For many, being able to drive to work is also a major bonus and with over 1,250 on-site car parking spaces, virtually anyone who needs a space can get one. The on-site café provides a great meeting place for occupiers with a wide range of food & beverage options.

The environmental and sustainability credentials of the park are of paramount importance to the owner and occupiers alike. Guildford Business Park provides an ecological environment with EV charging points, solar panels, rainwater harvesting, bird boxes & bug hotels, landscaped grounds with grass meadows, a beehive and the “hopper buses” will be going electric soon!

Guildford Business Park currently offers a range of fully air-conditioned, of ce and R&D workspaces which can suit a local start-up and/or an international HQ. Sizes currently range from 500 to 17,500 square feet, but larger spaces are available down the pipeline as work will shortly be starting on the next generation of business premises. Building 4 has planning permission to be extended to 107,000 sq ft and will be all-electric, net “zero carbon” enabled and targeting; EPC A, a BREEAM certi cate of “excellent”, and a WiredScore of “platinum”. In addition, new outdoor terraces and a new gym with cycle and showers facilities will be provided.

If you’d like to join the evolution and learn more about Guildford Business Park, please contact Simon Knight on 07818 012419 or Stuart Austin on 07912 299725.

A CGi showing the next generation of building at GBP

Property: Meeting business worker needs

Industrial Estates

Midleton Enterprise Park

Phase 4 at Midleton Enterprise Park comprises 14,000 square feet of new light-industrial space which is arranged as 20 premises of between 550 and 800 square feet, some of which can be combined to create larger units. Each unit is fitted with a full height roller-shutter door, disabled-accessible WC and comes with allocated parking.

For more information and to keep up to date with the units at Midleton Enterprise Park, visit https://midletonenterprisepark.co.uk

Moorfield Point

Moorfield Point is situated on Moorfield Road on the Slyfield Industrial Estate—Guildford’s premier industrial location. Slyfield estate is off the A320 Guildford to Woking Road to the north of Guildford town centre. The A3 dual carriageway can be reached less than 1 mile to the south.

To explore council-owned industrial office and storage units that are let out to businesses, visit https://www.guildford.gov.uk/lettings.

Alternatively, contact the Guildford Borough Council Asset team directly to discuss your requirements at AssetMan@guildford.gov.uk

Office Spaces and Business Parks

Guildford Business Park

Guildford Business Park provides inspiring and stylish HQ style offices for innovative and hi-tech businesses. Businesses at Guildford Business Park benefit from a range of facilities, such as onsite EV charging points and a newly refurbished on-site café. Their shuttle bus services which runs between Guildford railway station, the town centre and the business park provides a quick and easy way to travel to work.

To find out more, visit https:// www.guildfordbusinesspark.com

Send Business Park

Located at Send Business Park, Send Business Centre provides a large range of office space rental solutions, offering both long and short-term rental contracts, meeting rooms and storage facilities to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes (https://www.sendbusinesscentre. co.uk/).

Alongside Send Business Centre is Tannery Studios, a creative hub providing modern and unique office spaces and facilities for a range of businesses, such as architects, graphic designers and PR agencies (https://www.tannerystudios. co.uk/). Their River Wey Studios provide video and sound facilities to meet your filming needs.

All businesses at Send Business Centre and Tannery Creative Studios benefit from super fast fibre optic Wi-Fi, free parking with EV charging points and scenic views of the surrounding countryside—all while being only five minutes from the A3. To enquire, contact enq@sendbusinesscentre.co.uk

Surrey Research Park

Home to over 200 businesses, Surrey Research Park offers space to grow and build your business, from co-working spaces to up to 40,000 square feet of real estate offering flexible letting arrangements.

Grow your business through collaboration

The Business Enterprise Programme team at Surrey Research Park support all types of businesses, from entrepreneurs and multinationals to charities and government organisations, by equipping organisations with the support to accelerate progress and growth. They promote business collaboration and knowledge sharing in many ways and have a range of programmes and

opportunities to help make it easy for you to do business with them. These include consultancy, where you can hire their experts and facilities to test, improve and innovate your new products, services and processes; and funded collaboration opportunities such as innovation vouchers and knowledge transfer partnerships.

Located on Surrey Research Park, their incubation hub, SETsquared Surrey offers a compelling combination of proven and tailored business support services and access to our esteemed investor network, as well as flexible office space to help facilitate fast track growth for high-tech start-ups.

The Business Enterprise Team will also make your recruitment their business, as part of the University of Surrey, they can ensure you have the best chance to hire highlyskilled talent.

To find out more, contact the Business Enterprise Programmes team, collaborate@surrey.ac.uk, or visit https://surrey-research-park. com.

Find Commercial Premises in Guildford

For a comprehensive guide to the latest available properties in the town centre, visit https://completelyretail.co.uk/ destinations/guildford

You can also find a list of available commercial properties around Guildford in the Invest in Surrey website, https://investinsurrey.co.uk/

Connecting people with opportunity

Academy of Contemporary

The Academy of Contemporary Music producers and business entrepreneurs for careers in the creative industries facilities, a world-class faculty and music industry, many of the country’s most committed young musicians have been flocking to Guildford for the last two decades to complete have become an integral part of the town’s population. Live performance is central to instrumental and vocals courses and their regular gigs at local venues make a huge contribution to the town’s live music scene. More

music and wider creative industries and include a long list of household Waverley Training Services

council, the Waverley Training Services

nationals, charities and SMEs since delivered within the workplace, or remotely and they work with employers apprentices. Qualifications available Administration, Customer Service, Teaching Assistants, Team Leading

For further information, please email 01252 725872. The WTS Business Development Officer will be happy

Supporting Surrey businesses to grow

The University of Surrey o ers more than just a world-class education, Surrey businesses are also benefitting from bespoke services and access to cutting edge facilities and expertise to drive growth.

An economic powerhouse for Surrey, based in Guildford, and o ering an astonishing array of support and services to local businesses and entrepreneurs, from start-ups to multinationals. If that’s not how you think of the University of Surrey, you might want to take a closer look

The University of Surrey contributes a staggering £1.3billion annually to the Surrey economy, and supports over 17,500 jobs in the county – according to independent analysis by BiGGAR Economics. Only some of our economic contribution is accounted for by our direct employment of sta and the education activities we’re most well-known for, or by our local supply-chain spending – although both of these are important to us. The largest part of our contribution comes through our innovation activities

So what can the University of Surrey o er to local businesses?

The short answer is a comprehensive innovation ecosystem to drive business growth. One of the jewels in our crown is our array of business support services for start-ups – o ered through SETsquared Surrey, our business acceleration centre. Based on the Surrey Research Park, adjacent to the

University campus, the centre o ers expert advice and business support, an Entrepreneur’s Programme, investor readiness support, and a range of practical resources to support a new business.

The Surrey Research Park itself is another enormous benefit to local businesses and the economy – housing 270 businesses, and hosting a thriving community of businesses, many operating in mutually supportive industry clusters covering the space and satellites sector, animal health, medical services, sustainability, technology and artificial intelligence. Companies based on the Park range from small enterprises working in our co-working spaces right up to global enterprises occupying up to 40,000 square feet.

Access to advanced facilities

Perhaps one of the most unique advantages we o er local businesses comes through the range of advanced facilities and access to the most cutting-edge new research we can o er Examples include:

• The new SpaceCraft facility at the Surrey Space Centre, funded by the UK Space Agency which will o er businesses access to technical facilities to develop and trial

space-related technology, dedicated space engineers and training support

• The University’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre – working in partnership with businesses to shape and capitalise on the future of telecommunications infrastructure.

• The Veterinary Health Innovation Engine (vHive) – an innovation hub located at the School of Veterinary Medicine and o ering academic and commercial expertise to carry out complex work for business partners requiring academically verified output and sector-specific business development support

• Collaborative projects with local, national and international businesses through our Advanced Technology Institute, specialising in advanced materials, nanotechnology, energy and quantum information.

• A wide range of research, education and commercial collaborations available through the Surrey Business School – the largest single school at the University.

Bespoke support for your business

It is a privilege to work every day connecting businesses to the University’s facilities, research capabilities and advanced resources to support entrepreneurs and drive growth.

There’s much more to the support the University of Surrey can o er – from funding to support innovation projects with our academics, access to students to solve innovation challenges or take on industry placements and access to our networks and communities of investors. You can find out more about how we can support your business at https://www.surrey.ac.uk/innovation

We are exploring and working on a number of major projects in Guildford. To find out more and keep up to date, visit https://www.guildford.gov.uk/majorprojects

Shaping Guildford’s Future

The Council’s ambition is to breathe new life into the town by opening up the riverside, reducing congestion and improving alternative, sustainable and affordable transportation, as well as making the centre a more attractive place to live, work and visit.

The key aims of Shaping Guildford’s Future are:

• Reduce traffic congestion within the town

• Open-up the riverside, making it a focal point for the town and reinforcing the natural asset of the length of the river

• Create new public spaces and destinations that complement both historic and contemporary Guildford

• Attract alternative uses to complement the town’s retail economy

• Incorporate and integrate residential uses to the town centre

• An integrated approach to flood protection and alleviation that addresses the risk of flooding

For more information, visit https://shapingguildford.co.uk

Weyside Urban Development

The Weyside Urban Village (WUV) is a new riverside development  close to the town centre. It will provide more than 1,500 welldesigned, modern homes to help meet local housing need.

Employment opportunities through regeneration

New retail, healthcare, and community facilities will deliver the key services that people need. Flexible employment spaces will offer plenty of options for businesses to grow and flourish. Our aim is to boost the economic vibrancy of our Borough and generate new job opportunities. A new council depot, new waste transfer station and new sewage treatment works complete the scheme.

Protecting our environment

Our approach to this regeneration has been to use brownfield land to protect the greenbelt.  Sustainability is at the heart of the Weyside scheme. Investment has gone into sustainable travel and energy solutions. Protecting and restoring the natural landscape is important to us. A third of the regeneration area will be nature reserves, green spaces and allotments. More than 1,200 new trees will enrich the new community.

High quality development

Weyside Urban Village was shortlisted for the National Planning Awards 2023.  We also took part in the National Design Code pilot, which helped shape the design of the first phase of the scheme.

Our commitment to good design, climate action and community inclusion will create an environment where our residents and businesses can thrive.

Digital Infrastructure

Broadband for Surrey Hills

The digital gap between rural and urban areas remains a pervasive issue across the country. As we adopt new ways of working and accessing critical services, it becomes increasingly important to ensure our rural communities have access to strong and secure broadband connection.

Broadband for Surrey Hills Ltd, known locally as B4SH, is a not-for-profit Community Benefit Society working to deliver 1 Gbps or ‘hyperfast’ fibreto-the-property broadband connection to rural communities in the Surrey Hills. Guildford Borough Council has supported B4SH in its efforts to improve digital connectivity across the Surrey Hills through direct financial investment and granting free wayleaves to enable the network to be installed across council-owned land. Since the Council’s first investment in 2018, over 200 properties have been connected to hyperfast broadband, with a further 1,000 properties planned to be connected by 2026.

To find out more, visit https://gigupanddown.net

Place: Explore what our Borough has to offer

Visit Guildford – Visit Surrey

As Surrey’s official tourism and destination management organisation, Visit Surrey works to boost the visit economy and support businesses in promoting Surrey as a great destination to visit.

The organisation helps tourism and hospitality businesses in Guildford and in wider Surrey succeed by sharing industry best practice and ensuring partners and members are at the forefront of news and developments in the visitor economy sector through their close working relationship with Visit Britain and Visit England.

Visit Surrey manages Guildford’s tourism webpages—Visit Guildford. With over 999,000 website users and two million pageviews, the Visit Surrey website helps member businesses and organisations showcase their offers and promote their events.

For more information on becoming a member, visit https://www.visitsurrey. com/business

Planning a visit to Guildford?

Our Visit Guildford pages are packed with information on what to do and where to go in Guildford. Whether you are looking for a hotel, events to enjoy, information on our heritage sites or ideas for walks, Visit Guildford can help you plan your visit.

https://www.visitsurrey.com/guildford

Historic High Street and Popular Shopping Destination

Located along the River Wey, our vibrant, historic market town has an abundance of historic buildings and is surrounded by scenic countryside. With over 240 retailers and 100 places to eat and drink, three shopping centres, three theatres and a cinema, residents and visitors are spoilt for choice in our town centre.

Proudly Independent

Guildford proudly hosts a treasure trove of independent shops, allowing visitors to experience something unique. Whether you want to rummage through eclectic collections of rare vinyls or try out different cuisines, Guildford’s independent shops can provide you with the experience you’re looking for.

A Purple Flag town –supporting our evening and night-time economy

Guildford town centre has been a proud recipient of the Purple Flag award every year from 2014 – 2023. Our Purple Flag award recognises the standards of excellence we provide in managing our evening and night-time economy. With our ever-growing, vibrant and diverse options for dining and entertainment, as well as our commitment to safety through our Safer Guildford Partnership, our town centre venues and institutional partners work together to make Guildford town centre’s evening and night-time offering a top choice for visitors and residents.

Local Markets

Guildford hosts a variety of vibrant themed markets offering highquality locally-sourced produce and crafted goods.

• Farmers markets: Every first Tuesday of the month, Guildford connects its people to over 40 local vendors through its farmers market to access local produce sources within a 50-mile radius of Guildford—from jams to fresh herbs.

• North Street market: The North Street market takes place in the centre of town every Friday and Saturday. With over 20 local vendors, visitors and residents can purchase freshly-grown produce, flowers and speciality food items (such as olives and coffee), as well as goods such as handbags and jewellery—much of which is handcrafted.

To apply for a stall to trade in our North Street market and farmers market, visit https://www.guildford. gov.uk/applyforamarketpitch

Our town centre holds a number of specialist markets in addition to our regular North Street market and monthly farmers market, such as an Ethical Vegan market, Antiques and Brocante market, Arts and Makers market, Summer Festival Craft Markets and the Children’s Business Fair.

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre

The town’s principal commercial theatre and one of the country’s leading regional producing theatres.

G Live

With a capacity of 1,700 and offering some of the best acoustics in the UK, the venue offers high quality entertainment catering to a range of taste, from live music concerts to comedies and family shows.

The Electric Theatre

Opened in 1997, the Electric Theatre operates as ‘a not-for-profit’ theatre providing a wonderful venue for local music and drama performances.

Breath-taking Countryside and Parks

Guildford Borough has the most Green Flag awards (an international standard award for publicly accessible parks and green spaces) in the south-east and boasts more than 80 parks, gardens and green spaces. Award-winning parks include Stoke Park providing 27 hectares of unspoilt grassland, with activities and facilities catering for people of all ages and abilities, such as football, tennis, a skateboarding park, a children’s play area and a sensory garden.

Spectacular countryside surrounds our urban areas, with the Surrey Hills National Landscape located south of our Borough. In the village of Compton, you can find Watts Gallery, a Grade I listed building considered to be one of Britain’s most beautiful and unique buildings. Since being founded in 1904, it continues to cultivate and enrich Surrey’s artistic heritage through

supporting contemporary and emerging local artists. Loseley Park located just south of Guildford, overlooking magnificent gardens, has been in the same family for over 500 years!

Guildford’s stunning rural locations have not shied away from the camera, with the picturesque village of Shere being a particularly popular location among filmmakers, appearing in scenes in Bridget Jones and The Holiday. The beloved BBC comedy series Ghosts is filmed entirely at West Horsley Place, located in the east of the Borough. At Albury Estate you can find award-winning businesses offering a range of experiences, such as Indian street food cooking lessons. Don’t forget to sample the local wine and gin!

A unique venue for all your conference & seminar requirements. Set in 14 acres, we can provide ample accommodation, whether for conferences, product launches or private business meetings. Just 5 minutes from Guildford town centre with links to London.

Meeting & training rooms:

• Room 1: Max. capacity - 8

• Room 2: Max. capacity - 10

• Rooms 3, 4 & 5: Max. capacity - 30

Catering: 4 catering outlets & a licensed bar

Parking: FREE car park with ample spaces & coach parking

Facilities: Gym, Indoor cycle studio, 4 pools, Outdoor g ym area, Olympic-sized ice rink & 32 bowling lanes

Event areas:

• Action Suite: Max. capacity - 120

• Main Arena: Max. capacity - 2,000

Spectrum

www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk

Guildford Spectrum

Linking business with leisure

Guildford Spectrum offers a unique venue for all conference and event requirements. Set in 10 hectares of landscaped parkland, five minutes from Guildford town centre and an hour from central London. The complex provides ample accommodation, whether for conferences, product launches, international events or private business meetings. There is ample free car and coach parking and delegates can enjoy a wide range of leisure facilities including tenpin bowling, ice skating and swimming.

An ideal events venue

Spectrum Leisure Complex has 3,700m2 of covered event space on one level, making it one of the lar gest event venues in Sur rey.

Exhibitions, Events, Conferences and Seminars

Guildford Spectrum has played host to many World, European and National spor ting events including the World Short Tr ack Speed Skating Championships, Br itish Women's Gymnastics Championships, International basketball, netball and volleyball matches.

Spectrum's impressive Olympic ice arena has seating for 2,000 spectators and has also been the venue for World and National spor ting events including Speed Skating and Figure Skating and even launched the Jaguar S-type.

As well as spor ting events, Guildford Spectrum has been the stage for an extremely wide variety of shows including an annual Ice show and early performances of the Back Street Boys, Ant and Dec and Peter Andre. The Spor ts Arena can be tr ansformed into a well-equipped and comfor table theatre , with a seating capacity of 1,500 and excellent acoustics The space can equally be adapted for corpor ate exhibitions, events and presentations

Our hospitality boxes offer a wide and flexible venue choice and over look our Olympic ice rink Boxes 1 & 2 are suitable for small number s and boxes 3, 4, & 5 work separ ately as small venues or can be linked to fo rm one larger venue. These boxes are ideal to use as syndicate or break out rooms.

The Action Suite is a lar ge conference or seminar venue and boasts a fully integr ated sound system, full black out facility, staging, audio visual equipment and seating This venue can comfor tably seat 120 people and is also suitable for smaller exhibitions and events

A full function cater ing service with four eating outlets and two licensed bars is available, as well as excellent facilities for disabled visitor s with dedicated par king and lifts to all areas

You can also book exclusive use of many of our facilities, so why not combine a business meeting with a team building exercise and have a bowling competition, make a splash in the Leisure Pool or go for a skate?

Guildford Spectrum, Parkway, Guildford GU1 1UP 01483 443322

info@guildfordspectrum.co.uk www.guildfordspectrum.co.uk

Planet: Moving towards a low carbon economy

Our Climate Change Action Plan

In February 2023, Guildford Borough Council adopted the Climate Change Action Plan to support the Borough in becoming net-zero by 2050.

The Climate Change Action Plan recognises that developing green skills and jobs, supporting locally-produced green energy and improving links between local suppliers, will work towards creating a climate resilient economy. Thus, we will work towards supporting and promoting low carbon and circular economy opportunities to enterprises in Guildford.

Decarbonising our economy

Zero Carbon Guildford’s Sustainable Business Network

ZERO is an award-winning hub providing a community space to drive community-led climate action. Together with the University of Surrey’s Research and Innovation Department, Zero Carbon Guildford has launched the Guildford

Sustainable Business Network (SBN) to help businesses in the Borough of all sizes across all sectors in their sustainability journey.

Lead the Charge on Net Zero: Green Skills for your Business Businesses have a crucial role to play if we are collectively going to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Many firms – both large and small – are now prioritising sustainability and green choices but there remain concerns about finding the necessary skills and knowledge.

A suite of new FREE ‘Green Skills’ courses are now available to help local businesses across Surrey and beyond address these gaps and help them become more sustainable by (e.g.) reducing energy usage and waste, enhancing their brand image and building customer base & loyalty and increasing investment & revenue streams.

The suite of courses – now available on the Innovation South Virtual Campus (ISVC) – includes two focused on ‘Carbon Literacy’ which cover the basics of carbon emissions, the impact of climate change, and how individuals and organisations can reduce their carbon footprint.

Alongside these, there are also short courses for those working in landbased and construction sectors – both big contributors of carbon emissions. So if you’re interested in knowing more about retrofitting, sustainable resource management or tree planting, take a look at the growing library of over 200 hours of courses now available at https://em3.isvc.co.uk

This project has been funded by the Department for Education as part of the Strategic Development Fund and involves eight colleges from across Surrey and Hampshire including, Brooklands College, East Surrey College, Merrist Wood College, Nescot in Surrey and Alton College, BCoT, FCoT and Sparsholt College in Hampshire. The Innovation South Virtual Campus was funded by Enterprise M3 Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Sustainability Innovation Hub is a centre of activity within the Institute for Sustainability suppor ting organisations to innovate and adopt sustainable practices.

When it comes to developing sustainability strategies, many organisations don’t know where to start, and the challenges they face are often shared. This has inspired the Sustainability Innovation Hub within the Institute for Sustainability at the University of Surrey.

The Institute’s latest venture sets out to support firms across Surrey and fur ther afield, helping them not only to reduce their carbon footprint, but to become more purposeful, more commercially attractive to like-minded clients and to leave a positive impact on society

The Hub is a platform that brings together scientific experts from across all disciplines and organisations to nurture ideas. It encourages collaboration and supports the adoption of sustainable practices, products or services.

The model of the Hub helps organisations (such as businesses, government, or social enterprise) to

Want to collaborate on sustainability challenges?

develop, or fast-track the adoption of sustainable solutions. The Hub embraces agile innovation practices, collective intelligence and systems thinking approaches to address complex change, transformation and innovation.

“We would like to encourage organisations to think more about employee wellbeing, diversity, nature-based solutions, as well as their purpose and ethos or the efficiencies of their supply chain.” Nathalie Hinds, Director of Operations, Innovation and Partnerships at the Institute for Sustainability, University of Surrey

The Institute hosts 230 scientific experts from across all disciplines at the University of Surrey. The Hub can broaden businesses’ knowledge and horizons, looking beyond the battle against carbon and towards the bigger picture for business sustainability transformation.

Need support with your organisation’s sustainability journey? Get in touch by emailing ifs@surrey.ac.uk

Linktree: https://linktr.ee/institutesustainability

To find out more about the Sustainability Innovation Hub, scan here.

The Green Way to Get Around Guildford

Guildford E-Bike Scheme

A new E-Bike Scheme is being rolled out in Guildford, which will offer electric bikes for public hire at various docking stations across the town.

The scheme is being managed in partnership by Guildford Borough Council via the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, Surrey County Council and the University of Surrey. The scheme will offer an alternative to car trips within the town and will help meet targets for climate change, modal shift to sustainable travel and improvements in air quality.

easitGuildford

The easitGuildford initiative provides discounted public transport travel for residents and businesses across the Borough. Great savings can be found on Southern Rail Network tickets, bus journeys and Stagecoach tickets. There are also discounts on bike purchases and savings on Car Club hires.

The network was launched in conjunction with Guildford Borough Council’s Air Quality Strategy Action Plan. For more information, visit https://www.easit.org.uk/network/ easitGUILDFORD-23

Glide Park and Ride

Guildford is served by two Park and Ride services operating all-electric zero emission buses. Park free all day and only pay for the bus, either with cash or contactless payments.

• Merrow (GU4 7AA) – Monday to Saturday

• Artington (GU3 1LP) – Monday to Saturday

For more information, visit www.surreycc.gov.uk

Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Points

Guildford Borough Council has installed a network of electric vehicle charging points across the Borough.

Find the locations at https://www. guildford.gov.uk/article/25314/ Electric-vehicle-charging-points

Annual Guildford Car-Free Day

On the 26th September 2021, Guildford Borough Council showed its commitment to sustainability by launching Guildford Car-Free Day. Guildford Car-Free Day transforms our town centre for a traffic-free day of celebrations and family fun.

The event is a chance to experience a traffic-free town with a variety of markets and stalls, street food, live music, street play for children and information on what we can do to tackle climate change. Residents and visitors are encouraged to use public transport, cycle or come on foot to shop, take part and have fun in our town centre spaces without the cars.

Council Services for Businesses

To find out about information and services we provide for businesses, please go to our business web page www.guildford.gov.uk/business

Follow us: Linkedin | Guildford Borough Council

Economic Development Team: business@guildford.gov.uk

Planning Enquiries: planningenquiries@guildford.gov.uk

Regulatory Services: regulatoryservices@guildford.gov.uk

Building Control: buildingcontrol@guildford.gov.uk

Register for a MyGuildford account

If you own a business in Guildford, you can create a business account. This will enable you to request business-related services, such as:

• Check your bin collection day

• View and pay your business rates

• Manage your council services including our commercial waste service

• Get a quicker response to your requests, track the progress of your requests and get information based on your address

To create a MyGuildford business account, you’ll need to click ‘Switch to register for a Business Account’ on the registration page.

Energy saving

Switching off non-essential equipment in an office overnight saves enough energy to run a small car for 100 miles.

Saving energy saves you money, protects your reputation and helps combat climate change.

Your organisation could save up to 10% through housekeeping actions which cost little or nothing.

Source: www.carbontrust.co.uk

‘It’s Local’ is an online business directory, built for today’s mobile generation, that accompanies this Guildford Business Guide.

At itslocalguildford.co.uk you can find business services by keyword or company name. It is fully integrated with Google maps, directions and Streetview and includes direct links to businesses’ websites and social media including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

‘It’s Local’ is a business directory for businesses and people who live in, work in and visit Guildford. There’s no download or install to worry about. The service is dynamic, sending device-appropriate pages to mobiles, tablets, laptops, desktops and Smart TVs.

Scan the QR CODE above to connect you to itslocalguildford

Market your business for FREE!

Search for local companies

Shop Local and support the Guildford economy!

Register your business at www. itslocalguildford. co. uk and click on the Add Company link. It ’s FREE!

As thecounty capitaland ‘historicgatewaytothe Surrey Hills’,Guildford is the number one location in theSouth-Easttolocate your business. An eclectic and fun destination to live, learn, socialise and shop.A wonderful and safe place to buildany future.

Follow us on socials

info@experienceguildford.com www.experienceguildford.com