Whaley Bridge Coworkers CIC
14 October 2025
Sector: Professional Services
Location: High Peak
Whaley Bridge Coworkers is a not-for-profit coworking space supporting community arts, workshops and meeting room hire.
Set up by Director, Marella Cairns in December 2024, the quaint space is in the heart of Whaley Bridge village, High Peak.
The meeting space provides a comfortable environment with Wi-Fi for people working from home, digital nomads and people living nearby on the canal boats. During evenings and weekends, the space can be used as a meeting room, or host workshops or clubs. In addition, the wall space features and displays an ever-changing exhibition created by local artists.
Challenges faced
One of its biggest challenges has been raising awareness of the meeting and event facilities to potential clients. Another challenge is that Marella is the only person employed to manage the workspace. This means she is responsible not only for advertising and marketing, but also for handling bookings, welcoming clients and managing day-to-day operations. Therefore, her time and skills are limited to support the growth of the business.
Solution – Support Given
With the support from Chamber Business Adviser, Steve Phillips, the business accessed one-to-one advice through the Derbyshire Accelerator project. After an initial diagnostic, two areas of improvement were identified around digital transformation, specifically in developing a new website with a booking facility and a smart-lock systems to allow more autonomous access to the space.
To support the development of the website, Steve assisted Marella in successfully applying for a £2,000 Growth Voucher.
Growth Vouchers can be used for specialist training or consultancy support in any area where a business can demonstrate that new functionality or processes will support growth in your business.
This funding was used to create a user-friendly website and improve the booking process with integrated calendar functionality. The new website will also enhance online visibility through improved SEO, event promotion and newsletter sign-ups.
Alongside this website project, the business introduced a more streamlined marketing approach with a refreshed brand. This provided a clearer and more consistent visual identity across platforms, supported by new brand guidelines and assets. Branded templates were also created for marketing sign-up forms and new branded email communications that will help strengthen engagement with the community.
Additionally, the business now has a dedicated email address for the coworking space, replacing generic Gmail accounts and presenting a more professional image.
An integrated booking system has also been introduced, so clients can book and pay online. The system has been live for a number of weeks and alongside this, the business invested in an automated smart-lock system. This will be integrated with the booking process and will allow clients to access the office independently without the need of someone being present to let them in and out. Together, these improvements will free up Marella’s time to focus on networking and promoting the business.
Impact – The Difference it’s Made
Since introducing the improvements, the business has already seen an uptake in the number of clients using the facility. Over the summer period they have seen an increase in people holidaying or visiting with family, using the co-working facility as a place to work.
A local business developed the new website and has also provided training to Marella, so she is able to update and add information to the various pages, keeping it fresh and interesting. This website is a lasting asset which will continue to benefit the coworking space to attract and retain future clients. The website is already providing results with 60% increase in engagement and better-quality leads and enquiries coming in.
Once the booking system is fully running, Marella will see even more improvements in the time she saves on answering messages from clients, as they will now be able to find this information quickly and easily.
“The support we had from our Chamber Business Adviser, Steve Phillips has been amazing. I was amazed at how quickly he had understood our business model and our requirements. Steve supported me through the Growth Voucher application process. The whole process has been fantastic; I’ve had a positive experience from start to finish!”
- Marella Cairns, Director
This project is funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and delivered by East Midlands Chamber.
