THE Okehampton Work Hub — designed to provide professional workspace for people working from home and the self-employed — is due to open soon.

BIP, based at Okehampton Business Park, is scheduled to open the hub for business in mid February. It will provide professional business space for entrepreneurs, homeworkers, those on the road or business start-ups.

Desk space will be available to rent by the hour, day, week or month, and there will be meeting rooms, free Wi-Fi, use of their postal address service, storage lockers, printing and copying as well as experienced business advisors being on hand.

The move is the latest in the network of work hubs across the county, with three already fully operational in Tavistock, Totnes and Cullompton, and another opening in Exeter.

Devon County Council leader, John Hart, said: 'The work hub network is an important part in supporting and strengthening Devon's economy and is certainly proving to be popular amongst those large numbers of residents who are self-employed or just starting up a business.

'There's been high demand for office space so far and we'll be continuing to develop hubs in other market towns. The hub provides a professional working environment at a very reasonable rate and I would encourage anyone who is looking for perhaps more space to work or simply an improved office environment to connect with one of our work hubs.'

The Work Hub scheme evolved in early 2011. It is estimated that around 85,000 people — 20% of the working age population — in Devon are home-based.

In late 2011, Devon County Council, with part funding from the Department for Transport, secured £180,000 to support the development of two work hubs.

In July last year, a new round of funding opened which meant the county council had an additional £100k available to support the development of work hubs, in up to five market and coastal towns in Devon. The funding for the Okehampton hub came from this round of funding.

The Devon Work Hubs website is currently being developed as work continues to add these new premises into the mix.

The council is in the process of developing a mobile specific version of the website that is fully functional on tablets and mobile phones, allowing people to locate their nearest hub and make contact while on the road.

For more information on the scheme, visit http://www.devonworkhubs">www.devonworkhubs.

co.uk