NatWest is moving its entrepreneur accelerator hub in Cardiff to a new home to sit alongside its Welsh HQ operation.
With a break clause in it lease the bank said it is moving its hub, which provides tailored support to start-up firms and nascent entrepreneurs, from its current location at the 1 Central Square office scheme to the One Kingsway building.
The move will put Cardiff in line with the majority of the bank's entrepreneur accelerator hubs by being based in NatWest offices.
The relocation across the city centre is expected to take place next April. The new facility at One Kingsway will include designated workspaces, meeting pods and event spaces for participants on the programme.
The new hub will be slightly larger than the existing hub at 6,275 sq ft.
Gordon Merrylees, managing director of entrepreneurship at NatWest, said: “We know that businesses at our other hubs throughout the UK are benefiting massively in terms of growth opportunities and investment by being closer to our banking teams and the supply chains and industry figureheads they know. It was hugely important to us that we gave this same opportunity to Welsh entrepreneurs.
“One Central Square is a fantastic office space and we are delighted to have been part of its successful evolution in the city, but it was always our aspiration from the launch of the accelerator programme in Wales to eventually move the facility to our Welsh headquarters where we can better support entrepreneurs.
“This move demonstrates how important Wales is to NatWest and our work in entrepreneurism, and we’re now very excited at the prospect of providing even more opportunities to start-up and scale-up businesses across Wales.”
