Principal – LentaSpace Customer Success

Principal is a recruitment agency specialising in the supply of both permanent and temporary staff into the education sector, from primary schools through to colleges. The company was founded in 2021 by partners Stephen Joseph and Jai Bance, both experienced in the sector, having worked for various recruitment agencies previously.

That experience and a strong philosophy of creating a supportive working environment  for their team; providing an innovative app to advertise roles and ensuring that their recruits are treated and paid fairly has ensured rapid growth for the company. We spoke to Director Stephen about the business and why they have made LentaSpace St. Katharine Docks their home.

Tell us about your team

It’s a people-centric business, so our team are high energy and very motivated. Working in the education sector our sales opportunities are concentrated within term time, so our team are always in the office Monday to Friday then. We find that it really helps to be office-based so that colleagues can support and motivate each other and Jai and I can listen into calls and coach the team.

Why did you choose LentaSpace to base your office?

Most of our clients are in London, so having a central base makes sense for us. We were recommended to LentaSpace by an acquaintance who is based at your Spitalfields building. We had tried other options, such as coworking and hot desking, but our team are constantly on the phone, so we realised quickly that we needed our own private office to function effectively.

The Name Your Price offer – which allows new clients to set a budget for an office for the first few months – really worked for us. We were able to move in and try out the building before committing to a longer contract – that was key for a new business. The flexibility of being able to upsize our office at short notice has also been brilliant, as we have grown from four, to eight and now to 16 desks as the business has expanded. We have stayed because it has remained great value for the area.

What works for you about Tower Bridge?

The team here are lovely, really look after us and they fix any issues that we have quickly. It’s quite a calm location, being just outside the city and across the road from the river and the team can relax in the breakout area and outside on the 5^th floor terraces at lunch. It’s also an easy commute, with the underground and DLR close by.  Being positioned outside the congestion zone and having parking is a bonus in Zone One too, as my partner Jai drives in.

We work long days, starting from 6.30am as last minute requests for sickness cover come in early and we need to get someone to site for 8.30am when the school day starts. And the day doesn’t usually finish until 6.30pm, so having 24/7 secure access is important for us.

It can be stressful, but as a team we all share in our success and we like to go out to celebrate regularly, so having the pubs and restaurants in St. Katharine Docks on our doorstep is great.

You can find out more about Principal on their website.

If you are looking for office space in St. Katharine Docks/Tower Bridge area, please contact our Sales Team to find out about availability and to book a viewing.