The beauty of Third Door is that you’ll be in the company of like-minded people who live close by. So you’ll find there are networking opportunities and friendships to be made with independent professionals, home-based workers and businesses. As well as working in a productive environment, you can hire our meeting rooms for a more professional edge when meeting with clients. The Workhub packages are very flexible, you can come and use Third Door when it works for you.

We’re here to take away some of the stress of everyday life when you’re a working parent. Third Door provides a truly flexible nursery and our unique bespoke online booking system allows you to be in control and book the days and sessions when you need them.

Third Door provides a space for you upstairs to work alone or meet with colleagues in one of our meeting rooms productively, whilst your child can enjoy playing and learning in our onsite nursery downstairs. There is also a lounge area where both parents and children can spend time together at any point in the day, have lunch or coffee and socialise with other co-workers.

Children can play and learn in the Nursery whilst their parent or guardian is close by. The Nursery is designed to encourage learning and development, and follows the EYFS curriculum. Children can also spend quality time with their parent or guardian in the lounge area during the working day when your full attention will be on them rather than your latest deadline.

Third Door also enables flexible working for businesses, allowing employees to work in a professional environment close to home, cutting travel time, costs and stress levels, especially for working parents. Businesses can also use our meeting room when they need it which is especially beneficial to those businesses where the majority of the team are home-based workers. This creates a better work-life balance for employees, improved retention of female staff after maternity leave, as well as a positive effect on recruitment.

Twelve hour days, a two hour commute and the cost of your annual travel card are all things rarely considered in ‘life before children’. Introduce a new baby into that mix and as your maternity leave flies past, quicker than you ever expected, all of sudden, working in the City doesn’t hold the attraction it once did!

That was certainly the case for Kirsty Blair. Realising that returning to full time work in the City would result in her missing out on precious time with her young daughter, she was keen to find an alternative solution.

Whilst on maternity leave, she attended an NCT meeting at Third Door and inadvertently realised that she’d found the answer to her dilemma. She could still work full time and spend time with her daughter.

Kirsty and her husband, Jonathan starting using Third Door three days a week and are now full-time members. Kirsty explains why the solution works for her: “It’s perfect. I only live 10 minutes away which means I get to spend an extra two hours in the morning with her. We get to enjoy lunch together and have an extra hour in the evening, as she’s right there when I finish work. I also get to sneak a peek at her throughout the day and I am on hand should she need me.”

Kirsty has worked as a Finance Manager in Business Development for five years. As her role is predominantly project based and doesn’t necessarily require her to work from a specific location, she approached her employer to suggest that she work from the office three days and Third Door twice a week to enable her to spend more time with her daughter. Understanding that balancing work with family commitments had become a priority, her employer  agreed to the change, knowing that Kirsty was still able to deliver a full day’s work and see her young daughter.

And, it’s not just Kirsty that benefits, her self-employed husband Jonathan, also works from Third Door on Thursdays so he gets to spend time with Lexi too. Kirsty added; “I couldn’t be happier with the arrangement. My employers are happy, I’m happy and most of all Lexi absolutely loves coming to nursery here. The staff are great and she’s progressed leaps and bounds! The flexibility afforded us is terrific. We are able to change our days if necessary and it doesn’t matter whether Jonathan or I use the workspace. And as it’s a fully Ofsted registered nursery we can also leave the premises if we have or want to.”

Talking of the workspace, she added: “The workhub is a fantastic place to come and work. Everyone is supportive and interested in what you’re doing. If I need privacy to make a conference call for example, I can do that from either one of the small meeting rooms or a privacy booth. It’s a great environment – I love it! We have a great work-life balance and that’s thanks to Third Door.”

Rosie Nottage, a garden designer, went back to work when her daughter Lola Daisy was five months old. She initially tried to work at home around her daughter’s naps, but found it impossible to get anything done. Lola then went to a nursery three days a week, but Rosie found it very stressful trying to get to the nursery to pick her daughter up on time. It also cut her working day short and didn’t really fit well with her requirements, due to the seasonality and variations of her job. Having walked past Third Door when she was pregnant, she decided to try it as an alternative.

Although it’s a half hour drive from her home in Tooting, Rosie immediately felt the benefits of using the space. She could fit more work in as there was no rush to collect Lola from nursery. She could now simply walk downstairs when it was time to go. What started out as a 60 hours a month contract quickly moved to 90 hours a month to full-time.

Rosie explains why it suits her so well. “My job sees me spend 60% of my time at a computer, 20% of my time going to nurseries and looking at plants, and the remaining time on site with my build team in people’s gardens. With Third Door, I can get my office-based work done productively and efficiently – I feel far less distracted than I do when I work at home. And because I can leave Lola on site, it means I can head out to my meetings knowing she is well taken care of. Best of all, there is none of the stress you feel when you’re late in picking up your child from nursery.”

Rosie shares her Third Door membership with her husband Roger Jones, a digital marketing consultant. While Roger mainly works from home, he is able to work on site at Third Door on those days that Rosie can’t be there to pick up Lola.

“It’s the flexibility that we love about Third Door,” Rosie explains. “A regular nursery just doesn’t allow for changes in hours/days and has none of the convenience of being able to work in the same building that your child is being taken care of. Lola loves the staff here and I love the networking opportunities I get with other members. So we’re all happy! Third Door has given me the freedom to work the way I want to work and still ensure that our little girl is taken care of.”

www.rosienottage.com

In February 2010, Emma Insley started up a consulting business – Insley Consulting – providing leadership, strategy and fund raising advice to charities. At the time, her one-year old son Thomas was going to a nursery two days a week, while Emma worked from her home office.

The problem Emma had was that while most weeks she needed three or four days of childcare, some weeks she didn’t. The nursery couldn’t offer her ad hoc days when she needed extra cover and would charge her regardless of whether she sent her son in or not, including if she was away on holiday or if Thomas was sick. This meant she was paying for childcare when she didn’t always need it and trying to work with her son at home on days when she had extra work.

When she heard about Third Door opening up in May 2010 and with it just ten minutes walk from her home in Wandsworth, she was thrilled. Emma became one of the first Third Door members, initially using the space on a pay-as-you-go- basis when she needed additional child care cover while keeping her son at his existing nursery.

But she quickly realised that Third Door offered her a better solution altogether and took Thomas out of his nursery, opting to use Third Door as a regular monthly member. She now uses the space on average four days a week.

She explains why she made the shift: “Third Door offers me the flexibility I need in my line of work. I can work as much or as little as I need to, with very little notice in booking a space. What’s more, I don’t have to stay onsite, so on those days when I need to go see clients, I can drop Thomas off knowing that he’s well looked after.”

And it’s not just Emma who’s a Third Door fan. Her son is a fan too! “Thomas has loved it at Third Door from day one. In fact there are days when it’s difficult getting him to leave! The staff are fantastic and I know he is well cared for. Plus I’m just one minute away should they need me,” she says.

But it’s not only the ability to work well and have a happy child that has made Third Door a great option for Emma. There are a number of fringe benefits too, as Emma explains: “I never realised just how lonely it was working at home on my own. Coming to Third Door is like being a part of team with the chance to have a gossip and catch up with work colleagues. You get a cheery smile and the chance to socialise with other people, rather than just staring at four walls. It is great for networking and I have met other business parents whose services I have used like a personal stylist, photographer and even getting coaching from one of the Third Door founders.

“It also makes economic sense. By coming to Third Door, part of the cost can be recorded a business expense, which results in tax savings,” she continues.
“In short, I’m really, really pleased I found Third Door!”

http://www.insleyconsulting.com/