A NEW space-saving product has been designed by a Huddersfield firm – to help companies accomodate staff who normally working from home.

Volume Products Ltd, based at Colne Road, has unveiled MOVE Work, a compact unit on castors that incorporates removable storage, power and a pull out “work tablet” for use by people who work in the office only occasionally.

The product launch – which comes in response to an increasing trend for home-working – coincides with two projects Volume is carrying out with banking giant HSBC.

Following a trial at the bank’s Griffin House in Sheffield, HSBC placed an order for a range of screening products and Airea – Volume’s award-winning acoustically-private, meeting “pod”.

A second enquiry resulted in Volume supplying Airea pods for the bank’s Canada Square building in Canary Wharf.

Volume managing director Mark Partridge said: “We have worked closely with HSBC in the past, providing flexible screening for 135 of its high street branches.

“The recent projects involve some of our latest product developments including Airea, a flexible, non-fixed room, which is ideal for use as a meeting room in open plan environments.”

Speaking about its latest product, Mr Partridge said: “Since petrol and diesel prices started spiralling out of control, enquiries regarding MOVE Work have increased significantly.

“Home working is heralded as one way of fighting the fuel costs. Advances in mobile technology, fast reliable internet access, video conferencing and cheaper laptops allow many individuals to work equally effectively from the comfort of their own home.

“This can drastically reduce the number of days commuting to the office each week, leading to significant savings at the pumps.”

But he said: “With about one in eight of us now working from home at least part of the week, organisations are suddenly discovering that desks are sitting empty for up to four or five days a week – a waste of expensive floor space.

“With this in mind, we’ve developed workstations designed for people who only visit the office occasionally.

“When the employee is in the office, they simply pull MOVE Work over to a comfortable seat, pull out the work tablet, plug in their laptop and work away.

“At other times the unit, which takes up significantly less space than a traditional workstation, can be stored in a convenient corner or against a wall.”

Volume’s first product, a mobile lockable office called The Macropod, was an award-winner at the London Workplace 01 exhibition and remains in high demand..