What has been your biggest accomplishment?
Owing to our location at Future Space, we have had the good fortune to work with fellow residents, West of England Academic Health Science Network, on our SmartGym project in Gloucestershire.
The project aims to improve young people’s mental health and resilience through a training programme that includes our reaction wall product and the building of executive functions. Results from the study will be available in early 2021, and although we can’t say too much about this at the moment, we are hoping to have a significant impact on the mental and physical health of the young people involved in this project.
What have you had most fun doing at Rugged Interactive?
Personally, I am just coming up to my one-year anniversary at ‘Team Rugged’. Despite the lockdown disruptions, I have had an amazing first year with the company and really enjoy being a member of the Rugged family. I particularly like how everyone gets involved in all aspects of the business and how all opinions are valued equally. I also love how we get other members of the family involved in product testing – I have three daughters (a 13-year-old and 10-year-old twins) and we have been on several day trips to test out Rugged equipment in various venues, including a road trip to Swansea for some serious market research!
Why Future Space?
After what seemed like a lifetime of working from home for Commercial Director, Harry Stevens, and Sports Scientist, Lucy Manley, they took a tiny office in Future Space in 2017. Since then, Rugged’s commercial team has expanded to include several new members (myself included), so about a year ago we upgraded to a larger space. Future Space has excellent facilities, including the Hub, meeting rooms and well-stocked kitchenettes (super important for us, as we’re basically obsessed with drinking tea!). We’ve even used the reception area as a set for a corporate video (https://youtu.be/AzRZT6jks9w) – I wasn’t lying about our obsession with tea…
Harry Stevens, Commercial Director and Joint MD, commented "Future Space is really perfect for our needs. The professional networking opportunities are invaluable and have provided excellent links for us, resulting in our collaboration with AHSN."
"Location-wise, it’s easy to access by car and public transport – it practically has its own train station, being so close to Abbeywood! The team that run the building are incredibly efficient and always accommodating of our deliveries, meeting room bookings and visitor parking requests (even when they are last-minute!). It works well for visitors too with plenty of transport links nearby."