The Anti-Cable Guy
By Cecilie Gamst Berg, for www.olivevalley.com
“Why Panteon House? Good question. As you probably know, the word ‘pantheon’ comes from Greek, meaning ‘all gods.’ It’s supposed to denote the higher echelons, something high-calibre. I got the idea to House when I was living in London, where many well-known buildings are called This and that House.“
It’s a lovely spring morning in Palma, sunny of course. We are in quiet Carrer Joan Maria Thomàs, inthe airy, spacious office of Swedish entrepreneur Peter Irblad.
Well, when I say office, I actually mean offices, but because all the walls are made of glass, it seems like one large, open space.
“This used to be a typically Mallorquin office; lots of small rooms, no windows, no light. It was all squashed together, airless and almost claustrophobic. It had been empty for 12 or 15 years and was in a terrible state.”
He points to the wall opposite us, light grey and empty except a massive LCD tv screen: “This room was the communications room and that wall was covered with a telephone switchboard, you know the type where they push plugs into holes.”
Oh, how I would have liked to see that. But I can see that it wouldn’t quite fit in with Irblad’s idea of the ideal “business hotel” as he calls it – a short or long-term space rental for businesses – because here minimalism and Spartan tidiness rules the roost.
“I have a thing about cables” Irblad confesses.
“When I told the decorator about what I wanted and how I wanted it to look, my first demand was No Cables.” He points to the floor in the meeting room where we are sitting. And indeed, instead of the Spaghetti Junction of extension cables, adaptors, plugs and sockets that lurk under my desk, shivering in fear of the next load of spilled coffee, here there is not a cable in sight. Instead, a discreet black tube-thing goes from a hole in the table and straight into the floor. I feel myself fill with envy.
“I dislike clutter and mess, and cables are the worst” he adds.
“ I didn’t want people to be spending money on renting space here, and then go tripping over computer cables all day long.” Quite. This philosophy clearly extends to the very elegant, luxurious bathrooms (I checked) – there’s nothing on the floor to trip over, walk into or accidentally knock down.
“I wanted everything; toilet brush, dustbin, everything, to be fixed to the wall, to save work and time.” he says. “Imagine how much time a maid in a hotel spends moving, shifting, vacuuming under and cleaning stuff that is sitting on the floor,” he explains.
And he should know – not only is he now running an office “hotel” – his wife Patricia is the CEO of a successful company delivering hygiene articles like toilet paper and hand towels to hotels and restaurants in Mallorca.
“But I’m actually an investment analyst working in Zürich,” he says.
“The business hotel is a sideline passion project thing. It all started by me trying to find an office in Palma. No, it started with me being headhunted to Mallorca by a finance company. My wife was ecstatic because she had visited the island many times before and loved it. When that company didn’t work out, we decided to stay although it meant I would travel to Zürich a lot. I started to look for an office here in Palma. I looked and looked but there was nothing suitable. It was all for rent only, and the landlord unwilling to spend any money on modernisation or improvement. Then in 2016 the Tennis Club opened and we nipped around just for a coffee, to see if we could become members. And just around the corner from it, up a set of stairs, I saw my ideal office space – and it was for sale!”
After buying the office, Irblad realised that at 350 square metres, it would be rather too big for his needs – a desk, a conference table and three dog baskets – and he got the idea of starting an office sharing space.
“As the tagline says on my website “Panteon House is Santa Catalina’s premium shared workspace offering a contemporary work environment for demanding professionals” and “A modern office for modern people[ www.panteon.house]. I wanted to create a place not only for myself, but for equally demanding professionals. Mallorca is so much more than tourism, and I wanted this to be my small contribution to making the island increasingly attractive to entrepreneurs.”
And now, with four sizeable, airy offices and 16 chairs in a large, open plan room overlooking trees and tennis courts, the office is ready to welcome his guests.
“In fact, two of the offices were snapped up right away,” he smiles. “In retrospect I think I should have added more separate office rooms instead of the less expensive open floor chair solution. I thought it would be easier to rent out the individual chairs, but the opposite happened. It seems people don’t mind paying more for quality: a beautiful private office with access to showers and conference rooms, and with a real PA to take care of them.”
He waves to the friendly and efficient Andrea who greets all comers from her desk near the entrance. In addition to helping Irblad’s clients with all their business needs – all the people renting from him so far have been walk-ins - she also runs her own ‘virtual PA’ business from Panteon House.
Irblad has sourced everything, down to the soft-light light bulbs, switches and linoleum floor, himself. He is also not averse to swinging a hammer or screwdriver between flying to Zürich, hiking with his dogs, cycling and of course playing tennis.
“I love Mallorca with its fantastic climate and possibilities for fresh air activities” he says.
“It’s easy to start a business here, and even working abroad I can leave home no more than an hour before a flight. I can walk or cycle to work, and I feel Mallorca is a happening place. We just need to get more talent to come here; I mean it’s easy to find a job as a waiter in the summer season, but I think we still need more entrepreneurs, more companies that aren’t connected to the tourism and property trades, to make it more of an all-year place.”
So to accomplish this, perhaps he could buy more office space and turn the office-hotel trade into a full time occupation?
Irblad laughs in a faintly worried way.
“Oh no... No. When I finally got this thing done, going over budget and by stretching myself paper-thin time wise, my wife said, Right, that’s it! Don’t ever do anything silly like that again if you want to stay married.”
Famous last words?
“Well, we’re still together! But so far we haven’t managed to get past the waiting list for the tennis club... “