Eco has opened their new 3,000 square-metre HQ to staff for the first time, which aims to redefine the office environment to benefit health and well-being.

Entrepreneur Eddie Black and his Eco team developed and built the new state-of-the-art company HQ during the pandemic.

For Eddie, the statement building, which includes a world-class multi-million pound processing plant also assembled by his own team, marks the start of an exciting next growth phase of his Eco business - and the end of home working.

On each side of the border, so close to where Eddie's diverse and dynamic multi-discipline business is based at Annan in Dumfries and Galloway, there have been different views from political leaders about working from home.

Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said last week that the Scottish Government was to continue to "advise home working where possible for now".

On the same day Chancellor Rishi Sunak was highlighting the advantages of returning to the office especially for those starting out on their careers, the Westminster Government having already dropped its formal advice to work from home in favour of a "gradual return to the office over the summer".

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Following the opening of his new office space, Eddie said: "Working from home for me can stifle ideas and stifle innovation. You can also get into a rut working from home.

"People sometimes forget that working from home also means living at work and that can have a lot of negative impacts on families, including on mental health.

"We wanted to create an environment where people WANT to come into work.

"This building is about bringing everyone together where everyone brings something to the table.

"We have amazingly talented people in this business across all the different companies in the group. When they are not together the business suffers. Bring them together and we get a lot of brilliant ideas emerging and tasks getting completed immediately.

"We spend a lot of our time at work so we wanted to create a building which works for our team in the way they live their lives and a place where people want to come and be part of everything."

As well as light, modern, inspiring workspaces at the Team Eco HQ at Annan, that also means allocating the top floor as a designated health and well-being area complete with gym and roof-garden-style relaxation area.

"Health and well-being of the team is vitally important and we do everything we can to support our team," said Eddie.

"Traditionally people might have thought they have to go home before they go to the gym or go and do their exercise activity before they set off for work in the morning, but if we can provide those facilities here then we are making people's lives easier.

"We are also looking at how we might be able to team up with other nearby businesses to offer some childcare provision which would also make life easier for parents and families.

"We need to reimagine our workspaces and provide an environment where people want to be and to make it work for their lives.

"Recruiting top talent is difficult, and we have this in common with a lot of businesses. This building is an investment in attracting talent and retaining talent."