In the latest episode of the TWIC podcast, Hector Kolonas sat down with Greg Miley (now at Clockwise Offices), whose career has touched almost every seat around the flex space table (prev at Flexioffices, Instant, WeWork, Kitt, and Desana), to discuss strategic career moves, to insights on industry trends and the role of brokers.

Research featured in a recent article in The Times found that inadequate office environments are costing the UK economy £71 billion annually. The study revealed employees lose 68 minutes per person per week due to workplace inefficiencies including slow lifts, unreliable Wi-Fi, and insufficient collaboration and focus spaces. The research quantifies the economic impact of substandard office infrastructure on worker productivity across the UK market.

Shared by Steve Coulson, the Founder and CEO of Kitt, he summarized it perfectly: The office should never be an obstacle. With all the calls for return to the office, if the conversation doesn’t include environments that support people doing their work, what’s the point?

We don’t usually cover management changes, but these move at the top of Clockwise are fairly noteworthy as Adam MacLeod, one of their original founders (and a Partner at their parent co. Castleforge) stepped into CEO role. In the same week, the firm set a goal of launching another 50 locations across Europe.

The team also welcome Greg Miley into the CCO role, following a flex career that feats well known brands like Desana, WeWork, The Instant Group and Kitt.

Steve Coulson from Kitt share a new (ungated) white paper sharing insights into the sub-10k sqft office market. Key findings shared include that office leases have decreased by over a third in just five years, down from an average of 8 years to just 5. They also highlight that there’s a shift towards more experience-driven approach to occupying workspace.

There’s a whisper of revival in the London desk rates, edging up 2.6% to £625 per desk in the most recent quarter. Moreover, we’ve witnessed a remarkable swell in inventory, surging 43% (a whopping 1.5 million sq ft) since the start of 2023.

What’s fueling this unexpected upswing? Though the challenging economic atmosphere has definitely played a role in the growth of new inventory from existing Coworking and Serviced Offices, there’s also been a remarkable influx of new managed spaces entering the market from companies such as Storey, InfinitSpace, Kitt, and Workplace Plus, acting on behalf of traditional landlords.

These new Managed Offices represented a sizeable 44% or 669k sq ft of all new inventory in 2023, despite only contributing to 23% of all accessible inventory on Rubberdesk at the dawn of the year. In contrast, supply of Serviced Offices chipped in with 56% of new inventory or 834k sq ft over the identical time span.