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🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🫶 A very-coworking Valentines Day campaign #
Piloto 151 showered their members with cute and quiet-coworking-specific greeting cards and activities for Valentine’s Day.
Such a fun idea! Did you do anything fun in your community? Let us know and share some photos in this summary’s discussion link.
👉 Read this.
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✊ Coworking impact.
♻️ How coworking spaces are aiming to hit their net zero targets #
Coworking stakeholders are expected to make significant improvements to their sustainability practices if they’re to meet ambitious net zero targets set out by the U.K. government by 2050.
In this post Lucy McInally shares a summary of The Instant Group‘s workshop at GCUC UK last November, looking at how the industry is collectively working towards a greener future.
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
📢 Why now is the right time to discuss Collective Ownership #
This Summit’s topic covers a wide range of collective ownership ideas, but I’m personally looking forward to diving into one specific area. In this post I share some notes and talking points I’m preparing to discuss, and learn more about, regarding the collective ownership of the coworking narrative – and more importantly why now is right time to get this right.
👉 Read this.
💡 Superb member newsletter idea, and execution. #
Geoff Wood shares a snippet from an ‘occasional column’ within the Gravitate Coworking member newsletter called "Ask Geoff Anything".
Not only is this a fun way to engage with your coworking community, but it adds a heartwarming level of empathy and humanness to member newsletters – a fantastic useful, but often exhausting to maintain, communication medium.
👉 Read this.
🪧 Municipality renames street to “Nomadic place” #
The Tourism Commission of the Bulgarian government share that a street in Semkovo, has been renamed to "Nomadic place" as the country adapts it’s tourism to "changing global trends in travel and work".
P.S. Guess what’s at No 1. Nomadic Place? Yeap, a coworking slash coliving hub! Nomadic Utopia: Coliving Semkovo is highlighted as "a model for future tourism projects that combine life, work and cultural exchange".
ICYMI: Coliving Semkovo is a 179k sqft ski resort in the Rila Mountains being converted into a coliving/remote working destination by and for digital nomads, led by Matthias Zeitler of Coworking Bankso and Bankso Nomad Fest fame.
👉 Read this.
🐣 Has coworking with childcare’s time (finally) come? #
David Hanrahan (Chief People Officer at Flare) shares an undercurrent trend they almost missed, coworking with childcare. Their post highlights both HBR’s recent study that "only 30% of all working parents had any form of back-up childcare" and 11 spaces who offer workspace and childcare options.
The post struck a chord for sure, accumulating over 500 interactions and over 75 comments (many recommending even more examples of coworking locations/brands who offer both.
👉 Read this.
➕ Flex options recommended as alternatives to leases #
Charlie Morris shares 3 traditional lease alternatives for companies. They include and compare exec suites and coworking, on-demand workspaces, and managed offices.
Great to see more recommendations for companies (especially those adapting and evolving their flexibility models) include coworking and on-demand access to space.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇦 More about the City of Toronto’s creative co-location tax reductions #
Creative Blueprint shares more information on how some coworking spaces can apply for their properties to be designated as a "Creative Co-Location Facility" by the City of Toronto, and have their property taxes reduced by half.
👉 Read this.
😍 Why this office owner looooves coworking in their buildings. #
Aamil Sarfani shares that by adding coworking (via their own brand Project Cowork), and some renovations to the 120k sqft of office space they bought over the last three years – the buildings have gone from 10% occupied to over 75% in under three years.
When asked if it’s the activity/buzz/footfall that drives up the value, Aamil shared that "The activity is everything." and that they intentionally build the coworking spaces on the first floor.
👉 Read this.
📕 New book: The Coworking (R)evolution #
Costantino Romeo shares that they have authored (alongside Maurizio Busacca, Barbara Da Roit, and Ignasi Capdevila) a chapter in the new book called The Coworking (R)evolution.
The authors spent a year investigating local coworking spaces, questioning how collaboration expressed many nuances of working together. They then introduced a theoretical proposal reflecting how coworking spaces are far from neutral venues where independent users do their businesses, highlighting that different ways of managing these spaces directly impact how collaboration occurs, sometimes even reproducing traditional asymmetrical work relationships.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🥳 A great example of a booking app exploring more viral-loops. #
Andrei Cretu shares how Pluria have added functionality to quickly invite guests (via links or email) to join them for bookings they’ve made within the app.
I’ve been watching closely to see which booking apps nail the viral-loop of bringing more and more teammates, colleagues, coworkers, friends and consultants into their apps. Having a strong viral loop (think how dropbox spread by giving away free storage space, or paypal gave away $5 for each invite) not only brings in more app users, but could drive business to the spaces who are listed on those platforms. Expect to see A LOT more of this.
👉 Read this.
🙅♀️ For when members pick spaces based on data transparency #
Rubin Beckner shares some interesting thoughts regarding how members may increasingly pick between spaces based on how transparent those businesses are regarding member data. He also shares some steps that flex space operators can take to not only protect their members’ data but also be more transparent around what data is being used, how and why.
Note: Rubin is also one of TWIC’s earliest active subscribers btw joining when we were around 70 subscribers, so big thanks to him for being part of this global community since Jan ’21!
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
📑 New 42-page doc on geographic spread of spaces in Europe #
The 42-page publication looking into the regional geography of Collaborative Workspaces in Europe by Lorenzo Marmo & Vasilis Avdikos has been added to the Coworking Library.
The report examines where 12,009 spaces across the continent are based (including coworking spaces, Makerspaces, Hackerspaces, Fab Labs, Business Incubators or Start-up Accelerators, Cultural & Creative Hubs, Co-living spaces, Youth and community centres, artist residencies, and many more).
Interesting that 66% of the spaces investigated are in urban regions, 24.4% in intermediate regions and the remaining 9.6% were in predominantly rural locations.
👉 Read this.
🧮 US most and least expensive coworking metros #
How much does it cost to cowork in 2024? In CoworkingCafe‘s latest analysis, researchers highlighted the U.S. metro areas with the highest and lowest pricing for the most popular coworking subscription types. (All prices below are medians and $ per month)
For open workspaces – Albany (NY) and Santa Maria (CA) are the most expensive at $250. NYC (NY) comes in second at $239. On the flipside, Boise (ID) is the most affordable at $93, followed by Wichita (KS) at $97 and Greenville (SC) at $110.
For dedicated desks – Santa Maria (CA) once again tops the chart at $500. San Francisco (CA) follows at $429 and NYC at $425. Indianapolis (IN) offers the most affordable options at $209, followed by Ann Arbor (MI) and Hartford (CT) at $219 and $245.
For virtual offices – Trenton (NJ) is the most expensive at $215, with Boise (ID) coming in second at $209. Four metros come in after them at $205, including Chicago (IL) and Lexington (KY). The most affordable VO metros are Rochester (NY) at $50, Deltona (FL) at $60 and St Louis (MO) at $62.
👉 Read this.
🎨 Defining the “dynamic office” from a design perspective #
WeWork have released a report that not only shares some global office trends they’re seeing, but quickly defines an overarching concept called the "dynamic office".
Ebbie Wisecarver, and her team, analyzed data across their portfolio of member companies to understand how businesses are rethinking their offices.
Key takeaways – open floors & lounges in, exec offices and meeting rooms out. "Non-traditional" workspaces are the new go-to amenity. Offices are less densely populated than before, by design.
Oh an what is a dynamic office anyways? They’re "spaces that can ‘shapeshift’ to accommodate a variety of work-related needs".
👉 Read this.
🇳🇴 Norwegian flex space supply dips for first time in 6 years #
Coworking Europe summarizes a (paywalled) post about UNION’s recent market study about the flex space market in Norway.
Even with Oslo’s coworking spaces sitting at over 80% occupancy, the closure of Evolve (and their 16+ locations) and WeWork’s local locations pushed down the total supply. 1 in 3 local operators did note plans for opening new locations, or expanding their current capacity, within 2024.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
🤯 Mega-platform-operator-stakeholder deal finally public #
Sam Rosen shares that the news is finally public about the Deskpass, Breather, Industrious (and CRBE-kinda) deal.
In short here’s what’s happening. Deskpass and Breather will merge, but both platforms will continue to be operated by Deskpass as separate brands (for now). What about Industrious? If you remember back to Week 22 of 2021, Industrious acquired Breather for $3M. Well what this post doesn’t share, but other press releases did is that "a spokesperson for Industrious said it would own a 40% stake in the merged subsidiary". How about CBRE? Well… remembering even further back, to Week 8 of 2021, CBRE invested $200M into the firm, and obtained 35% ownership, when they merged their Hana brand into Industrious.
So what does this mean? For operators – technically more bookings through two platforms managed by Deskpass. For Deskpass – two markets of customers to service and connect to spaces. For Industrious – offloading tech which may have been eating into margins. For CBRE – a more valuable/profitable Industrious? Let’s see.
👉 Read this.
🇫🇷 Toulouse-based brand aims for €50M in revenue by 2027 #
In this piece, we learn that Toulouse-based INSITU intends to double their turnover in 2025, and hit €50M in revenue by 2027. The firm also announced the acquisition of the At Home group of companies, a new 11k sqm building, and a new high-end managed office concept for the Parisian market.
Interesting factoid from the piece is that in 2023 INSITU was the second largest flex space operator in France serving 52,281 sqfm across 11 locations. At 85,000 sqm and 141 locations Deskeo was the biggest, and MyFlexOffice came in third with 34,200 sqm across 144 spaces.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Another local UK brand “partners” with IWG #
Steve Upham shares how after 7 successful years as an independent brand, altspace (in Cheshire, UK) have partnered with IWG to run the business. The deal seems to be to merge altspace into the HQ brand as a franchise partnership.
This follows Week 5’s story where another local UK brand HomeWork partnered with IWG. Watch this space as I’m betting the publicly traded operator ‘partners’ with even more local brands, or maybe even this totally-not-local brand.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Lucy McInally joins Bernie Mitchell on the Coworking Values Podcast to discuss cultural nuances in coworking, emphasizing transparency in policies, the pivotal role of community managers, and her journey from interior design through marketing and co-living to coworking.
Frank Cottle swaps places this week and joins Gio and Jamie on the Flex Uncensored podcast to discuss sustaining success in the flex office industry, charitable work, business strategies, exit opportunities and more.
📆 Coworking events.
🤝 Convo: Increase Networking in Your Coworking Space #
Feb 23: How do you encourage members to network and connect? Let’s chat about it!
👉 Read this.
👩💻 Essential coworking & flex space trends for 2024 #
Mar 5: Join us to learn the evolving dynamics of coworking and flexible workspaces through expert insights, powered by OfficeRnD’s FlexIndex. Future-proof your workspace by gaining access to critical trends, statistics, and strategies shaping the flex industry in 2024.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 The 2024 Summit #
Mar 6: The 4th annual Coworking Alliance Summit returns, bringing together cooperative coworking leaders from around the world.
👉 Read this.
🤗 Activating coworking spaces as centers for social reconnection #
Mar 13: Loneliness has reached epidemic levels, and it’s affecting how we work and live. Worse, millions of us are still trying to figure out a sustainable approach to remote and hybrid work. Fortunately, coworking spaces are already in the business of belonging. Learn how you can join our effort, so together we can raise awareness of the role your space plays in helping people find connection outside their homes.
👉 Read this.
