🗞 The Video Summary
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🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🥳 Techspace turns 10! #
Philip Ellis shares that Techspace started with just 32 members 10 years ago. They now manage 6 locations across Europe and ~4k members. Congrats!
👉 Read this.
🎂 InSpark celebrates 5 years! #
Huge congrats to Tracey Warren and the InSpark Coworking community!
👉 Read this.
✊ Coworking impact.
🇺🇦 True stories, photos & videos from coworking spaces in Ukraine #
andcards gathered a few true stories from coworking space owners in Kyiv, Ternopil, Vinnytsya and Lviv to give you a glimpse into what life is like right now in Ukraine.
Despite the danger, these spaces remain determined to keep their doors open and continue serving their communities and their country.
👉 Read this.
🌱 Establishing a Green Event Policy #
A green event policy is a way to provide guidance for the reduction or elimination of single-use plastics and other waste for any event or meeting held in your facility.
This month’s Coworking IDEA challenge is facilitated by Amy King and Tracy Wilson and invites you to establish a Green Event Policy and post about it to social media on Earth Day (April 22, 2022) with the hashtags #coworkingIDEA #greenevents #singleuseplastics #sustainability #earthday2022
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🤔 Are ‘they’ the best and worst thing to happen to coworking? #
Gareth Jones shares that now the biggest challenge in coworking is reclaiming the title, which won’t be easy. Most people in coworking never liked the term in the first place. It means different things to different operators, and its association with all of the rotten stuff in this sector (is it a sector yet?) has shrouded all of the good stuff.
“Without WeWork the coworking industry would still have a big brand building job on its hands. Now it has a rebranding job to do.”
👉 Read this.
📹 Some thoughts on the future of office buildings #
Paul Stanton shares his view on how office buildings worked, work and will work via a diagram and a short video.
From what I’m seeing in both flex and CRE, there’s a lot to agree with here, and I look forward to seeing how right the predictions are by 2027.
👉 Read this.
🇨🇦 Coworking in small towns takes off across Canada. #
The Globe and Mail shares insight into how small-town coworking is faring across Canada.
The story features comments from Shane Austin from Okanagan coLab, Ashley Proctor from Coworking Canada, Chloe Dumont-Samson from Mountain CoLab and highlights how demand is changing as people relocate from large cities.
👉 Read this.
💰 Neighborhood workspace co open crowdfunding for 2nd location. #
Sneh Kadakia shares that from HERE are about to break ground on their second location in Princeton Junction (New Jersey), following the successful launch of the first location in Plainfield, NJ in May 2020.
The firm is running an Indiegogo campaign to raise $71,250 for steeped construction costs. Whilst this isn’t the first crowdfunding campaign we’ve seen for a coworking community, it may be a new trend to see heavily community-focussed spaces turning to their local ecosystems for support in covering construction or setup costs. I do wonder why none of the perks include memberships or other kinds of access.
👉 Read this.
📺 Flex workspaces on the telly? #
We saw Freddie Fforde on Sky News int he UK sharing how Patch are rejuvenating empty high street spots, and creating workspaces that everyone can enjoy, especially outside of big cities.
Accessible remote workspaces on national television? Yes please.
👉 Read this.
🤣 What if coworking was udderly accessible? #
Ryan Anderson shares a humorous coworking cartoon by Brooke Bourgeois.
We’re lucky Brooke’s phone didn’t autocorrect to say “cowering space”!
👉 Read this.
🛫 Are airports the perfect coworking place (for some)? #
Business Traveler looks into the growing trend of remote workers holding meetings on the go from newly designed terminals and lounges. They note that the number of flex workspaces within airports has grown 100% year-on-year since 2021 (via CoworkIntel), that Jabbrbox is growing, and that the operator of Priority Pass shared that “working space to plug in and focus” was one of the top choices of what travelers are willing to pay for.
Just like retail bringing in flex workspaces, increased footfall that hangs out for a little longer can mean big spikes in long-term revenues of surrounding retailers, and therefor chargeable rents. Makes sense to me.
👉 Read this.
🗽 Did coworking delay NYCs office space reckoning? #
Andrew Lim, director of New York research for JLL shares that coworking firms filled up space on the lower end of the quality spectrum, almost perfectly covering the gaps from pre-pandemic flights to quality.
Fascinating to see, or be reminded, that in 2018 WeWork took on 7 more locations covering nearly 360k sqft bringing their total to 5.3M sqft. Spaces also took on 244k sqft in the city that year, whilst Knotel took on an additional 62k to reach 1.7M sqft.
👉 Read this.
🤑 Reminding office landlords about cash-flow driving amentities #
Katharine Lau reminds commercial landlords about how some amenities can drive new cash flows.
Although they mention Stuf (a self-storage service), I do believe that under the right deal terms, coworking and other managed flex services from you awesome folks can fit into this opportunity for landlords assessing new revenue options.
👉 Read this.
🤫 A sneak-peak at workspace franchise’s numbers #
Giovanni Palavicini shares a video from the United Franchise Group‘s recent Vendor Summit, in which we hear a short summary from Paula Mercer about VentureX‘s progress so far.
Spoiler alert: The franchised coworking network currently have 46 locations across 6 countries, with 12 opening in 2022 and have a target of 75 by end of the year.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
💥 Another Instant acquisition #
The Instant Group have acquired Coworker.com, a ‘tripadvisor for coworking’ platform, adding it to a stable of flex-focussed digital assets acquired over the last couple of weeks.
In case you missed it, this falls into the wider strategy Instant (and the $421M deal with IWG) are implementing to build a ‘global flex marketplace’ to serve 250k+ businesses.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 Community management system announces syncing integration #
The andcards team shared their take on their integration with Syncaroo and how it’s designed to allow for “task automations, which means less work and more time spent on what really matters: creativity and community building.”
In the announcement they share benefits like reducing copy-pasting between systems; enabling live-syncing between marketing, lead-gen and sales platforms; and a free upgrade for spaces participating in the #withinUkraine campaign.
👉 Read this.
📈 14k bookings made through app in March #
Steve Jeans shared some of Desana‘s booking stats for March.
Some of those stats are that 14,000 bookings were made across 149 cities, equating to over 125k hours spent in participating workspaces. They offer a bit of perspective too, sharing that in March 2021 they had just 189 bookings (equating to 1,397 hours) across 5 countries.
👉 Read this.
🇮🇳 Real estate consultancy acquires 700+ space network. #
Anuj Puri the chairman at ANAROCK Group, shares the news and some background on the firm’s acquisition of myHQ.
The former you may remember from their partnership with Upflex (w25/21), and the latter has 50,000 subscribed members who use over 700 spaces in 7 Indian cities.
The flex workspace platform also partners with cafes, coffee-shots and lounges to provide daytime coworking space, which does bring up an interesting opportunity following the recent Upflex India deal.
Combined the firms look to expand into over 20 cities and expand internationally within the next 12 months.
👉 Read this.
📲 Booking app rebrands, drops coworking from name. #
Sarah Sneddon announced that Coworking Nomads is now Perch.
When asked about the reband, Sarah mentioned that it better sits with their mission to make it as easy for operators as possible to offer hourly coworking passes to people on the go.
👉 Read this.
🤓 Data-syncing co adds ongoing problem-solving support #
Robert Kropp introduced Syncaroo Platform – a bundle of data-syncing tech, time-saving tools, monthly problem-solving calls and ongoing industry insights in the form of exclusive ask-us-anything sessions.
👉 Read this.
🤖 7 ways coworking spaces can leverage generative AI #
Helga Moreno shares 7 ways that coworking spaces can leverage generative AI (eg ChatGPT, Jasper, Adobe Firefly, etc) for marketing their space, and engaging with members. Examples range from descriptions, to artwork for social media, to event ideas, engaging feed posts and welcome emails.
👉 Read this.
👩⚖️ Industry leaders begin debating AI in the EU Parliament #
Maciej Markowski shares that debates have begun in the European Parliament to help make sure that the EU’s AI Act and Data Act supports, rather than hinders, innovation.
Given that the EU led the pack with GDPR for consumer privacy, this is one to watch.
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🇬🇧 UK’s biggest flex office providers’ portfolio dips by £1.4B. #
David Rawlence from Boodle Hatfield shares an interesting insight into a ‘slight’ dip in the value of the UK’s biggest serviced office providers’ property portfolios. They do highlight that with a shift in demand, and a few of the market moves we’ve already covered in previous newsletters, there is still a lot of growth potential to be realized.
The £1.4B ($1.84B) drop in value represents a fall from £25.7B to £24.3B, however follows 5 years that saw a 300% increase from just £5.9B.
👉 Read this.
🇧🇬 Flex in Sofia sees 200% growth #
Krasimir Petrov shared on Bloomberg TV Bulgaria that shared offices in Sofia are expecting a 200% bump in demand with the influx of corporate clients.
👉 Read this.
😲 Only 14% of office renters don’t believe they’ll switch up strategies #
The Urban Land Institute and The Instant Group have released a report looking into the future of the office.
In it they share that (of the 285 office renters, landlords and advisors surveyed) only 14% of renters believed that their current “workspace portfolio aligns perfectly with their business objectives and strategies”. They also highlight growing demand for shorted flex leases and pay-per-use services.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
🐕 Underdog city rejuvenators announce national expansion. #
Bitwise Industries‘ co-CEOs Jake Soberal and Irma Olguin Jr. (who you may remember from the fascinating TED talk I shared in w44/21) recently announced that they’d be expanding to Buffalo, NY; Cheyenne, WY; El Paso, TX; Greeley, CO and Las Cruces, NM.
Originally established in 2013, the firm that provides workspace and truly accessible entry-level programming training within ‘underdog cities’, has since established itself in 3 redeveloped buildings in downtown Fresno. The expansion follows raising over $100M in VC capital in early 2021.
👉 Read this.
💂♀️ London’s oldest office provider brings back CEO from retirement. #
John Drover returns from retirement to once again lead Argyll (prev. London Executive Offices) into it’s post-pandemic recovery.
The article notes that the firm offers 30 premium flexible workspaces and hosts 8,000 professionals across the City of London (and surrounding regions), and claims the firm is London’s oldest office provider.
It also highlights this quote: “The brand credentials that a prime central London office brings cannot be replaced by a coworking space or remote model.”
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Convene opens first international location in London #
Ryan Simonetti shares that, after almost 4 years in the making, Convene are opening their first international location.
The space spans 50k sqft and will offer their distinct flavor of meeting, room and work spaces within 22 Bishopsgate, which is almost exactly equidistant from Bank, Fenchurch Street, Aldgate, Monument and Liverpool Street stations.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 State Government’s central land and development agency appoints operator #
Brodie McCulloch shares that DevelopmentWA have appointed Spacecubed to manage and activate The Hub, Bentley Technology Park which includes space for meetings, conferences, coworking, green rooms and broadcasting equipment.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 New 50k sqft flex office hub launches in Nottingham #
Cubo Work announced a new 50,000 sqft flex office space in Nottingham, spanning four floors.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 WFH-alternative launches 3rd space in Fulham Broadway #
Abbie Davies shares that HomeWork Workspace have officially opened their 3rd location in Fulham Broadway.
This location follows recent openings in Putney and Southfields, which focus on providing inspiring workspaces and great coffee as an alternative to folks working from home.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Jamie Russo chats with Jen Thoemke about Connects Workspace, launching a coworking space in a town with less than 20k population, expanding (twice), adding a food hall, and more.
Anthony Slumbers and Delia Visan discuss how to build ecosystems in the workplace and how human and machine-driven features can boost office on the Re.View Webinar series by Bright Spaces.
Phil Kirschner joins Rob Sadow to discuss how for many corporations the real estate function is increasingly reporting into HR, and how the key metrics for evaluating workspaces are evolving on the FlexPerspectives podcast.
Jamie Russo discusses how to calculate the ROI on attending industry events on the Everything Coworking podcast.
Ian Minor discusses using a background in hospitality to deliver coworking in hotels with Jamie and Giovanni on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
Bernie Mitchell welcomes back Gerald Vanderpuye, co-founder of Impact Brixton, onto the Coworking Values Podcast to discuss the org’s history, their experiences, and the upcoming breakfast event for coworking leaders in London.
Gabriela Hersham (Huckletree), David Hutton (CO-RE), and Alistair Subba Row (Farebrother) speak to Andrew Teacher (Blackstock Consulting) about doubling-down on workspace revival.
📆 Coworking events.
👋 Position yourself as a community leader #
Apr 13: Paid workshop for coworking space operators on personal branding and being strategic around online messaging.
👉 Read this.
🚸 How I did this: Childcare + Coworking #
13 April: Hear from Daniella Cornue (Le Village, Coworking + Childcare), Melanie Marconi (VIDA) and Amirh Davis (Pillar Cowork and Childcare) about how they profitably offer workspace and childcare to their communities.
👉 Read this.