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🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🥳 Indyhall is back IRL with a new clubhouse #
The 15-year old community in Philly is back with a new location, website and offers both virtual/irl membership options.
👉 Read this.
🎂 BLOK O. turned 5! #
Congrats to Maria Borrasch and Kathleen Strobach and the community!
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Mixed-use community hub hits 100% of their crowdfund. #
Vibushan Thirukumar shares that Oru hit 98.5% of their £450,000 crowdfunding round. (At time of curation, that number is now ~~99.63%~~ 100%!).
👉 Read this.
🏆 Community Manager of the Year semi-finalists announced #
The Global Workspace Association annual conference will award the winner of Coworks‘ 2025 Community Manager of the Year Award, but ahead of the prize giving Lauren Walker highlights the 3 semi-finalists and shares their stories.
They are: Audrey McKnight @ Venture X San Antonio Northwest, Brooke Dempster at HAYVN Coworking and Kathrin Louis at Carr Workplaces in Downtown LA.
Wildfires! Drunk members! Cancer fundraising! Oh and all their usual duties as well. They are the superheroes of this industry!
👉 Read this.
✊ Coworking impact.
♻️ Eco-focussed community takes impact beyond it’s four walls #
Banyan Workspace took 3 years of learning and constantly improving on how to run the most socially responsible and sustainable business they could and packaged what they learnt to launched The Green Office Project by Banyan Workspace at HK’s leading (only) Sustainable Business Expo, ReThink HK last week. They met with well over 100 corporates over two days eager to accelerate their sustainability journey.
👉 Read this.
🏅 Dallas hub gets LEED Gold certified #
1808 South Good Latimer Expy, the home of Good Coworking in Dallas has achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Gold certification.
👉 Read this.
📖 New report: Developing equitable practice with youth in makerspaces #
Claire Wicher shares the MadLab was one of the three UK makerspaces that contributed to a new report sharing ideas and case studies for a longer-term vision of a future where makerspaces can be vehicles for hyperlocal economic and social impact.
👉 Read this.
🇮🇱 Coworking space steps in to provide space for free #
Yoav Rimon shares that after the devastating attacks in south Israel over the weekend, Mindspace is offering all their office spaces to any group, organization, or team of any kind who need someone to congregate, plan and provide assistance to those affected.
👉 Read this.
☮️ Which 443 coworking spaces actively support migrant inclusivity? #
The European Coworking Assembly shared that there is now a digital map resource listing all 443 coworking spaces that have committed to providing a welcome and inclusive environment to anyone with a migrant background.
Amazing to see so many spaces offering support to refugees, asylum seekers and other newcomers to their cities.
👉 Read this.
🫶 Is belonging is the precursor to community? #
Cat Johnson makes the case for creating a sense of belonging in coworking. The shift between "community" and "belonging" is subtle, but significant. While community provides a framework for belonging, without something to belong to, you can’t have belonging.
"A sense of belonging is what allows someone to bring their whole self into a community without fear of judgement or rejection." Yes, Cat!
👉 Read this.
Coworking news & views.
🧽 When you operate a coworking space… #
Evan Preslopsky shares the one thing most operators realize pretty damn quick.
👉 Read this.
🇵🇹 The secrets to the success of coworking in Portugal #
Sheya Michaelides dives into the Portuguese coworking sector, which includes around 260 locations across the mainland and the island of Madeira and the Azores. We also see insights from Simone Franke, Elisabete Tomaz, Fernando Mendes and Vika Zhurbas.
👉 Read this.
👩⚖️ Hotel booking platform loses best-price clause case #
Booking Holdings just lost a case around their contract clauses that require hotels to list their best prices on their platform. The court ruled that hotels can list lower prices anywhere they’d like.
Having seen A LOT of price parity clauses in coworking platforms’ terms of service and contracts, it’ll be interesting to see how this ruling affects the legality or enforceability of those specific rules.
👉 Read this.
👑 Atlanta named top US city for remote working #
Atlanta shines in categories of public WiFi, coworking spaces, and internet speeds according to a report by CoworkingCafe (owned by Yardi). Following their lead is St Louis (MO), Pittsburgh, Orlando, Minneapolis, Tampa, Cincinnati, Richmond, Birmingham, and Buffalo (NY).
👉 Read this.
❓ Why this billionaire spends most his time on coworking #
Francesco De Camilli from Uniti AI shares a great takeaway from Anant Yardi’s recent fireside chat at the GWA conference. He notes that the CEO of Yardi Systems, whose revenue topped $1.3B in 2023, often spends 80% of his time on coworking – a segment that only makes up 2% of the company’s current revenue.
This just goes to show how bullish he is on flex and why he believes in "space anywhere; flex everywhere".
👉 Read this.
📉 Florida eliminates commercial lease tax effective October 2025 #
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed House Bill 7031 on June 30, 2025, eliminating both state and local sales tax on commercial property leases effective October 1, 2025, making Florida the last state in the U.S. to end this tax category. The repeal removes the combined 3%-3.5% tax burden (2% state rate plus 0.5%-1.5% local surtax) on office, retail, industrial, and warehouse space that has existed since 1969, saving commercial tenants $2.5B annually while costing the state approximately $1B in sales tax revenue. The tax applies based on occupancy period rather than payment date, with rent for periods after October 1 exempt from tax even if paid earlier, though short-term residential rentals under six months and vehicle/boat/aircraft storage remain taxable under separate statutes.
The elimination represents Florida’s first statewide tax repeal since the intangibles tax ended in 2006 and is expected to reduce occupancy costs for coworking operators, flexible workspace providers, and all commercial tenants statewide.
👉 Read this.
🏢 Google Campus closure sparks local infrastructure debate #
Google Campus announced the closure of its Madrid location, marking the third shutdown of its campus model after London and Berlin closures. The Madrid facility operated for 10 years and supported hundreds of founders since its launch.
Factory‘s COO, Jeremy Bamberg, believes that Madrid’s startup ecosystem, ranked in the top 40 globally by Startup Genome, now has an opportunity to build locally-owned infrastructure serving early to late-stage companies rather than corporate-backed coworking programs.
👉 Read this.
🇪🇺 Europeans get free WiFi across 93,000 public hotspots #
The European Commission have announced free, private and high-speed internet access through their WiFi4EU app. So if you’re just selling access to a desk and WiFi, you’re going to have to step up your game. _But you already knew that. _
👉 Read this.
💡 On the convergence of hotels, clubs, and coworking #
Ian Minor, hospitality creator and operator, shared his take on the convergence of hotels, members clubs, and coworking spaces into hybrid hospitality models. He cites Ennismore’s portfolio expansion from The Hoxton to include brands like Mama Shelter, 25hours, Hyde, and coworking brand Working From_, supported by the Dis-Loyalty paid monthly membership program across properties.
Also highlighted were Soho House‘s evolution from banning laptops to launching dedicated coworking arm Soho Works with relaxed workspace rules now integrated into most locations, French operator OKKO Hotels centering properties around club-lounge-coworking spaces, and Zoku designing hotel rooms as micro apartments with built-in workspaces.
👉 Read this.
📈 Firms testing dynamically-priced fractional day-offices #
Partnering together, Flowspace and Techspace are enabling users to book fractional offices by the day.
With pricing being dynamically set based on supply and demand, we’ll definitely be watching to see if this kind of offering takes off, or the duo expand into recurring fractional office models we’ve explore deeply before.
👉 Read this.
🔄 Building a coworking content marketing flywheel #
Taylor Mason at talemaker put together a thorough guide called "Attract, retain, activate" for anyone who is curious about how content marketing (actually) works at a high level, how it can benefit coworking businesses, and how to make all the pieces fit together into a spinning flywheel.
This long-form guide (and video) explore the three phases of the content flywheel and the forces of leverage (i.e., tools and outputs) you can apply to get it spinning.
👉 Read this.
🤔 Introducing a new multi-brand network. I think? #
David Jakubowski shares an intro piece about/from Mazzi Workplaces. It seems to be a new alliance or network of independently owned brands, which we’re expecting to see more of as indie operators seek the network effects and economies of scale required to compete with larger networks and franchises. However, I can’t seem to get any more info or contact details.
Any Mazzi people want to reach out and let me know what’s what?
👉 Read this.
💬 4 coworking experts share how to use storytelling for lead gen #
As usual, Cat Johnson assembled a stellar lineup of experts to talk about how they each use storytelling. From sources to channels to brand identify, storytelling is a powerful marketing tool and we are able to share the notes from the conversation!
👉 Read this.
🇩🇪 Mayor shares excitement over new coworking hub #
Prof. Dr. Eckart Würzner, the mayor of the city of Heidelberg, shared their excitement about the opening of their local Tink Tank Space by Lone Aggersbjerg and team.
👉 Read this.
📩 14 ways to get better click-through rates in your emails #
When it comes to email marketing for your coworking space, open rates get a lot of attention. But click-through rates (CTRs) are even more important. Why? Think of it this way: what’s the point of having huge open rates if nobody reading your emails is taking action? In this article Talemaker share 14 easy ways to boost the CTAs in your coworking email marketing campaigns to create better ROI.
👉 Read this.
📖 This Google Ads encyclopedia deciphers SEM jargon #
Techy jargon and complex terminology can make things feel more complicated than they need to be, and Google Ads is no exception. Spacefully‘s encyclopedia of common Google Ads terminology—broken down into eight categories without all the ten-dollar words—simplifies key concepts to make this ultra-powerful lead tool a little more approachable.
👉 Read this.
👩🍳 Using a shared commercial kitchen to help small businesses #
Indy Commons share that their commercial shared kitchen is being used to run a free 5-week food business training course. A great example of using a shared resource to inspire, nurture and support local businesses in a specific niche.
👉 Read this.
📊 Top financial metrics coworking operators need to know #
A successful coworking space relies on more than just a vibrant environment and community—it’s driven by strong financial performance. Operators must track essential financial metrics like revenue per available square foot, churn rate, and profit margin to optimize operations and ensure long-term viability. OfficeRND have compiled, and shared, an excellent list of 23 financial benchmarks every coworking operator should be aware of, if not actively tracking.
👉 Read this.
🍫 An example of the magic of a great community #
Nella Pang shares how Friday was a hard day for her, putting out fires non stop. But, Glen Crump, a fellow member of Old Bond Store knew she was having a bad day, even though he wasn’t in the space that day – and pinged Nerelle Plenty who runs Ops at OBS to drop some much needed chocolate on to Nella’s desk.
When you build a strong community, they’ll not only look out for each other, but will also help your team create moments of delight for members (and some superb marketing if they then tell people about it).
👉 Read this.
🛋️ IKEA-backed circular-economy furniture rental startup raises €50M #
Danish-Swedish furniture-as-a-service company NORNORM secured €50M in mixed equity and debt from existing investors including Inter IKEA, Verdane, Banco Santander, and Philian Invest (H&M heir Karl-Johan Persson’s investment vehicle), bringing total capital raised to €170M. Founded in 2020 by former IKEA executive Anders Munk Jepsen and Skype co-creator Jonas Kjellberg, Nornorm rents office furniture to businesses on flexible subscription basis with six-month cancellation notice, focusing on easily refurbished pieces sent to warehouses for repair and re-rental.
The company more than doubled revenue in 2024 from €1.47M to €3.11M and achieved profitability for the first time, operating a circular business model where reuse and refurbishment directly improve margins rather than encouraging higher material consumption.
👉 Read this.
🤔 WTF is an ‘indie’ coworking space anyways? #
There’s a lot of terminology flying around the coworking and flex space sector all the time. One such term is "indie coworking", which raises questions often from both industry newcomers and the most experienced community leaders.
Cat Johnson gets asked about it often too, and so penned down what "being an indie really mean(s)". The working definition starts "An indie coworking space is a human-first workspace community and local hub…"
👉 Read this.
👚 Brand launches community merch store #
Charlotte Kirby shares that The Village Hive Coworking have partnered with startup OOt to provide their internal and wider community with access to a brand and merch store. Do you offer or sell swag or merchandise? If so, what’s popular? If not, why not?
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
🚨 PSA: First malicious MCP server found stealing emails #
Koi discovered that "postmark-mcp", a popular email tool for AI assistants downloaded 1,500 times weekly, has been secretly copying all emails to the developer’s personal server since its latest version. The tool worked legitimately for 15 versions before the Paris-based developer added one line of code that BCC’d every email to a rogue email address. The breach impacted an estimated 300 organizations, sending between 3,000 and 15,000 emails per day to the attacker.
Syncaroo breaks down the news a little more, and focusses on what all coworking spaces, partners, practitioners and platforms leveraging MCPs (or planning to) should do to address this breach and security risk.
👉 Read this.
📱 ChatGPT introduces new AI-first way to interact with your apps #
Jeremy Fine from OpenAI shares their big news that ChatGPT can now interact with your fav. apps (along with tools for devs to create new interactions).
What does this growing ecosystem mean for coworking? Remember how we were looking at how coworking desks and meeting rooms may be booked through Google Maps? Well this demo shows how hotels (via booking), flights (through expedia), taxis (via Uber), restaurants (via OpenTable), and more can now be requested and managed through the AI chat interface that attracts 792 million weekly active users and 5.5 billion monthly visits.
👉 Read this.
🤖 Reimagining how using offices could feel with AI #
Marley Fabisiewicz shares an interesting look at what a workday with a future Workplace AI assistant could feel like. Using an imaginary ‘good morning’ notification, we look at what an AI engine may one day (soon?) be able to do for some office-based workers. Moving meeting locations based on traffic, reserving desks based on projects, helping avoid commutes or other bottlenecks, the list goes on and on.
Yes, Marley does mention that some may find this kind of tech intrusive, but I think with the right security and settings in place that’s not the big thing holding back this kind of tech from becoming a reality faster. IMHO this this reverse salient is, as the "AI" would need a way to trigger actions across often disconnected tech, which may be managed by completely different companies.
👉 Read this.
📱 Alliance deploying millions into driving meeting bookings #
Alex Garza shares that Alliance Virtual Offices are introducing a new instant booking platform and mobile apps.
The post notes that the firm are investing millions into the program designed to provide operators with instant revenue via streamlined booking flows, direct integrations into inventory systems, and a focus on quick booking and rebooking of meeting rooms.
👉 Read this.
📱 Cobot launches apps alongside integrations and features #
Cobot released its Members App on App Store and Google Play in September 2025, allowing users to book resources and manage reservations from mobile devices at no additional cost beyond existing Cobot subscriptions.
Their platform updates this month also include new discount capabilities, guest check-in and drop in functionality. A new report offers booking analytics with six-month forward visibility as well, in addition to updated integrations with GoCardless.
👉 Read this.
🦍 An 800-pound gorilla just doubled down on hybrid work tech #
Microsoft wants to make hybrid work environments easier to work with via a new app called "Places" that they’re adding to Microsoft 365. The app, which is launching into preview soon, allows employees to find out where their teammates are going to be and whether to come in or log in virtually.
It’ll be interesting to see if/how this shakes up the growing sector of hybrid workspace apps and platforms we’re seeing evolve to support employers manage teams and spaces inside and outside their HQs.
👉 Read this.
🔑 Are you still issuing (and trying to track down) key fobs? #
Jane Robathan declares that the case for card-based coworking entry is officially lost. In this piece, Nexudus digs into how (well integrated) smart access control not only unlocks your operations, but bumps your eco-creds too.
👉 Read this.
🚀 PowerBx exec launches CRE activation tech #
Kyle Muir, who led the team at enterprise worktech co PowerBX, announced his new venture SpaceAgent to help landlords "showcase and feature commercial property" and that can "activate any space in as little as 2 weeks to quickly enable a host of economic opportunities centered on culture and community".
We all know the broker-space-operator relationship needs an upgrade, so maybe this is it? What’s even more interesting is this tech was built for running and filling their own shared cowarehouse space. When will it be available to coworking operators? Let’s see.
👉 Read this.
📲 Australian operator launches app for on-demand bookings #
Australian brand, The Commons, announced the launch of on-demand bookings across all of their 14 locations via their own app. With 160 meeting rooms in Sydney and Melbourne, this option opens up their spaces to teams and individuals who may want on-demand access as opposed to, or in addition to, monthly membership options.
👉 Read this.
🤖 Global booking app adds AI scheduling integration partner #
Upflex has partnered with gospace AI to introduce autonomous office space management technology through their new offering, Unify AI. The integration will help their customers forecast and schedule the best times for employees to meet in person and where.
This is similar to the partnership Kadence has where their customers can book meetings it schedules at flex workspaces via LiquidSpace. As more companies are getting the hang of hybrid work styles and patterns, no one wants to be the person in charge of scheduling and coordinating meetings and finding workspace – no matter how easy the aggregators make it for them. This is a natural fit for applying AI to a process that involves coordinating multiple variables such as calendars, locations and space availability.
👉 Read this.
🛠️ Spacebring unveils platform updates #
Spacebring hosted a webinar showcasing new features for its workspace management platform.
The updates include Command Palette navigation with full Arabic and RTL language support, customer management upgrades and billing automation. New resource management tools include direct plan sign-ups, equipment booking, custom schedules, and detailed occupancy analytics, while community engagement additions feature AI-powered Promote posts and file attachments in support tickets.
The platform also added integrations with Brivo, Avigilon Alta, HubSpot, Calendly, and global payment systems, plus add-on products including Floor Plans, Room Display, and Reception, with a mobile app for administrators scheduled for future release.
👉 Read this.
Coworking data.
🤯 A 3D visualization of Manhattan’s dynamic population. #
ManPopEx is an interactive model of the dynamic population of Manhattan, block-by-block and hour-by-hour for a typical week in late Spring. Its pretty darn cool, if you find data and visualizations cool that is. (I do!)
👉 Read this.
🇮🇳 Average price per desk up 13% in India #
According to Savills there’s been a 13% bump in average prices in one of the world’s top 3 coworking markets. I wonder how this relates to pricing in other markets.
👉 Read this.
📊 How 53 cities perform when it comes to coworking. #
Business Name Generator put together a report covering how 53 cities compare on the number of coworking spaces available, their average monthly cost, WiFi speed, and search volume data. Spoiler: London comes up top, followed by Singapore and Berlin. But when it comes to best cities for commuters, the Middle East shines through.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 5 US office market insights #
Andrew Rebennack at Avison Young shared a summary of their Q3 office market insights report. Whilst not strictly coworking-related, knowing what’s impacting landlords and direct renters, is just good information for you to know.
To summarize a summary: the tide is changing on who has leverage in the job market, landlords are offering record-breaking concession packages, "survive till ’25" is a prominent theme with $45B+ of fixed-rate loans maturing through 2025, investor interest is being diverted from office to multifamily and industrial assets and 35% of SF office space is available.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Where WeWork is seeing growing demand in London #
The Evening Standard shares that WeWork have reported "a big jump in demand for space in London in September".
Why this matters? The article gives an insight into where the firm is seeing a surge in demand in the UK, namely all-access (up 16.9%), drop-in (up 33.6%) and conference room (up 10%) bookings. If I were running a space in London, I’d explore what you’re offering around these products/solutions and any opportunities that you may be able to seize.
👉 Read this.
🇧🇪 Belgian coworking data shows 2x growth over decade #
Koen Batsleer, the co-owner of OFFICENTER shared data collected over the last 10 years that show 2x growth of the coworking market. With over 500 spaces, space defined as serviced office now makes up 3.3% of total office space in the country.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 77% of Aussie operators report growing revenue #
Flexible Workspace Australia released its Flex Futures 2025 report noting that 77% of Australian operators reported revenue growth last year, while 60.5% saw profit growth.
The industry association stated confidence across the coworking and flexible workspace sector is rising, indicating the Australian market is thriving rather than merely surviving.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 UK flex operators discuss identity shift #
Spaces to Places hosted a Voice of the Customer research launch breakfast featuring executives from Clockwise, Workspace Group, and CRE firms CEG, and TSP, collectively representing 80M+ sqft of UK office space.
The panel discussed post-COVID workplace transformation from collective "worker bee" culture to individual identity-driven decision-making, with data showing businesses choosing office locations based on decision-maker proximity dropped from 25% to 10% since the pandemic.
TSP revealed it abandoned its building app portfolio-wide after finding technology must integrate seamlessly into existing customer behavior rather than forcing new habits, while CEG reported its fastest growth comes from "room service" customers who customize their service bundles.
👉 Read this.
🛏️ On the one daily decision, made millions of times #
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak explores how every morning, millions of employees make a single decision that shapes the future of office real estate.
While they "just" decide about whether to go in, or stay home – that daily choice has become the real test of office demand. Daily attendance data reveals LOUDLY how workers’ choices are reshaping commercial real estate.
👉 Read this.
Coworking market moves.
✅ We called it, Neumann launches coworking brand #
"Flow House (Miami) also plans to feature Workflow — a new service from Flow that offers flexible offices and coworking spaces to companies and individuals, similar to WeWork. Workflow has already launched at Flow Fort Lauderdale, according to the apartment complex’s website, and hosts a Fortune 50 company as a client, according to Bloomberg."
We called it. In Week 6. Of 2023. But coworking in residential projects is very different, we expect to see M&A or headhunting action towards firms like Industrious, Silverman Properties (andco) and Apt-Cowork with deep experience here.
👉 Read this.
🏨 Fan-fav hotel-tied workspace brand announces huge expansion #
Lucy Pugh shares that Ennismore are about to expand Working From_ out from being tied to just The Hoxton hotels to 12 more hotel brands.
👉 Read this.
🆕 New CEO at Work.Life #
It was announced that Work.Life COO Paul Dutnall will be moving into the CEO role. He’s been with the organization since 2019 where he was Head of Operations.
Congrats to him on this new role overseeing locations serving 8,000+ members!
👉 Read this.
🇵🇱 Telecom firm launches second 5G lab in Cracow #
Axel Menneking shares that Deutsche Telekom have launched a new 5G Lab at the hubaum campus in Cracow allowing developers, startups and enthusiasts to test APIs and build next-gen tech.
👉 Read this.
🇩🇪 Tuesday Coworking adds fourth location #
John Neilan shares that Tuesday Coworking are expanding to Wilmersdorf. This will be their fourth location.
👉 Read this.
🏛️ U.S. gov shutdown threatens billions in CRE deals #
The ongoing U.S. federal government shutdown is disrupting commercial real estate activity with landlords facing potential rent payment disruptions if the funding impasse extends past six weeks when GSA’s carryover funding could run out. The General Services Administration confirmed federal buildings will remain open with reduced staff, with September rent payments processed and October payments (due in November) likely unaffected in the short term.
REITs with federal tenant exposure warned investors of potential financial impacts. Federal real estate activity including leasing, contracting, and property sales face bottlenecks with new agreements likely postponed, while fixed-price construction contracts already awarded are expected to continue.
Reminder: the GSA also has multiple contracts with flex platforms and operators, and operators the governments own flex space network.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Impact-driven coworking brand expands via co-living buildings #
Hannah Philp shares that ARC Club would be opening 3 new locations in London through a partnership with DTZ Investors. The latter are bringing the coworking hubs into their co-living buildings in Harrow, Earlsfield and Battersea.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Patch expands to York #
Freddie Fforde shares that Patch are opening their fifth high street location. The space in York is set to open in January 2025 and is in partnership with The City of York Council and the Helmsley Group.
👉 Read this.
⚡️ Entrepreneurial hub opens in Covington, Kentucky #
Chad Summe shares that SparkHaus has now opened in Covington, Kentucky’s Sims building as Northern Kentucky’s entrepreneurial hub. The project was initiated by eGateway Capital to help scale its portfolio tech companies in the region. The facility also houses eGateway Capital’s office and aims to serve the regional innovation community.
👉 Read this.
🏋 SC space launches combining wellness and performance #
Derek Vitatoe shares that their new space concept called Work at Wheel will be opening in Rock Hill, SC, focussing on leadership development, movement, recovery pls workspace to be productive.
👉 Read this.
😲 Coding bootcamp + booking platform make on-demand partnership #
BeachCoders® Academy (a web development bootcamp provider) has announced a partnership with Flexspace. The latter will provide on-demand access to under-utilized U.S. commercial creative office space for in-person meetings, 1-on-1 trainings and small group coding sessions from where the former can upskill job seekers.
👉 Read this.
🇿🇲 AfricaWorks announces new Lusaka location #
Gregoire Schwebig shares that AfricaWorks are opening the largest coworking space in Lusaka, Zambia in October.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 Firm opens 14th location #
Annie Bolgar Smith shares that Work.Life Clerkenwell Green is now open, becoming the firm’s 14th location.
👉 Read this.
🏋️♂️ Working and working out. #
TOG (The Office Group + Fora) share a new partnership with Manor to give workspace members free access to every gym, including access to almost 100 classes a week.
Love seeing perks like this available as focus shifts towards improving members’ mental health and health in general.
👉 Read this.
🆕 SUCCESS Space adds a new location in San Antonio #
Ted Laatz shares that the SUCCESS Space franchise added another location, with the grand opening of their San Antonio location earlier this week.
This is the 11th location under the brand – which has its roots from SUCCESS magazine and includes a SUCCESS coffee shop concept, in addition to a network of business coaches and services.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 BubbaDesk raising expansion capital #
BubbaDesk‘s Lauren Perrett share that they’ve opened a capital raise for "national expansion, global partnerships and policy-aligned models".
The announcement did not disclose the capital raise amount, valuation, facility sizes, or member numbers, but the firm does have with 8 locations currently operating across New South Wales and ACT and is in final-stage negotiations with one of Australia’s largest landlords for securing multiple sites in Victoria, New South Wales, and Western Australia.
👉 Read this.
🇺🇸 Chicago-based brand expands nationally #
John Wallace shares Workbox Company’s national expansion with a new location in Downtown Minneapolis.
👉 Read this.
🇪🇸 Amidst some news of growth, one operator pauses expansions. #
Lexington Workspaces CEO David Vega shared that the firm would miss their forecast of €14M in revenue, expecting just a 6% increase from last year. Although still an impressive €13.8M, the firm blames high inflation and a rough start to the year for their growth slowing from a 23% bump in 2023. They do predict revenues surpassing €15M next year with the opening of a space in Malaga, alongside the 7 they operate today.
This opening is the last in their pipeline, with the exec noting that the firm is open to opportunities for expansion, but is not "actively looking" to do so.
👉 Read this.
🎭 Runway East moves into Covent Garden #
Runway East has signed for 26,500 sqft of flexible workspace in London’s West End at Endeavour House, 189 Shaftesbury Avenue.
The operator has entered into a 15-year agreement on the site, which will provide offices for teams of four to 40 people. The site also features a ground floor member lounge with ‘pitch ready’ meeting rooms.
👉 Read this.
🌏 Alliance forms ‘one of the largest offerings’ in Australia + New Zealand #
Hub Australia and Generator have joined forces to enable one of the largest international coworking offerings in the region. The alliance pilot gives the 8,000 members reciprocal complementary access across the 18 total locations, and will run for 6 months.
👉 Read this.
🇫🇷 A French operator expands and enters franchising game #
Maxime Givon, the CEO of NOW coworking, a French operator who have run multiple locations for 10 years made multiple announcements this week related to expansions to locations in Lyon and Lillie, an acquisition in Marseille and the launch of franchising the brand with a goal of adding 30 more locations in the next three years.
👉 Read this.
👶🏻 Working Mums Club opens hybrid hub in London #
Jennifer Sutcliffe shared that The Working Mums Club has opened its first location in Greenwich, London, combining flexible coworking space with on-site subsidised childcare for mothers facing high childcare costs and nursery waiting lists. The facility offers 1-4 hour flexible work blocks with concurrent childcare in a community-focused environment, and includes an on-site cafe.
The concept addresses barriers preventing UK mothers from returning to work due to childcare costs that often exceed their income and extensive nursery waiting lists.
👉 Read this.
🇬🇧 WeWork gets negative coverage for closing space in London #
allwork shares a report from The Daily Mail about how WeWork gave tenants of their 133 Houndsditch location 30 days notice to leave, or move to another building. It’s no surprise that the firm is trying to close spaces and exit leases as it works towards some form of stability, what is interesting is how it’s being positioned as an "eviction" even though assistance is being provided for members to move to other nearby locations.
Why this matters? Well narratives count, and if some business had to consider flex space "like WeWork" or a traditional lease, and this is the last thing they associate with the industry, which route do you think they’ll take?
👉 Read this.
🇩🇪 Industrious expands into Germany #
Following a recent expansion into Amsterdam, Industrious announced a new location opening in Berlin. The 700 desk, 70 office, 48.9k sqft location is developed in partnership with Brookfield Properties Germany.
👉 Read this.
🍒 Cherry Hill gets a new Premier #
Premier Workspaces announced their expansion with new 24,590 sqft Cherry Hill location.
Amy Fuller, the firm’s President, notes how the hub that is just 10 minutes from Philadelphia will support South Jersey businesses through 85 offices, virtual offices, meeting rooms, reception services and more.
👉 Read this.
🇦🇺 Booking platform and mobile payment co launch WFHospo week #
Third Place (a booking platform for working from hospitality locations like cafés, restaurants and hotels) and me&u (a mobile ordering and payment platform) are running a "WFHospo" week between 16th and 20th of October 2023 to help employees experience working remotely from hospitality venues nearby.
Why this matters? There’s a number of platforms and companies helping turn retail and hospitality spaces into bookable workspaces. This shouldn’t compete with coworking offerings, but it’s worth keeping an eye on for possible opportunities and avoidable risks.
👉 Read this.
🌽 Operator in the heartland continues to expand #
Gravitate, Iowa’s largest independent and locally-owned coworking operator, just announced a second location opening in Windsor Heights. This will be their sixth location.
👉 Read this.
📱 New on-demand meeting pods surf in with Yotel #
Fresh off Edinburgh-based SWURF‘s installation of private meeting pods at Edinburgh Airport (two units at gates 2 and 20), the on-demand workspace marketplace have announced a new partnership with Yotel Edinburgh (one unit on Queen Street), with Yotel becoming the first hotel globally to introduce their pod concept for both hotel guests and SWURF app users.
The one-square-meter soundproofed pods feature encrypted Wi-Fi, smart LED lighting, air filtration systems, and ergonomic seating, bookable from 30 minutes upwards via the SWURF app. SWURF operates 450+ hospitality venue partnerships with 12,000+ users and has reportedly generated £1.85M in revenue for location partners including Hilton, IHG, and Kew Green Hotels.
The company recently secured six-figure follow-on investment from private investors, Scottish Government’s Techscaler programme, and Scottish Enterprise, backed by Skyscanner co-founder Gareth Williams, and plans to deploy 100 pods across the UK in the next 12 months with additional fundraising planned for early 2026.
👉 Read this.
😳 Quick snapshots of 2 ‘brandlord’ expansion plans #
Zoe Ellis-Moore shared the graph from Catleforge from Week 38 showing the decline in office tenant lengths, but adds insights into what some office landlords are planning.
In short: GPE announced they plan to grow flex portfolio to 1M+ sqft, Landsec plan to accelerate growth of Myo, their flex space business and triple space provided by 2025.
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Sarah Athanas from Groundwork shares insights from 10 years of small-market community building with Jamie Russo on the Everything Coworking podcast.
Jamila Daley talks through boosting coworking impact via grants with Bernie Mitchell on this week’s Coworking Values Podcast episode.
Liz Elam and Sarah Travers from WorkBar talk about what makes members flock to your space, landlords in denial, the major real estate money shift, and the value in innovation
Ryan Harris, the largest franchisee of Intelligent Office, shares his journey from biotech to scaling multiple Intelligent Office locations with Gio and Jamie on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
Jamie Russo and Giovanni Palavicini chat with Sofia Stolberg about Piloto151 scaling to 5 locations, turning mail management from a problem into a profitable opportunity and inspiring other Latina entrepreneurs.
GCUC leaders Liz Elam and Stormy McBride joined Kevin Whelan and Taylor Mason on 2 Marketers and a Coworking Podcast to talk about where coworking is going, how they somehow keep putting on events that don’t miss, and how content and community are fuelling the ride.
Kevin Whelan (Everspaces) and Cat Johnson dig into content strategies for coworking spaces on the Coworking Out Loud podcast.
Jamie Russo shares how coworking businesses can align their space size with their goals by digging into understanding business models, goal consideration and diversified income sources on the Everything Coworking podcast.
Michael Korn, co-founder of Blue Garage in Lewisham, joins Bernie Mitchell on the Coworking Values Podcast to dig into the why, where and why now behind their "microfactory" that makes industrial equipment available through coworking-style memberships.
Justin Segal from Boxer Properties dives into their vertically integrated approach to flex office space with Jamie and Gio on the Flex Uncensored podcast.
Hector Kolonas goes behind the news with Alison Rogers from Blush Cowork, exploring her journey from creating a community-centric business during the pandemic and her next big move with The Coven.
Caleb Parker is back with season 10 of WorkBold podcast. In this podcast he sits down and chats with Lee Odess about how access control can be unlocked to turn ‘utilities into seamless experiences’.
Andrea Pirrotti-Dranchak, at infinitSpace, joins host Frank Cottle on The Future of Work® Podcast to unpack the growing misalignment between traditional commercial real estate and the needs of today’s businesses.
Bernie Mitchell annd Catherine Nina Park explore the significance of diversity, representation, and inclusivity, particularly in the realms of tech and coworking spaces on the Coworking Values Podcast.
Lauren Perrett, founder of BubbaDesk and Wombee, talks with Sarah Maree on the Coffee, Clients & Naptime podcast about creating coworking spaces with onsite childcare across Australia to help parents balance work and family.
Tim Slaughter popped onto Good Morning Texas’ live broadcast from Caddo Office Reimagined to introduce coworking (or what some may refer to as "resi-mercial workspaces") to a wider audience. Always great seeing brands extend the reach of coworking via "the telly".
📆 Coworking events.
🇨🇦 Coworking Canada #
Oct 10-15: The 9th annual Coworking Canada Unconference is underway in Calgary, October 10th-12th, with a leadership retreat in Banff, October 12th-15th, 2023. It’s a coworking community favorite! Scholarship tickets available.
Use the code "TWIC2023′ for $50.00 OFF any ticket.
👉 Read this.
🙋♀️ Convo: Attract and keep great community managers #
Oct 27: Community managers are the heart of any coworking space. But finding one who truly gets coworking and community building can be challenging. So how do you attract and keep a great community manager?
Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.
🐻 Big Table Memphis #
October 28-29: A pilgramage for changemakers. Two days of exploration in one of the most creative and diverse cities in the world. Taste the cuisine, dance to the music and hear the stories of places that have been transformed by true love and true grit.
👉 Read this.
📈 Convo: Lead gen for indie spaces #
October 28: What are the best, proven lead generation strategies for indie coworking operators? Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 FlexWorld 2023 #
Nov 1: OfficeRnD’s event series returns with a virtual event designed for attendees to discover innovative approaches, harness cutting-edge technologies, and gain unparalleled insights.
(f/d: I’m speaking on the panel re: tech-powered strategies for maximizing ROI and rev generation)
👉 Read this.
💡 Convo: Event Ideas & Strategies for Your Coworking Space #
What types of events can strengthen your coworking community and attract great-fit members to your space?
Let’s chat about it!
Join us for a free, informal, community conversation with fellow workspace operators and coworking pros around the world.
👉 Read this.
☀️ Coworking Operators’ Weekend (new dates) #
Join us for an exclusive 2-day gathering of industry leaders in the coworking space! On ~~Jan 31 – Feb 1, 2025~~ March 6-7 from 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM, come connect with fellow Doers—senior managers, Directors of Sales and Operations, COOs, CMOs, community managers and hands-on owners—who are driving the future of coworking.
Hosted by the Jerome Chang and the awesome team at BLANKSPACES Venice.
👉 Read this.
👻 Coworking Convo: How to re-engage your coworking ghosts #
Coworking ghosts are those people who join your space and never show up; those who love the space on the tour but you never hear from again; those who alway beeline right to their office or desk without ever talking to anyone; and those who suddenly disappear without any communication about what’s going on.
So how do you reengage these coworking ghosts?
Let’s chat about it.
👉 Read this.