Tag: collaboration

Aticco is one of those interesting coworking growth stories which tells us that there is place for independent big players aside of WeWork or Spaces. Aticco is a born and raised coworking firm in Barcelona; a 3 years old brand that has managed to open 6 coworking spaces, around 25.000 m2 all together and without VC investment. We have interviewed Franz Pallerés, the Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of Aticco, to find out more about its story of success and his future plans. Franz Pallerés will also be speaking at Coworking Europe 2019 in Warsaw on November 13-15th.

Hi. Can you tell us about the story behind Aticco ? What is your positioning?

Franz Pallerés, the Co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of Aticco

Aticco was born precisely in another coworking space. I was the space manager and my two partners were clients there. Having both points of view, we realized that if we focused on customer service and excellence in the management needed, it was an improved model. From there we began to imagine the space we wanted to create. We found an incredible attic in downtown Barcelona and we found it to be the perfect place to start this adventure. The support and confidence of the first coworkers were essential for us to move forward. Three years later we look around and we are very proud of what we have built. Aticco are not just working areas. Together we have generated an innovative ecosystem where we collaborate, learn, and grow.

The support and confidence of the first coworkers were essential for us to move forward.

We’ve read that the Coworking offering in Barcelona grew by 23% just in the last 6 months of 2019. How do you explain the boom? 

Aticco, Barcelona

Barcelona has established itself as a business and investment hub in Europe. The arrival in the city of large multinationals proves it. It has everything a company (startups and corporates) wants: qualified employees, investors, fertility for growth, quality of life (climate, gastronomy, environment…), and good connections with the rest of the world. As a result, the demand grew in the last year and forecasts indicate that it will continue to do so. And on the other hand, coworking spaces are perfect to house these companies. Faced with the traditional real estate offer, we offer flexibility of growth without permanent conditions and take care of all efforts, design training activities, organize meetings between entrepreneurs and mentors, celebrate events to have fun and connect with other people… And all that helps companies focus 100% on their project, have more opportunities for growth because of the connections that are created and strengthen the bond of their workers and their motivation. That is why there is an increasing demand for flexible spaces in the market.

Are you accommodating startups and freelancers, mainly, or other tenants profiles?

We have always believed that the combination of companies of different sizes and structures benefits fertility and environmental connections. The diversity of business models increases opportunities for collaboration. For example, freelancers or small businesses exchange services with each other, and learn the financing and investment processes of startups; early startups see the development of those that are already in a high growth phase and can sense the following challenges that they will have to face; large structures need to inspire and retain the talent of their team and they get it through contact with other profiles that complement them.

Aticco, Barcelona

In recent months we have had an increase in large corporations that are committed to entering flexible spaces. And it is not just for the ease of management and the options to continue growing without rigid conditions. But because of the enrichment that gives them at the level of human resources and brand value, being within an innovative ecosystem.

Freelancers or small businesses exchange services with each other, and learn the financing and investment processes of startups; early startups see the development of those that are already in a high growth phase.

You grew from 1.000 m2 a few year ago up to 25.000 m2 and six buildings today. Did you simply benefit of the strengthening of the market demand or has it to do with a home-designed approach you had?

Aticco, Barcelona

When we started, our initial plan was 1,000 m2 and we dreamed of expanding to 2,000 m2 after a year. But the levels of occupation that we achieved within a few months indicated that there was a high demand and that the community also liked what we offered and the atmosphere of closeness and family there was. Our coworkers have been the best ambassadors of the brand. This added to the fact that the big operators had not yet arrived in the city, made us enjoy a certain advantage. And we bet on the constant growth although that made us assume many risks. It has been a mix of being in the right place, at the right time, offering quality service and constantly evolving according to market needs.

Our coworkers have been the best ambassadors of the brand.

You compete nowadays at the same levels in terms of size and number of members as the big international brands like WeWork or Spaces, who have locations in Barcelona. Your thoughts on that?

In the current context of Barcelona, that statement is a reality. Knowing that in terms of financing we are infinitely smaller, on a daily basis we compete with them in all fields. Both in target, as in the search for new locations, the commercialization of leads, the processes of HR… The resources we have are smaller but the end result, after much effort and dedication, is that we fight to convince the same audience and offer the same level of demand in our spaces. We have to be creative and resourceful to get it. And I think that makes us value more every lead that transforms into a new coworker. We are David vs. Goliath of the flexible spaces of Barcelona!

The resources we have are smaller. We have to be creative and resourceful to get it.

How about the funding. You didn’t raise VC money nor have you a big international company behind you, do you?

Aticco, Barcelona

3 years ago we raised 110 k of friends and family, and 1 year ago we raised 700 k in a small round led by different family offices in Barcelona, we don’t have VC money nor we are backed/owned by a real state company, we had profits since we opened 3 years ago and it helped us grow organically and maintaining control of our company.

Would you say that independent brands can play on the same ground as the big international coworking names in any city?

I personally think that the big brands are slower and therein lies the opportunity of the smaller operators. For example we have seen it in negotiations with buildings or potential customers. Our decision making is faster and allows us to take better advantage of the situation. Another important point is flexibility. Big brands work almost like franchises, where the same model that has worked in other cities is incorporated. That on the one hand is good, because the whole system is very automated, but on the other hand, changes or adaptation to the environment is worse.

The local operator always has an advantage because of the knowledge of the environment. But you have to know how to use it. And finally I think that the commitment of the workers, loyalty and motivation with the project, are easier to maintain in not so systematized structures.

Our decision making is faster and allows us to take better advantage of the situation. Another important point is flexibility.

What about your plans for the rest of Spain?

We plan to open very soon our flagship in Madrid, it’s scheduled for Q1, 2020.

Do you have any projects regarding the opening of new locations in Europe?

Yes, we had Lisbon in our scope for a while, so soon you will find us there. We are still looking for new places where our community can grow. Smart cities committed to change, welcoming innovation hubs that will challenge the future.

Manuel Zea is the founder of CoworkingSpain.es and the organizer of the Coworking Spain Conference, one of the first national conference ever organized on coworking. Manuel saw coworking moving from a fragile new born to an industry on it’s way to disrupt the traditional office market. As of today, Spain is still the country with the highest number of individual coworking space per capita. A few days after the Coworking Spain 2018 conference, which took place in Madrid, it was a good time to ask him about the situation of coworking in the country.

Hi Manuel. Can you tell us about the story behind CoworkingSpain?

Manuel Zea

“CoworkingSpain.es” is born in 2010. That year, I was invited to speak at the first European conference on coworking. I had entitled my presentation: “An overview of the coworking in Spain”. Prior to the date,  I reached out to all the existing coworking spaces at that time, in the country. I had collected so much information that I decided to start a blog called CoworkingSpain.es, which listed coworking space operating in Spain. The year after, I took part to the second Coworking Europe conference in Berlin. I said to myself: it’s time to organize a similar conference in Spain. This was 7 years ago.

What is the main learning you get out of such a longevity? 

I think working with passion and love is what makes me work every year at the conference. Its a hard job with a really small team, so doing things with passion and love is key for us. As you mention, the competition is now rising between the 3 biggest international operators, now active in Spain. You can feel how they want to get market share and they are using marketing strategics to get more penetration into the market. Collaboration between spaces is possible but to a certain limit and easier between smaller spaces. Collaboration between big coworking brands is more difficult. Be will work on that, though.

Why, would you say, coworking spaces have an interest to collaborate with one another?

My opinion is that collaboration is a way to grow faster and organized and a way to learn faster. There is a lot of experience in every single person that can solve in a simple way a problem that seems big to you. Collaborartion is the perfect way to accelerate your serendipity.

According to your Spanish coworking survey, Spain counts about 800 coworking spaces, still one of the highest number in Europe…

Utopicus

This is a legacy from the economical crisis. Eight years ago, there was just a bunch of coworking spaces. Their mission was to spread the word about the coworking word and educate the world about what coworking was.  This was a really tough job. We can’t figure out something more complicated than to teach a market about a service one isn’t even aware there might be a demand for. That was our job from the beginning and it has been the mission of the Coworking Spain Conference all those years: Connect all the coworking space managers, support each other in resolving common problems, make noise around  the ‘coworking’ word in Spain.

Can you give us an overview of the growth of the coworking Spanish market, today?

The coworking industry in Spain is now growing by 20% annually. We experience a professionalisation of the sector. The industry is maturing.  Big brands are in Spain. They take a lot of sqm up. The coworking brands are now representing 3% of the total number of coworking operators in Spain. Though, they cover the 30% of the market. They are being very agresive and the penetration into the markets is being big.

The big brands are already in Spain getting a lot of sqm and growing already the 3% of the coworking brands own the 30% of the market.

The average size of coworking spaces in Spain is 200-300m2, which might sound pretty small according to the standards seen in other countries. What should be the strategy for small spaces to survive?

Since the begining of the “coworking era”, a great deal of the spaces in operation in Spain are proportionally small. This explains why Spain had such a high number of individual spaces when compared with other countries. Nowadays, the big names are changing the industry. As far as I see it, the small spaces shouldn’t be too much impacted. The can  focus ont their small communities or transform their spaces into another business. The managers of these small coworking spaces can easily change the model and turn their shared office place, for instance, into a design agency. They have a lot of flexibility, and didn’t invest too much money in their space. It’s another story for medium size spaces. Those will have to transform themselves. Coworking is their main activité. They invested a lot of money. The big international brands are more likely to hurt  them. They need to be ready for change and increase the value proposition to their communities.

The medium size spaces are the one who need to transform or change the most.

Are there still doubts about the rising importance of coworking in Spain?

Not anymore. Last year, coworking was everywhere. Credit to the big players. WeWork opened. Spaces, by Regus, continued its expansion. And the most commented transaction of the year was the acquisition of Utopicus by the Real State company Colonial. So the word coworking had been spreading a lot last year. We made it!!!!

Kelsea Crawford is the CEO and cofounder of Cutwork, an architecture and design studio focused on designing new ways to live and work. Based between Amsterdam and Paris, Cutwork has  5 years of experience design in furniture and spatial concepts for coworking spaces, innovation hubs, private offices, and coliving spaces. Cutwork has been involved in the famous Station F project, the world biggest startup campus, based in Paris, France.

Hi Kelsea. You design coworking spaces. Can you explain to us what is your approach and what do you start with when you are asked to design a flexible workspace?

At its core, we aim to design workspaces that encourage the meeting of people and ideas. We begin every project by thinking about how we can use design to encourage collaboration, to cultivate strong communities, and to foster meaningful work.

After a 2 year collaboration with Station F (the largest startup campus in the world and home the European hubs of Facebook, Microsoft and Ubisoft) and speaking with over 200 coworking spaces last year, we have developed our approach to flexible workspace around three key ideas:

1. Mobility – the ability to change one’s surroundings and move between different types of space for different styles of work and collaboration.
2. Versatility – the use of smart furniture designs that have multiple uses and functions.
3. Flexibility – the ability to easily transform or rearrange a space for different uses.

We start the design process with an open dialogue about where we can add the most value as design partners. For the most part, this includes developing spatial design concepts that will scale across multiple spaces, furnishing a space, and designing custom products. One of our biggest advantages is that our furniture design process is built on digital technologies that make it simple for us to modify any of our existing products to develop unique, custom solutions for our clients. 

While we use a lot of technology to make things super efficient on the manufacturing side, we’re pretty old school when it comes to the actual design – we like to sit together around a table with a big piece of paper and draw. This way we can really map out the challenges and limitations currently presented by the furniture and spatial design, and come up with the best solutions that fit the space and budget.

It’s simple for space operators to survey big name spaces and think, this is what appeals to my market of millennial freelance workers!

We see some recently designed coworking spaces looking the same. Are designers becoming lazy? Or do space operators lack inspiration when submitting their requirements and guidelines?

More than becoming lazy or lacking inspiration, I think the market is just maturing. New spaces are easily lured into copying established models of success. It’s simple for space operators to survey big name spaces and think, “this is what appeals to my market of millennial freelance workers! If I can do that, my space will also be a success”. The problem with this is that everyone is asking the same question and coming up with the same solution. While this can make for a safer bet in the short term, the real risk in this strategy becomes evident when looking at the numbers: the coworking market is predicted to double in size over the next 4 years, from 14,000 spaces to over 30,000 spaces (Small Business Lab’s December 2017 Survey). This is insane market growth! For coworking spaces to succeed in the long term and survive this flood of competition, there’s a real need for original, distinct, and innovative design.

We see a lot of recurrent gimmicks in workspace designs, Silicon Valley inspired kind of workspace, for instance… What do you think of it? 

Station F (Paris)

These types of “gimmicks” and trends are typically playful, easy to understand, and straightforward to implement, which is why we see them turning up all over the place. While they can be effective when done well, I think the bigger conversation here is that coworking spaces should be wary of adopting these kinds of trends just for the sake of it. This risks missing a meaningful opportunity to use design as a means to encourage collaboration, help build strong communities, and make the space more valuable to its members.

Do furniture providers do their job of supplying a wide enough variety of products or are we stuck with “prêt à porter” giving little room for design creativity in the workspace?

There aren’t many companies out there today that are designing furniture specifically for coworking and flexible workspaces. For now, most spaces are stuck making traditional office furniture work, or they end up designing their own because so few options exist in the marketplace. A coworking space is not a traditional office – so why are people still furnishing it like one The opportunity to design for these new usages is what’s most exciting to us. With our latest collection of furniture, we worked with our clients to map out the most common gestures and habits of the modern coworker, looking at all the tools and objects they carried with them and designing for their natural workflow; modular boards for writing or displaying sticky notes, hooks for headphones, shelves for screens of all sizes, and organizers for the daily tools.

What’s really exciting about coworking spaces is that there is such a new story to tell – this fundamental shift in the way we work and where we do it.

More broadly speaking, how does space design support the branding story of a coworking/flexible workspace? Do space providers understand that, nowadays?

In a general way, spatial design is the physical representation of a brand. What’s really exciting about coworking spaces is that there is such a new story to tell – this fundamental shift in the way we work and where we do it. With this comes many opportunities to use architecture, interior design, and furniture as visual tools to help express a brand’s values in an immediate and impactful way. Aesthetics are really important because it sets the tone and qualifies the audience the space attracts, and that audience will eventually become the space’s community. I think space providers are definitely beginning to understand how valuable these tools are, especially as competition becomes more and more fierce. Spaces that haven’t designed a unique visual identity or built tight-knit, specialized communities will have a much harder time standing out and risk getting lost in the noise. 

Can a corporate-focused, flexible serviced office develop inspiring and disrupting workspace environments, or are these things limited to startup and freelancer-focused coworking spaces?

They can, and we are already beginning to see this transition take place. Most serviced offices are simply following the model that traditional corporate offices have established – a model which is definitely being challenged and influenced by startups and coworking spaces. Corporations have already begun testing the waters by housing teams or departments within coworking spaces, dissolving the boundaries of the office culture and embracing startup working styles to accelerate innovation and growth. And it’s definitely catching on. Just last year, business employees became the largest demographic in global coworking spaces, surpassing freelancers. And the early signifiers are clear: the employees surveyed in coworking spaces are happier and more fulfilled in their roles, and these satellite departments are moving faster and are more productive than they had been in the traditional office environment. As traditional corporate offices continues to adopt these concepts and work styles, I think we’ll see a similar influence in serviced corporate offices.

Spaces that haven’t designed a unique visual identity or built tight-knit, specialized communities will have a much harder time standing out and risk getting lost in the noise.

What do you expect as being the upcoming trends in coworking space design, in the 12-24 months to come?

There are three key trends we’re watching for in the next 2 years:

1. Specialization. As the market matures, we’ll see coworking spaces becoming more and more specialized to support specific communities. Coworking spaces for women, coworking spaces with daycare services, coworking spaces for app developers, etc. These niched communities will have unique needs and usages, and spatial design will evolve to meet them.

2. Investment in Design. To stay ahead of the competitive curve, coworking spaces are making serious investments in design to set themselves apart. Today, the average space dedicates around 40% of the total opening budget to furniture and spatial design. In the near future this figure will only increase, as many more companies are able to raise investment capital in the wake of WeWork’s success.

3. Coworking + Co-living. As cities densify and the cost of living continues to increase, we expect the increase of shared coliving spaces will be nearly as dramatic as the rise of coworking. Furnished, flexible apartments that service a young, freelance workforce will build on the same movement as coworking, and we think many of the big players in the coworking market will lead the way

Just last year, business employees became the largest demographic in global coworking spaces, surpassing freelancers. And the early signifiers are clear: the employees surveyed in coworking spaces are happier.

Photos credit Handover

Kelsea Crawford will be a speaker at the upcoming Coworking Europe 2018 conference, in Amsterdam.

Marouan Aoudia is an Algerian national, born and educated in the US. During 10 years, he worked in the corporate world before shifting towards the entrepreneurial world, end of 2015, armed with a long list of projects among which to open a coworking space in Algeria : The Address.

Hello Marouan. Could you introduce yourself as well as The Address project?

I was introduced to coworking for the first time on April 2015 during a visit to the US, and I immediately thought about seeing this concept into Algeria.  Along with my strategic partners Majda and Chouaib, we worked on the concept, activities, and the general branding of the space.  The Address was born on Feb 2016 as the 1^st coworking space in the country.  It is located in the capital, Algiers, and in area that has multiple options of public transportation for ease of reach.  The Address is approximately 250 m2 big in surface.  Our vision is to create an environment that embraces the notion of connection, collaboration, and creation among the members. We welcomed members from diverse sectors and backgrounds, some just starting out in their entrepreneurial journey and others are established professionals that require a work space while in Algiers.  This mix of backgrounds and experience level is what makes The Address a unique space I believe.

What are the reasons Coworking can thrive in Algeria, according to you?

As for any service proposition, to be successful, it needs first and foremost to solve a real problem that exists. Coworking solves an issue that many entrepreneurs and independent professionals are facing in Algeria : the lack of affordable space where they can work, a place to receive potential clients, an opportunity to connect and network with peers, ability to establish their commercial license without important capital requirements. Coworking put simply tackled all these problematic and it allowed many people to take their 1^st step towards establishing their projects with just a small capital, establish a commercial license and be connected with fellow members as support system.

According to you, coworking can help emerging countries such as Algeria to diversify their economy. Can you elaborate ?

Marouane Aoudia

Currently Algeria is tapping into its foreign reserves just to maintain economic stability after witnessing the massive drop in oil prices, a resource that historically served as the main economic contributor.  Faced with the situation on hand, we have no choice but to diversity and develop other sectors of the economy.  As previously stated, Coworking in Algeria plays an important role in creating an environment that supports the development of a startup scene and the entrepreneurial landscape in general.  We are seeing a new stream of startups being founded at Coworking spaces that eventually graduate to standalone businesses as they scale up their operations. The numbers are out there, in many economies around the world SMEs contributes the heavily in to nation’s GDP figures and employment sector.  Again, Coworking is the 1^st step towards that journey, the starting point in a chain of business development that will see a small startup become an valuable economic contributor.     

Coworking is the 1st step towards that journey, the starting point in a chain of business development that will see a small startup become an valuable economic contributor.

Coworking communities can become connection hubs between entrepreneurs from emerging and developed economies. How can we achieve that better?

Definitely, coworking spaces from across regions and continents once connected can serve as the ambassador’s of the world in their respective countries.  Once this has been achieved, we can start working on an array of projects whether its digital in nature or anything else that is both relevant and of added value.  Coworking owners have the capacity to engage the members, influencers, and local community towards a common initiative.  It is worth noting that idea aside the most challenging part in these sorts of grand scale initiatives is the quality of execution and sustainability. On the profitability side, Coworking spaces can again collectively seek funding from international organizations in return of the value that these projects can bring home.

What can we say about the Algerian digital ecosystem and how coworking can help?

The digital ecosystem in Algeria is lagging behind even when looking at it from the perspective of North Africa region.  It is hindered by two main issues, the low speed and at times unreliable internet connection and the lack of structured e-payment system.  So we have an infrastructure issue more than anything. 

There is a lot of interest among youth for everything related to digital world and Coworking spaces are serving as platforms connecting the community members by organizing seminars, events (SW: cfr Algeria Startup Altitude, for instance), workshops, and trainings related to it.   As the infrastructural issues are resolved, Coworking will be playing more of an active role in initiating   

Does the coworking working model speaks also to SME’s or bigger companies, or is too early in the country?

At The Address we already have a number of SME clients.  These are clients where the HQ are based outside of Algiers but still have strong client base in the city.  We offer them special corporate packages that would allow them the use the space when visiting and more importantly we offered them virtual office service by serving their client base administratively on commercial transactions.   We also host corporate evening events at the space for themes that speaks to youth and entrepreneurship.

The Address is settled in a “Commercial Centre”. Why is this location appropriate for a coworking space would you say ?

We are located in hybrid building that has a mall, commercial offices, governmental agencies, and residential studios.  The center offers many advantages.  First, the center has 1000 free parking spaces, a luxury that you will not find elsewhere in the city where parking is a major issue.  Second, the center offer security 24/7 allowing us the run evening events without any fear for safety.  Third, our clients and Coworking members appreciate the services that the commercial center has to offer in terms of food court, catering, dry cleaner, gym, among other things that makes life just a bit easier.

In Europe or in the US, we hear more and more about “dying” shopping malls. Can coworking save “commercial centres” ?

A dying garden needs to be rejuvenated.  The way to do it is to remove the dead plants and inject new seeds that can break ground and foster.  Dying infrastructure is no different; if malls are dying they can be converted to a mix of commercial offices, innovation hubs, art galleries,…the economic cycle will always see concepts that will seize to exit in the expense of new fresh initiatives, our role is to adjust accordingly.       

What are your main challenges and hopes?

As a Coworking space owner the challenge is to continue to promote the concept and build awareness, get better traction and create greater demand to sustain operations.  A year and half into our existence, we have taken great strides towards that goal and have adopted well to meet the demand of our community and corporate clients.

At a macro level, I hope we will see more initiatives in Algeria from private sector that goes towards the development of our young human resources.  Emerging countries have abundance of talented youth that are never given the proper mentoring, resources, and opportunity to excel.  More often than not, they opt to travel to Europe, US, and there they develop into influential figures and contributors to their adopted nation.  We need start to start paving a road for their success while they are here.     

The Office Group is a design-led workspace provider that houses a diverse community of businesses and individuals. Today, they have over 20 established buildings across central London, Bristol and Leeds. Members can decide whether they want to work from a private office, virtual addresses or collaborative coworking space.

We spoke with founder Oliver Olsen, about connectivity, convenience and how space managers can create a healthy, vibrant lifestyle for their members.

How did you imagine an open office when you started TOG, and how do you see the social workplace as representative of a new model of work?

The Office Group Co-CEO Charlie Green and I we were spurred to set up in business based on the desire to get out of the corporate world and create offices that were markedly different to the industry standard.

In all of our various workspaces, we strive to create a sense of community and collaboration. This is important as businesses are becoming more fluid in the way they operate. For example, the use of freelancers and temporary staff joining for short-term projects tends to be more agile and with flexible working hours, remote working, and the rise of the sharing economy there is a growing need to find expertise and advice quickly.

An effective workspace should make it easier for members to find out about each other and thus connect. The person you might need on your next project could be sitting in the same room as you.

Please describe the design of your space. Why are aesthetics and atmosphere so important in today’s workspace?

Olly Olsen

One of the main reasons we wanted to create our own workspaces was that we couldn’t see any offices out there that we would want to work in ourselves.

Our spaces are designed to be comfortable, vibrant, light, and all styles of work. We display artwork from local artists and create bespoke art pieces for each building that reference the history of the building or area.

The look and feel of an office space is important simply because employees spend so much of their day at work. The environment has such a big impact on individual well-being, productivity and creativity that you have to have this in mind at every stage of the design process.

How did you realize what type of space design nurtured productivity?

We learned from our own backgrounds in the industry, and we took as much from the bad things as we did from the good. We work with top architects, interior designers, furniture suppliers and a skilled in-house property team who receive feedback from our members and building managers when it comes to considering the design of a new space.

In your opinion, how has the development of these open spaces influenced the culture of work?

Open coworking spaces have proved that work doesn’t have to mean a traditional 9 to 5 office-based role. They have in turn show that a social, open workspace makes any type of work possible. Many of our members work in teams that are spread throughout the globe, but they are able to work seamlessly through conference calling, Skype and Slack.

Who usually joins the Office Group and what services do you offer them?

Our Community includes everyone from solo freelancers to multi-national blue-chip companies and every type of business in-between. We’re particularly popular with start-up tech companies, creative agencies, recruiters and design firms.

What are the challenges of creating a productive workplace for freelancers?

Today, high-speed wireless internet has allowed start-ups and smaller businesses to be more agile than ever and also allows then to work from anywhere. Therefore, our biggest challenge is to provide an environment that offers real value over and above free workspaces or working from home. We believe that the key to this value is people.

Despite the many ways for business people to connect with each other digitally, what we see is a real desire for real human interaction amongst our members. Our Community Managers get to know all of our members, and help with anything they might need and connect them to others that they might be able to work with.

It seems that larger companies are steadily gravitating towards social workplaces, why do you think that is?

Companies are beginning to realize the importance of social interaction with organizations, both from an employee happiness perspective and from one of innovation. They understand that new ideas can be sparked by the ‘water cooler’ moments and cross-department chats.

Many companies are actively designing their offices in a way that encourages employees to meet, chat and create the ‘eureka’ moments. Today, rather than packing the most offices possible into a building, we’re seeing an emerging trend focused on leisure spaces and open workspaces.

How are the expectations of the modern workforce different from previous models? How does the Office Group address these modern needs?

The view of what an office should be has changed dramatically in the last 5 years. People no longer look for 4 walls and a door, rather they want a space that is light and flexible to suit the changing needs of their business. Most people want a space that looks good, feels good and helps their team be productive.

In addition to this, the way we work is changing. Digital technologies are disrupting almost every industry as well as creating entirely new ones overnight. We need to ensure that our spaces meet the needs of these new ‘digital employees’ and caters equally to those who demand flexible space, like a meeting room for an hour, a desk for just a few days a week, or even just a business address or phone number.