Coworking London Conference: Coworking Stats + Trends

We looked at Coworking Trends in session 2 of the Coworking London Conference.

Lucy Watts from Instant Offices spoke about the biggest disruption to the real estate market is the move from space to a service-led industry which is driving the choice in the sector, with clients demanding more flexibility, cost certainty and reduced risk as well as a quicker transaction time.

Aneta from Hubhub confirmed they are going beyond the space, fit-out and contract terms that they feel this is now a given for clients. She spoke of their space as the hardware and workspace-as-a-service as their software that makes up their HubHub state of mind for delivery.

Lucy went on to touch on our key trend (reference the old blog post)- the land-lord response to the changes in the market – these have been either to invest in flexible operators like Blackstone with The Office Group or Carlyle Group with Uncommon or to launch their own space such as Landsec have done with Myo or The Crown Estate with One Heddon St.

Elaine Rossal from JLL went on to tell us about the shift of some flex operators responding by moving from traditional leases into management partnerships with their landlords. A trend that is already adopted by Runway East and Central Working is set to grow as landlords continue to consider themselves as delivering space as a service.

Key Takeaway from Lucy is that demand for larger flexible space is set to grow (64% operators believe 50+ desk demand to grow) but only 9% of operators are currently catering for this need. And Elaine echoes 18% of workers using a Flex Space work for Corporate Firms & inquiries for 20 desks or more have already grown 50% year on year and will continue.

Photo credits: eOffice, Coworking London