Space for sharing

MANAGED SPACE
Managed space accommodates clients with larger space requirements, above 465 sq m (5,000 sq ft), and usually a minimum 18-month term, where a more bespoke solution is required. A serviced office provider will take the lease on the building so the client is not committed long term – meaning that the provider is funding all of the leasing and all of the fit-out themselves. This means no capital expenditure for the client, who has flexibility to move on after a fixed period or simply renew.

According to Mroncz, managed space is “something which is gathering pace, with many major brands getting involved. For me this is overtaking coworking in terms of who is getting involved in it and its future impact on FM.”

COWORKING
Coworking basically means working in a collaborative space that is occupied by a number of individuals from many different companies. Most of the big brands including WeWork will also offer private offices for dedicated teams. Users buy membership of a coworking centre to access a ‘business lounge’, work hub’ or ‘collaborative space’, however it is described, for access to a private desk, a hot desk, ad hoc seating or a combination. These memberships are available on a full-time basis or for a certain amount of days per month. You can also choose whether you want access to one specific centre, all centres in a city or a country, or even across a global network.

“Coworking has been perceived as primarily for start-ups and SMEs who still make up the majority of clients,” says Mroncz. “An example of a large corporate using coworking could be a large company which wants to build up an international sales team without incurring the costs of a fixed base in a myriad of locations around the world. Another example is a blue-chip company which moves back office staff to a flexible space while a new workspace is being fitted out.

“In this way, coworking has become part of many corporate real estate strategies, though my belief is that it’s still in its early days. While feasibly you can go in and sit next to an SME on one side and someone from a large corporate on the other, corporate coworking has yet to move into massive volumes.”

There are many advantages in opting for a flexible workplace, whichever model you choose. “Firstly, there is a significant cost-benefit to corporates, when you consider that the UK alone spends around £10 billion per year on servicing office space for an estimated 10 million workers,” says Mroncz. “With the average occupancy of an office desk as low as 30 per cent on specific working days, and real estate is the second most expensive cost to a business, if you can reduce this kind of wastage, that has significant benefit to your organisation.”

Another major incentive is in talent acquisition and productivity. “To attract and retain recruits, it’s no good asking them to undertake a huge commute to and from work. Many may prefer to work from home at least some of the time. The same adage goes for productivity. If you’re asking someone to travel two hours each way a day and expect them to be as productive when they walk into the building as if they hadn’t done that journey, that is naive. By offering a flexible workspace you can give them the opportunity to work at or near home, and with their commute being shorter they can spend their time working, not travelling.”

With the traditional office fast becoming a thing of the past and the workplace becoming more of a collaborative space, flexible workplace providers are also leading the way with innovative designs, argues Mroncz. “These may range from encased chairs for private conversations or individual work, the utilisation of colourful furniture within breakout areas, and less traditional desking with innovative ‘team’ spaces.”

Finally, he adds, sustainability is a key factor, or should be, in the adoption of flexible workspaces. “We all have a responsibility around our carbon footprint, and commuting has a significant impact on the environment.”

FLEXIBLE TRENDS
With so many good reasons to opt for more flexible workspaces, what could possibly hold occupiers back? The biggest objection for many organisations towards flexible working in the past, says Mroncz, was culture. “Organisations had been used to managing staff by knowing that their people are sitting where they can see them, at their desk. Work culture now has shifted into managing by output and results, so leaders may be managing someone remotely who might be based at a different site, or even country.”

Another concern has been that with a proliferation of smaller flexible workplaces, city centres that house traditional commercial properties could be emptied. “This seems unlikely when you consider that the largest procurer of London office space last year was WeWork, which took 300,000 square feet at the Shell building.”

While many traditional landlords and real estate agents are launching their own flexible brands, some of the leading corporate tenants are reallocating their unused space. For example, Santander recently opened the latest in its worldwide series of Work Café spaces aimed at clients and non-customers in an old branch in Leeds that closed last year. The idea is to offer a bank, coworking area and coffee house together in a single place.

Alongside this, says Mroncz, many corporates opt for a ‘hub and spoke’ solution. “The idea is that the organisation will utilise a main building supported by regional hubs around the world, but instead of taking a traditional office lease, they opt instead for a serviced office solution.”

One Offices iQ client closed its costly and underused portfolio of national offices, retained a few hubs and gave the rest of the staff access to coworking spaces. This not only saved the company £2.5 million but also led to a 20 per cent rise in productivity. This was because the (mainly sales) staff spent much less time travelling, as they could use a base nearer to their client base and get back to work straight away after meetings.

What, however, is the future for FM in this brave new world of flexible offices? Mroncz argues that far from losing their role as managers of traditional workspaces, flexible office providers will require FMs’ expertise to ensure clients are happy with the services on offer. “The challenge for FM,” he concludes, “is in moving away from the idea of fixed bricks and mortar empires and embracing the opportunities inherent in working with flexible space providers.”