Creative Work.Life Offices may hold the Key to Future Co-working Success
Work.Life are the co-working providers that base their office environment on the idea that work and life go hand in hand in equal measure. They are the personal provider whose intimate, friendly spaces are quickly proving to be the success of the co-working model; now they are planning a regional take over.
Branching out to Manchester
Starting life in 2004, Work.Life have recently announced plans to branch out of London and lease office space in Manchester. Sticking to their simple concept, perfected over five London bases, the business are to take a 12K sq. ft. lease on the ground floor of 30 Brown Street, Manchester.
Work.Life’s Unique Co-Working Concept
Taking small, ground floor spaces on simple 10 year leases allows Work.Life to create their warm, community focused office spaces. Being on the ground floor is also a great benefit to landlords, something that sees Work.Life eagerly welcomed as tenants. Showcasing their vibrant, inviting atmosphere through the ‘shop window’ setting attracts businesses to upper-floor offices creating a win, win situation.
Current clients within Work.Life offices include fashion brand Dr. Martens, dating app Grindr and television channel MTV.
The age old ethos ‘never display all the goods in the shop window’ clearly doesn’t apply when selling co-working space. Generally being the most boring to look at, the ground floor is often the hardest space for landlords to lease. This however, works in boutique provider Work.Life’s favour; they transform all their sites into creative and vibrant workspace that is in line with their company brand.
Why Expand Beyond London
Choosing to expand outside of London is a smart decision for Work.Life with figures that may be surprising. As reported in Bisnow, SME growth, according to Work.Life’s Co-founder David Kosky, is about 30% in Manchester compared to 5% in London. What’s more, data from Savills shows that co-working was taking more floor space in the regions than in London as of the end of 2017.
Manchester is the first of many locations that are to see Work.Life centres popping up in their office buildings. Birmingham is next on the list with plans for a possible two outlets here while Brighton, Liverpool, Leeds, Cambridge and Bristol are also in the pipeline. Plans for a second site in Manchester are currently in the discussion process.
Commenting on this vast expansion, Londonoffices’ Alex Williamson says, “Over the last couple of years the evolution of co-working in London has been phenomenal and it is great to see this being mirrored throughout the rest of the UK. Work.Life are proving that there is no “one size fits all” when it comes to co-working; whilst some businesses thrive in a large scale co-working environment, others are much more suited to a smaller family feel and Work.Life have captured this part of the market very well indeed.”
As well as this regional take-over, Work.Life are to deliver another three of their tight-knit spaces to London throughout 2018.
It seems that the popularity of this co-working concept could rival other big names in the industry. If all goes to plan, Work.Life will undoubtedly be the ones to watch over the coming years.