Spacemade, the first-of-its-kind operational partner for landlords looking to provide a bespoke flexible workspace directly to their customers, is launching two new neighbourhood workspaces in London’s Wimbledon and Cricklewood. These will add to Spacemade’s rapidly growing suburban network in the UK and come as global research by Accenture shows that more than three-quarters of people want a “third place” to work that is outside of their homes and the traditional office.
The group is the fastest growing platform of individually designed and branded spaces in the UK. It has partnered with Wittington Investments to operate a 6,000 sq ft luxury coworking space on Wimbledon Village High Street. Its other new site is a 10,000 sq ft warehouse building in the centre of Cricklewood, owned by landlord Ziser. It is a short walk from Brondesbury Park and Cricklewood stations.
Spacemade’s own data shows that demand for neighbourhood workspaces is soaring. Between January and August 2021, the number of new members signing up to its sites jumped 15-fold – demand was particularly strong for its neighbourhood spaces.
A survey of 350 professionals living and working within Greater London commissioned by Spacemade in August 2020 revealed that nearly half (43%) wish to work in a local workspace some or all of the time going forwards.
Dan Silverman, co-founder at Spacemade said: “People no longer want to work all week from home, but neither are they rushing to commute back into central headquarters. Increasingly we are seeing demand to “work near home”. As working behaviours become more varied and increasingly personalised, we are creating individual spaces that offer flexibility and variety with the benefit of access to our growing network of spaces across the UK. Each of our workspaces are shaped by their locality as we truly believe there is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach to the office. By partnering with an operator, landlords can provide a hospitality-led and flexible offer directly to their customers.”
Since launching at the end of 2019, Spacemade has successfully delivered seven coworking offices for building owners, totalling over 100,000 sq ft. Demand for Spacemade’s new model of operation for the coworking sector continues to grow and in March they completed a £1 million fundraise.
Its newest spaces will cater to the demands of workers wanting flexible, local spaces with all the lifestyle benefits of a central HQ. They will have terraces, zoom rooms, hosted meeting rooms and fully serviced flexible private offices. Amenities such as artisan coffee facilities will also be available, and the spaces will host community and wellness events. Wittington Investments was advised by Hanover Green on the Wimbledon deal.
Spacemade’s other neighbourhood workspaces include The Loft, an aspirational workspace in Queen’s Park, and Neighbourhood Works in London Fields.
It is also growing a network of city centre spaces, which includes a boutique collection of private offices on The Strand designed for the legal and professional services sectors and the luxury repositioning and expansion of a prime building in the heart of Leeds.
