Koba, the flexible workspace company creating premium, evidence-based sustainable workplaces, has achieved the world’s first WELL Coworking Rated flexible workspace at Koba @ 100 Barbirolli Square in Manchester, responding to growing demand for healthier workspaces.
In April 2024, the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI), the global authority on advancing healthy buildings, organisations and communities, and The Instant Group, the largest global marketplace for flexible workspace, announced a strategic partnership to spur health and well-being practices in coworking and flexible workspaces. This has culminated in the launch of the first-of-its-kind healthy buildings rating for coworking operators.
The Koba team joined a pilot cohort of organisations and worked with IWBI and The Instant Group to help shape a pioneering leadership benchmark designed for coworking and flexible spaces – the WELL Coworking Rating. The collaborative cohort also committed to being the first to enroll in the new rating.
The new rating, derived from the researched-backed health strategies in the WELL Building Standard, includes nearly 50 features spanning all 10 concepts in WELL, including air and water quality, light, thermal comfort, movement and nourishment.
The rating serves to validate and showcase how coworking and flexible workspaces meet evidence-based health and well-being measures, whilst also being integrated with The Instant Group’s platform to help occupiers make informed workspace decisions based on health and well-being. Prospective coworking and flexible workspace users will be able to search for the new rating and its associated data as they access more than 350,000 flexible workplaces on Instant’s digital platforms.
Rob Stewart, Director of Strategy and Sustainability at Koba, said: “We are proud to be part of a selected cohort of businesses that has helped to push industry standards forward as this is central to our mission and indeed part of our manifesto commitment to share our lessons and learning with the broader industry.
“For Koba and Manchester to be recognised as the first site and city globally to achieve the rating is just a genuine thrill. And for our residents, both current and future, it’s a sign that we are laser-focused on providing workspaces that are backed by evidence on health, well-being and sustainability. Koba was created before the WELL Coworking Rating was developed, so to receive the rating is true testament not only to our own vision, but the quality of our partners at Cast Interiors too.” continued Stewart.
Koba announced a partnership with AEW in April this year for its inaugural 30,000-sq-ft sustainable flex centre across two floors at 100 Barbirolli Square in central Manchester. Since then the Koba team has worked with leading office fit-out design and build specialists, Cast Interiors, to create evidence-based premium sustainable workspaces designed with a focus on circularity and re-use.
With work now complete, Koba @ 100 Barbirolli Square is fully operational with the dynamic new centre offering a range of meeting rooms, coworking spaces, studios and office suites to accommodate businesses of up to 200 people, with premium amenity, wellness and breakout areas.
Koba’s mission is to redefine flexible workspace by embedding sustainability at the heart of its offering and the company has ambitions to open three to four sites per year in outstanding commercial buildings in the UK’s major cities.
IWBI President and CEO Rachel Hodgdon said: “We proudly congratulate Koba for achieving the first WELL Coworking Rated workspace. Koba chose to pursue the rating to help deliver innovative health and productivity benefits to users of its flexible workspace at 100 Barbirolli Square. Its achievement will also inspire other coworking operators in the UK and beyond to provide healthy workplaces that support physical and mental well-being through the use of WELL’s science-backed strategies.”
Sam Pickering, Executive Director, Head of Sustainability at The Instant Group said: “The WELL Coworking rating enables occupiers to easily determine the health and well-being attributes of a specific coworking and flexible office space. Koba is the first workspace provider to achieve the rating globally and it is testament to their understanding and commitment to creating healthier workspaces that sees them achieve this accolade first.”
