As hybrid working gains momentum, the city-centre office is being complemented by regional workspaces closer to where people live. This opens up a world of new possibilities for real estate brokers.
Before the rise of ‘digital nomadism’, whereby laptop-centric professionals proved that they could work from anywhere, there was no choice for employees but to show up at a central office every day. And, for many people, getting there often involved a long, expensive and frequently arduous daily commute.
A huge shift in mindset and working habits has taken place in the last few years, though, accelerated by the pandemic and the subsequent mass adoption of, firstly, remote working and, more latterly, hybrid working.
With employers embracing the flexibility of hybrid working as a long-term trend, employees are now able to mix and match days spent working from home, an office and a shared flexspace somewhere local to where they live – giving them the convenience of a short journey on foot or by bike rather than by train or car, as well as a well-equipped environment conducive to work and in-person meetings. (Bedroom Zoom calls don’t always cut it.)
As city-centre offices are vacated or downsized, an emerging opportunity for real-estate brokers is to help companies find flexible workspace in small towns and suburbs instead. That said, having an HQ can still be important for both practical and social reasons because it allows for the adoption of a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model, where a central office is complemented by a network of satellite flexspaces.
By helping tenants gain access to IWG’s network of flexible workspaces, with brands including Regus, Signature and Spaces, their employees are empowered to choose an outpost that is closest to them and reap all the benefits that come with having a greater work-life balance.
For brokers, this offers the chance to cater for regional demand in coworking space outside of urban areas. Using real estate in this way generates not only new job opportunities for people who run those spaces, but also an increase in spending money on home soil, which is great for local economies.
What’s more, previously empty spaces that might otherwise have been used as charity shops or commercial outlets can be transformed into buzzing hubs of productivity.
Looking a bit further into the future, what this means is that small-town spaces will be critical for businesses and will support the growth of the ‘model village’, whereby all the essentials that people need to live (from schools to restaurants to workplaces) are within a 15-minute walk or bike ride of their home.
IWG and Arup recently published an economic impact study on flexible office space in suburbs, towns and villages.
The study revealed that, in the UK alone, workers using new flexible coworking spaces could generate between £89m and £171m a year in high-street revenue, supporting 1,100 to 2,000 jobs in the face-to-face sector. In the US, the economic impact of suburban regeneration could be as much as $1.3bn.
In recent years, many high-street sites in non-urban centres have suffered. According to the IWG and Arup study, even before the pandemic, around 1,000 local pubs in the UK were closing each year, and in the US more than 9,300 retail locations closed in 2019. Other facilities under threat include restaurants, banks, libraries and sports centres.
But those spaces could be revitalised and reinvented to meet the changing needs and expectations of the workforce.
IWG believes that brokers need to realise that “additional patronage from office workers will help maintain these local facilities for the benefit of others in the community.” Investing in flexspace is a win-win for everyone.
IWG has been helping brokers design sustainable corporate flexspace solutions for the last 30 years. Find out how we can support you today.
