While the likes of WeWork have dominated the headlines over the past year, the number of smaller, more niche coworking operators, has grown significantly and now makes up 83 percent of the total flexible workspace market. The latest research from The Instant Group, which claims to be the world’s largest flexible workspace provider, suggests that the number of centres in the market run by smaller independent operators has grown to 83 percent of the London market. The increase of 20+ desk enquiries is evidence of growing demand as larger firms have started exploring flexible options rather than taking more conventional leases.
The number of flexible office centres tracked by Instant across the UK increased by 10 percent to 5,320 in the last year, which equates to 824,000 new desks on the market. There has also been a 4.9 percent increase in the total number of operators as firms clamour to join the growing flexible workspace sector. Small scale and localised providers are flourishing because of increased demand and now more than 2,800 companies offer flexible office space as part of their portfolio.
Smaller operators tend to cater for unique but growing segments of the market such as specialist tech start-up space or women-only centres. As we have seen in the US, the number of smaller operators who run one or two centres has continued to proliferate despite the growth of the larger players and now represent a large proportion of supply to the market.
John Duckworth, MD of Instant Group EMEA and UK, said: “There are two key trends in our market data: the continued diversification of the flexible workspace offer from a growing number of operators and the large increase in corporate demand for flexible options. Both trends are part of a growing awareness from companies that there is more choice in the market and they are becoming much more demanding about securing different types of space that fit their specific business requirements. This is rewarding the smaller, more nimble operators that can tailor their space to more specific client needs or those that are big enough to run larger spaces that can satisfy the 20+ and 50+ desk requirements that are dominating the market.”