Occupiers want more flexibility and want to move to a hybrid work model
Flexible workspace grew 16%-31% YOY from 2016-2019. In 2020, Flexible Workspace grew 3% YOY. Colliers forecast another 3% YOY growth in 2021.
Executive Director, Head of Occupier Services, Bastiaan van Beijsterveldt, shares why this sector is rapidily recovering.
Q: How has the demand for co-working spaces been like over the last few months?
The demand for co-working spaces has definitely increased over the last few months. We have seen companies needing extra space for expansion, and perhaps not wanting to spend CAPEX at the moment or needing the space instantaneously.
Over the past year, COVID-19 changed our attitudes and our relationship to work and the workplace. Occupiers need to adopt different ways of working and flexible workspace offers a far greater flexibility compared to the traditional office space.
Q: Is the demand for co-working spaces now higher as compared to pre-COVID?
We saw a rapide expansion of the co-working providers in Singapore during 2018 and 2019, which was partially due to increased demand. Flexible workspace grew 16%-31% YOY from 2016-2019. In 2020, Flexible Workspace grew 3% YOY. Colliers forecast another 3% YOY growth in 2021.
Q: What are some reasons behind the increase in demand for co-working spaces?
This increased demand for co-working spaces can be explained by a number of factors, depending on the company and its strategy, for example:
- Providing more flexibility - In terms of the location of work, meaning Work From Anywhere, so they want to leverage the geographical network of the co-working providers
- Rapid expansion - Expand rapidly, but do not want to make the CAPEX investment and might want to have more flexibility in their lease term so they can easier scale up or down
- Adopting the Flex and Core Model, - This means office occupants take a traditional lease in a development, but they also leverage the co-working or serviced office space in the building for certain parts of the traditional office for example meetings, training or project teams.
Looking for a flexible workspace? Check out these flexible workspace listings available for lease or reach out to our team of experts to find out if flexible workspace works for your business.
You may also like:
- Flexible Workspace: Rethinking your Corporate Real Estate Strategy
- The Evolution of Flexible Workspace
- Real Estate Talk: Singapore Office Market - Q&A with Rick Thomas
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