CoWorking Space v. The Traditional Office Space: Challenges and Opportunities in Sydney

Abstract

CoWorking space is commonly a collaborative space in an office-like environment. The space can be in the form of very short office leases which range anywhere between a day to a week and longer; and the space can be used independently, collaboratively or in nominated teams. The intent of coworking spaces is numerous, which includes a sense of community environment, encouraging greater productivity, provide access for mobile and freelance workers and an affordable solution to start-ups who are on a restricted budget and unable to enter into long term rental commitments. Many landlords are being challenged by this growing demand for flexible, scalable, collaborative spaces with short term leases. A desktop analysis of eighteen (18) coworking locations in Sydney is undertaken. The findings identified three main opportunities for landlords to capture the coworking space – firstly, leasing space to coworking operators, secondly developing their own coworking platforms and thirdly partnering with coworking operators to develop coworking spaces; coupled with two main challenges associated with the implementation of coworking hubs – the reliance on coworking operators and their survival with changing market conditions, and secondly, transforming traditional office spaces into engaging coworking vibrant hubs.