Managed Workspace

Abstract

The managed workspace format rose to prominence as a tool for local economic development during the 1980s, Its popularity has continued into the 1990s, offering support for new and small firms in their early stages of operation through the provision of suitable premises and a “protected environment”. In this article, evidence is presented to indicate that a significant proportion of tenant firms are, in fact, remaining in managed workspace well beyond the early stages of operation for which it is primarily intended, and we examine the reasons for this. Most significantly, this examination reveals that the added costs associated with the provision of the “protected environment” often appear to produce little in the way of added value for these more mature tenant firms, and on this basis we conclude with a call for a reappraisal of the role for managed workspace in local economic development policies.