Architect. Founder of the 2arquitectos.com studio in 2006. In 2007 he opened the Coworking Space WorkingSpace.es. In 2010 launches the platform
CoworkingSpain.es, and in 2012 it organizes the first CoworkingSpain Conference. The CwSC has been running for seven editions
Coworking Spain Conference not only provides an occasion for meetings and reunions between managers and professionals linked to coworking: it also gives us the opportunity to see, year after year, the growth of the sector in Spain. To show us the landscape in an understandable and accurate way, Manuel Zea started with an analysis of the market as a business sector, turning to the cases of some of the main players in what is a growing playground, and the latest and more recent news.
Coworking in figures
In his analysis of coworking in Spain, Manuel Zea noted aspects such as the number of existing spaces, their size, existing jobs or the value of the coworking industry in our country.
Square Meters: Since 2012 the proliferation of spaces seems to have been unstoppable: a growth that becomes even more remarkable if we take as reference the square meters dedicated to this activity. And, if between 2012 and 2015 it had gone from 100,000 m2 to 247,000 m2, only in 2016 they had reached 380,000 m2 in 2016, this year being the year with a higher percentage of growth (54%). In the last year (2017) 504,000 m2 have been reached, which continues to represent a remarkable growth (33%), especially considering that we are in a more mature and crowded sector. And 2018 promises: the forecast for this year is estimated to reach 655,000 m2.
Number of spaces: There are 1547 coworking centers, of which 80% have less than 1000 m2, there are only 46 spaces with an area exceeding 1,000m2. This data is especially significant when crossing it with the available square meters, since it shows the tendency of the sector to the concentration: 3% of the spaces have 30% of the market. In fact, the average dimension of coworking spaces in Spain is 271 m2.
Number of coworking positions: At present, the availability of jobs is 33,000, of which 10,000 are flexible and 33,000 are fixed, thus being a proportion of 66% compared to 33%.
Value of the industry: In the light of the data shown above and calculating the average price per coworking position, Manuel Zea made an estimate of the volume of business that moves the sector: 69 million euros per year only in jobs. A item to which the business figures corresponding to the services linked in some way to the sector (private offices, training rooms, events) that could raise this figure to 140 million euros per year should be added.
Coworking by cities: Barcelona with 370 spaces, and Madrid with 300 are the cities with more centers.
Who is the game between?
The second part of his presentation was dedicated to the players that stand out in the sector, both for the number of coworking spaces, and for the square meters they concentrate. The strongest brands are found in Madrid and Barcelona: Spaces (3 spaces and 7,400 m2), Utopicus (6 spaces and 5,400 m2) and Wework (3 spaces and 19,000 m2), stand as the main actors in the current scene. However, they are not the only notable cases, especially in these two large cities, with other proposals with great force both in Barcelona (Crec, Betahaus, Cloud, Aticco, One Cowork and Transforma), as in Madrid (Urban Campus, The Shed , Impact Hub, Cink Emprende and The Loom House).
It's news, it's real
To close the presentation, Manuel Zea reviewed a series of news related to coworking. The decision of the Bank of Santander to enable some of its offices to make them coworking spaces, the interest of the real estate sector to enter the business through various purchases and acquisitions, the arrival of the giant WeWork to Spain, the new proposals designed for Digital nomads, or the goodbye of CosFera, a space born with that initial spirit of coworking that was common to what looked like a movement of romantics, served to open a small debate among the attendees. And to make it clear that coworking is not a passing fad, but a sector that is already part of the current landscape.
