Flexible work spaces: A rising sector according to Instant Offices. James Rankin (The Instant Group)
One of the undeniable trends of coworking is the growth of the flexible market share, both outside our borders and in Spanish cities, mainly in Madrid and Barcelona. But will the same happen in other cities of our country? James Rakin, Research Director of The Instant Group , a group to which Instant Offices belongs, revealed some of his forecasts for the coming months at Coworking Spain Conference 2019.
Instant Offices is an international company specialized in providing flexible workspaces to companies, so that their knowledge of the real estate market in this sector can give us light on the trend of coworking in our country.
However, instead of just talking about coworking, from Instant Offices they prefer to talk about flexible work spaces: in this sector, which they understand as a wider area, we would find, together with coworking, other closely linked concepts, such as the offer of offices as a service or the creation of specific spaces for business incubators and accelerators. In all these cases, demand has grown. And also the interest! At least, this is what is deduced according to traffic data on Google between 2016 and 2019 in Spain, Portugal, France and Germany: traffic related to flexible work environments has experienced a remarkable growth (+ 197% in the case of "coworking"), while the interest of Internet users in traditional offices has declined significantly (-75%).
TRENDS OF THE SECTOR IN SPAIN
Spain is the third largest ecosystem related to flexible work environments in Europe, with a constantly growing demand.
In Madrid and Barcelona, 50% of the flexible work centers are concentrated. Malaga, Seville, Bilbao, Pontevedra or Alicante are other areas in which there is a notable demand. This trend, however, seems to be changing, since the growth in demand in other cities throughout 2019 has seen an appreciable increase.
Likewise, the client profile is also constantly changing, with freelancers or work teams of up to 9 people predominant (around 85% in large cities and 88% in smaller cities). The demand for these spaces by teams with more than 25 people is only around 5%.
The residence time of the users is also slightly longer in Spain than in other markets: 40% remains between 1 and 3 months, 40% between 4 months and one year, and 20% exceeds the year of permanence in Madrid and Barcelona. In the rest of the cities, the predominant trend is between 4 months and one year (60%), with only 25% being users who demand services less than 4 months.
WHAT DOES THE FUTURE HOLD?
Anticipating the market trend in the coming years requires above all to know the customer and know what their requirements will be. For Instant Offices , consulting work on issues related to human resources stands as one of the demands in which coworking centers can provide greater value.
Another aspect to highlight is the rise of smaller cities as interesting places of life and work for independent professionals, which may have an impact on the sector in these areas: although large cities seem to offer greater opportunities when it comes to Develop many commercial activities, also involve higher business and personal costs.
However, and although the prospects are clearly optimistic, we are still in the initial phase of the market, and the predominant feeling is that it will still take some time to establish a solid and consistent sector.
* Article based on the participation of James Rakin, Research Director of The Instant Group , group to which Instant Offices belongs in Coworking Spain Conference 2019.
