How to break into the flexible office market

The flexible space sector has taken the office market by storm, with Central London seeing 2.5 million square feet of space leased to coworking operators in 2017— a 190% growth from the previous year.

Growth in the sector is inevitable and marks a big shift in how tenants approach the use of office space. Landlords and property owners were once faced with the limited choice of partnering up with workspace operators, but now recognize they can provide the services themselves.

Now, commercial property owners are beginning to enter the market with their own flexible brands. For example, Landsec, one of the UK’s largest commercial property owners, revealed that Myo will be the name of its new flexible space branch.

There are a few ways for property owners to break into the flexible workspace market. The first is to grant a traditional lease to an already established coworking operator. This option hands the control over to the operator.

Another option includes commercial property owners running their own offices and retaining all of the profit and control.

Property owners can also invest into an existing operator, an approach taken by the world’s largest real estate fund manager Blackstone when the company purchased a majority stake in The Office Group.

Those who will find success in the office market are the ones who view their spaces as a service.