Whatshot
Property Talk
Property Talk
Date: 2019-02-22
Fashionable, flexible, shared office spaces
WeWork is a US$21bn business started in 2010 by Miguel McKelvey and Adam Neumann, with the mission to create a world where people work to make a life, not just a living.
They have achieved massive success in the world's largest and most advanced cities by providing beautiful, flexible shared office spaces at relatively low entry costs and without the long term commitment to fixed-term leases.
A great business model that has resulted in 590 locations across 100 cities. WeWork is now coming to South Africa opening at The Link in Rosebank having rented six floors from Redefine Properties to create their inspiring working environments.
They anticipate that 2,000 people will work from these premises. Location is important and being close to the Rosebank Gautrain station, ease of access to the airport and other locations is relevant. So what can you expect as a tenant or "community member" at a WeWork facility Super fast internet, IT support, access to a global network, business-class printers, post and package handling, daily cleaning, 24/7 building access, office supplies, private phone booths and on demand coffee and craft-beer.
Wow! Sounds too good to be true. As a small business owner and having to provide and manage all of the above, except the craft beer, I can immediately appreciate the benefits and why they have grown exponentially as a company.
Shared office space is prevalent in Ballito with Me&Co, The Workspace and Regus all providing variations of a shared co-working space. When deciding on a new premises at Zimbali Wedge, I researched each of these options to get a better understanding of their value proposition and if it could be an option for a business like ours.
The Workspace in Ballito has definitely taken the local co-work space to a higher level with their dedicated purpose designed and built building.
For ourselves it made more sense commercially to rent our own space and make the upfront investment required in order to achieve that. I was happy to sign a five year lease, but many other similar size businesses may not be and the flexibility the shared office space provides can be a big incentive.
My sense however was that the Ballito offerings were not at the level and sophistication that is expected from the WeWork that will open in Johannesburg. I am not convinced that the Ballito business market is large enough for co-work spaces to gain sufficient traction, as the proliferation of smaller office space at reasonable rentals is readily available.
Living and working in New York City, London, San Fransisco or Sydney is very different to Ballito and I can understand why the most successful versions of WeWork office spaces are in busy metros where the cost of renting your own space is inhibiting.
I did however find it interesting that up to 30% of WeWork's clients are from large companies such as Microsoft and IBM, who have adopted membership at WeWork facilities in main metros.
What I love most about innovative companies such as WeWork is that they have been redefining how we think of office space design and the general work environment.