Spaces — the new frontier for flexible hipster working in Cork

The company looks to capitalise on a likely shift towards a more hybridized work model in the wake of the global pandemic

Kenneth Dwyer, Sales Director, IWG and Kayleigh Houlihan, Area Sales Manager. Pic Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

NIMBLE, adaptable, contemporary — all of the buzzwords generated around increasingly hipster workplaces are applicable to Cork city’s newest offices at No 1 Horgan’s Quay, where flexible working specialists Spaces opened their doors this week.

Spread across three floors and 38,000 sq ft, Spaces new Cork base is hoping to capitalise on a likely shift towards a more hybridized work model in the wake of the global pandemic.

Kenneth Dwyer, country sales director for Spaces’ parent company IWG (International Workplace Group), said companies are “completely rethinking” the workplace, after a year in which remote working has been road-tested on a grand scale.

“Companies that traditionally would have taken five-10 year leases [on office buildings] are opting to go now for shorter-term leases, six-12 months with the option to renew, and they are looking for smaller workplaces. We were set up to deal with that,” he said.

They’ve had “a good bit of interest” in their new Cork base, albeit Covid-19 has slowed things down in terms of people returning to the workplace. Mr Dwyer said they’ve already sublet some private office space at Horgan’s Quay while IWG area sales manager Kayleigh Houlihan said some co-working spaces have also been leased. There’s also the option of leasing half of a floor in Horgan’s Quay where Spaces has set aside 480 sq m of office space to cater for a company looking to lease a larger area.

Spaces, the trendier arm of IWG, has seen a decrease in occupancy rates during the pandemic, but has still managed to increase its customer base, Mr Dwyer said, as more companies have availed of its virtual services. This would typically be a company that switched to remote working during the pandemic but still needed an attractive business address for customers and a professional concierge service, to provide day-to-day administrative support, such as personalised call handling and mail handling.

Mr Dwyer said IWG enquiries, in general, had “bounced back to pre-Covid levels in the first quarter.” The first three months of the year had provided a “clear inflection point, with occupancy stabilising in February and improving in March” he said.

Increased demand

IWG expects the momentum to continue throughout the second quarter, with an increased demand for hybrid working, enterprise membership products, and increased flexibility with terms and office scalability.

“Occupancy is improving, enquiries reached pre-Covid-19 levels, an increasing pipeline of corporate customers on network-wide deals and, most importantly, service revenues starting to improve,” Mr Dwyer said.

The company’s flexibility allowed them to cater for everyone from “a one-man-band start-up to multinationals”, he added.

Spaces Horgan’s Quay offering can cater for up to 450 people in private or shared offices on the third and fourth floors, most of which have stunning riverfront views.

 Kenneth Dwyer, Sales Director, IWG and Kayleigh Houlihan, Area Sales Manager,  pictured at the new €160m Horgan's Quay development in Cork City Pic: Daragh Mc Sweeney/Provision

As well as offices, it has on-demand meeting rooms, a business lounge, and an events room on the second floor, where clients can host their own events and where Spaces will host events.

There are also phone booths where clients using co-working spaces can make/receive private calls and self-service coffee docks which Spaces is hoping to stock with produce drawn for nearby local eateries, Ms Houlihan said.

Spaces offers a range of options to potential clients eg a 24-month contract, starting at €424 per month, or a €500 per month, month-to-month contract for an office. There’s also the option of a dedicated desk in a shared office, locker included. The monthly rate is cheaper for co-working spaces and virtual services. Meeting rooms can be booked by non-members, but those who do take out a membership can use Spaces business lounges in any of their global locations.

Spaces, which already operates at 15 locations in the Republic of Ireland, was the first company to take up a tenancy at the BAM/Clarendon €160m Horgan’s Quay development, with tech giant Apple set to be the second, having committed to taking the top three floors of the 90,000 sq ft eight-storey block, next to the Dean Hotel.