One of the most interesting trends we’ve noticed here over the last year is how private offices have become more popular than coworking spaces. Despite all the latest cool and quirky coworking spaces launching in London, demand from startups and SMEs had indeed soared supplanting coworking space as the most searched for office type in the UK in 2019.
This might be surprising for anyone following the momentous growth of workspaces such as WeWork and The Office Group. However, our own findings show that startups are starting to migrate away from shared workspace into private offices.
In fact, 4 in every 5 searches done on the HubbleHQ platform are for private offices, as opposed to desks in coworking spaces.
This growing trend is a reflection of ‘scale-up Britain’. Small UK startups, which started life in coworking spaces, are growing up and increasingly require dedicated facilities. The biggest change is that private offices can also be rented on flexible rolling contracts, so these mature companies and scale-ups can still enjoy the flexibility of coworking spaces but with private facilities to enable a new phase of growth.
Charlotte Brierley, founder of Firetech Camp took a 10 person private office through HubbleHQ. She said “Now that we’ve entered our next stage of growth, we wanted to find a quiet and private space to allow us to achieve the levels of productivity we need to keep kicking our ambitious goals! HubbleHQ helped us acquire not only a productive workspace, but one that we are proud to invite our investors, collaborators and clients.”
(Firetech took private space at WeWork Hammersmith.)
Charlie Thuillier from Oppo Ice Cream also added: “We have spent a huge amount of time investing in our culture and employee wellbeing. Coworking spaces are great but we wouldn’t want to risk diluting our culture. Having a private office in The Food Exchange enables Oppo to build a unique space reflecting our brand, culture, attitudes, and beliefs as a company. You walk into our office and you know it’s Oppo’s! Hugely important. Oppo is now stocked in 6000 stores across 8 countries and has increased revenues 350% on last year. We needed an impressive ‘own-able’ space that could continue to facilitate this rapid growth.”
Adam Levene, CEO & Cofounder of UseHero.com took a 24 desk private office and noted:
“Moving into a private space gives our team the opportunity to collaborate even further and cement our culture in an environment that we can call home. Using a service like HubbleHQ has allowed us to find and move into our new office effortlessly.“
Whether you are looking for a private office, coworking space or shared office, and whatever stage of business you are at, we can help you find your ideal home.
