Catering for a Developing Market

Leading professional services and investment management company, Colliers has suggested that as occupier demand for flexible workspace continues to increase, more operators are battling for market share and are adapting their offering with enhanced concepts and higher quality products – which will facilitate more choice and flexibility for occupiers.

When evaluating how to cater to an ever-rising demand, demolishing older, sub-standard offices to build new is not the answer. The great challenge for developers used to be whether to retrofit an office building or simply create a new one. However, where retrofitting was once hampered by constrictions around cost and regulation, the opportunity to deliver viable retrofitting options is becoming increasingly accessible, through the transformation of brownfield sites into new flexible workspaces.

The Rise of SMEs

The creation and operation of Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs) have skyrocketed in recent years, with their value set to continue increasing, even amidst times of economic uncertainty. A recent report from Sage reveals that by 2025, SMBs are expected to make up 51.9% of total business turnover in the UK economy, highlighting the prosperous future forecasted for the sector.

Sage expanded on these predictions further, recording how analysis has predicted the number of SMBs in the UK is expected to rise by 342,000 from 2022 to 2025, increasing their total projected financial turnover by £160 Billion, vastly outperforming the expected growth rate of turnover in larger businesses in the same period. These forecasts highlight the sheer promise of SMBs, and as the utility of flexible workspaces continues to advance, the potential for collaboration is enormous.

SMBs and Flexible Workspaces

With continuing record investments in technology, several questions arise about suitable surrounding spaces for the nurturing and flourishment of new tech SMBs. Retrofitted flexible spaces offer culturally rich buildings in central locations that promote and exploit a city's deep history while providing unlimited scalability for expansion and growth.

These spaces provide the foundation for the modern workplace, offering reliability and network capacity for shared workspaces with next-generation flexible workspaces solutions, multi-gigabit broadband speeds, and IoT-enabled networks to reduce operational costs. To entice startups and SMEs, they provide an environment offering flexibility and state-of-the-art technology, equipping them with the optimum tools which they can use to launch their business.

Scalable Offerings

Flexible workspaces come with real-time online representations of usable offices or working areas to reduce congestion at peak times. Furthermore, the offices themselves offer virtual meeting rooms to discuss with investors, interview new staff and catch up with business partners, suppliers or freelancers.

What’s more, they provide upgradable internet options for data-intensive businesses using cloud-based software or ultra-low latency for development-stage products and projects. These users will have different needs than a freelancer sending emails or researching; the need for scalable internet speeds is essential in catering to the wide variety of businesses that exist throughout the economy.

Reinvigorating Communities

Urban regeneration promotes economic growth through increased employment opportunities, attracting new residents or investors and unlocking the potential of abandoned, brownfield areas. They also drastically help in improving the quality of life for people close to these new flexible workspace locations. The goal of urban regeneration is to create balanced, physically and economically enhanced communities.

Startups typically prioritise working on speed and growth, with the intention to build on ideas rapidly. They often do this through iteration, in which they continuously improve products through feedback and usage data. With this in mind, the progression of these companies in regenerated areas will establish various employment opportunities as they expand and establish themselves, allowing them to give back to the community while growing.

Regenerating Economies

SMBs stimulate economic development, both locally and nationally, by providing more employment opportunities to people in local communities and cities, resulting in the opening of additional possibilities, ideas and revenue streams. The regeneration of old brownfield sites or derelict buildings into flexible workspaces with cutting-edge technology attracts new businesses, SMEs or startups, often leading to further economic development and tax base expansion. 

Redevelopment into flexible spaces enables job creation and retention, private investment towards startups and SMEs, and revitalising the community and economy tax base. Small businesses make up 99.9% of the business population within the UK; they bring growth and innovation to a community and are considered the backbone of any healthy economy.

Embracing Flexibility

Flexible workspaces have soared in popularity in recent years, with their upwards trajectory showing no signs of slowing down. This revolutionised way of working creates a vast host of additional benefits, such as scalable connectivity offerings, enhanced potential for collaboration, enriching office culture and more, serving as a tremendous asset for both SMBs, the local community and local economies simultaneously.