Flexible workspaces: The Airbnb of offices is gaining ground

The increase in demand for flexible workspaces in the Greek market is steep, as hybrid work is now a dominant and established trend in the market. Working from home for a few days a week has completely changed the employment model, directly affecting demand in the office market, with more and more professionals and businesses looking for greater flexibility. This is not easy to secure with the traditional office space allocation model, i.e. a lease contract for a specific period of time, usually several years. As a result, companies operating in the field of flexible workplaces, such as IWG, one of the leaders in the specific field, have begun to register a large increase in demand for the services they provide.

"In 2023, the demand expressed to us by potential customers was three times more than the spaces we could make available. This is the main reason why we have started an effort to develop our network, so that we are able to respond to this demand and at the same time cover a larger part of the country, both in the two major urban centers of Athens and Thessaloniki as well as in cities in the region", says Alexandros Koudounas, who took over the management of IWG for Greece and Cyprus a few days ago, in "K".

The users of these sites vary. A large percentage concerns multinational companies, which choose these spaces in various countries, in which they are active and of course also in Greece. However, since the outbreak of the pandemic, the share of small and medium-sized Greek businesses using such services has begun to increase significantly. Also, startups are customers of the IWG spaces, while the demand from freelancers is also increased. As Mr. Koudounas notes, "architects, lawyers, engineers are some of the categories of professionals who have started using our spaces to work and meet their clients".

This is because the cost is lower than renting an office space (for example: an apartment) permanently. Given that many professionals now also work from home, the search for a professional space close to it is of primary importance. This is exactly the gap IWG is trying to fill during this period through the expansion of its network.

Today the company operates 10 buildings, nine in Attica and one in Thessaloniki, through two individual brands (Regus and Spaces). Especially in Attica, two buildings operate in Marousi, two in Ampelokipi and one each in Kolonaki, Ermou, Glyfada, Petralona and Kallithea. In the next period, four more new centers will operate in Attica, specifically one more in Glyfada and one in Piraeus. Also, two new centers will be opened in Omonia and Kypseli (Patision and Kefallinia), which will launch yet another IWG brand in the Greek market. The reason for the HQ, which will be a more economical solution and will contribute to the effort made by IWG to penetrate the suburbs and neighborhoods of Attica, in order to address a wider range of interested customers. In this context, the centers under the HQ brand are expected to have an area of 500 sq.m. and above, whether it is independent properties or - for example - for part of buildings. The Spaces are of the order of 2,000-2,500 sq.m. and the centers under the Regus brand are 1,000-1,500 sq.m.