Coworking spaces
Untapped potential
Inside Australia’s coworking spaces lie creative meeting and event spaces waiting to be discovered. By Brittney Levinson.
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oworking spaces have redefined the traditional office model, replacing uniform, lock-in contract offices with flexible options for small businesses and freelancers. According to the 2019 Global Coworking Survey by Deskmag, the number of coworking venues worldwide is estimated to grow to more than 26,000 in 2020. Step inside these creative hubs and you’ll find colourful, open-plan spaces teaming with solo workers as well as semi-private offices occupied by the likes of tech companies, start-ups and small businesses. They’re also full of creative meeting and event spaces – and you don’t have to be a tenant to use them. Coworking provider WOTSO has 18 locations currently operating or under construction across Australia and Asia, offering more than 30,000 square metres of coworking space. According to chief operating officer Tom Aitchison, office and desk rental make up the core of the business, but venue hire is a growing revenue stream that currently accounts for about 5 per cent.
“We have multiple meeting rooms with varying sizes,” he says. These include 20-person meeting rooms through to signature ‘amphitheatre’ spaces for 80 people or more.“There’s a lot of untapped potential,” says Aitchison. Not-for-profit provider Fishburners is another big player in the coworking space, offering shared space for tech start-ups in Brisbane, Sydney and Shanghai. Event space hire makes up roughly 10 per cent of the business, says CEO Nicole O'Brien.
TOP: The Amphitheatre at WOTSO Pyrmont ABOVE: Coworking space at WOTSO Fortitude Valley
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