"Few companies can know how many people will be working for them in five or ten years"
Eduardo Salsamendi, president of ProWorkSpaces, the association of flexible workspace operators in Spain
Eduardo Salsamendi, president of ProWorkSpaces, the association of flexible workspace operators in Spain
The development of coworking spaces in Spain is a reality that has been gaining strength for years and has even been accelerated by the pandemic, generating new work dynamics. Eduardo Salsamendi is the president of ProWorkSpaces, the association of flexible workspace operators in Spain. He recently participated in the seminar Spanish National Workshop on New Working Spaces, organized by the i2TIC research group of the UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business, where he reflected on the impact and future prospects of coworking spaces.
Coworking has been evolving and growing over time, and the concept of corporate coworking has recently been gaining strength. What does this involve?
In Spain we've had business centres since 1978, as a replica of what was referred to in the United States as executive suites, which focused mainly on offering a service. Coworking was born around 2010, partly in response to the financial crisis, with the initial idea of sharing synergies, spaces and projects and focusing on the community. As they evolved and reached other profiles beyond freelancers, people started to demand more services of these spaces, which started to include business centre aspects. At the same time, people started to want aspects of coworking in business centres, with the result that now many of us are straddling these two worlds. What is usually meant when talking about corporate coworking is a business centre that has incorporated coworking values. This is also referred to as a flexible office. The variety of names is one of the curses of this sector.
In any case, it seems to be doing well. How is it doing in Spain?
It's tremendously diverse, with 1,800 spaces ranging from small boutique coworking spaces, with the initial philosophy of the first projects, to large, specialized chains with large surface areas and investments to accommodate corporate clients. And in the middle are all possible variations of the above. Furthermore, this is a time of huge constant evolution. Before the pandemic, there was double-digit annual growth, almost reaching 20%, especially due to the emergence of WeWork and big investors. Now it's growing exponentially, and it's evolving constantly because needs change.
The pandemic has brought about changes to the approach to work that are certain to have influenced them.
Exactly. Large companies that until now had not considered options such as ours but now value it and consider it attractive. In Madrid or Barcelona it's now very common to have clients with 200 or 300 flexible jobs, something that was unthinkable a few years ago. And, since a corporate client's workers must have the same ergonomic and workplace quality requirements as those working in its offices, accommodating them helps our evolution.
In a scenario of uncertainty, it seems that one of the most important characteristics of the sector must be flexibility. Is that right?
Of course, because needs in terms of space design, technology and community evolve a lot and will continue to do so. We used to talk about large spaces full of desks and chairs. Now there are other needs: much more spacious multi-functional spaces, areas for relaxed work, offices, meeting spaces.
If we were already flexible before the pandemic, we're even more flexible now, to the point of providing workplaces even for a single hour through an application. But the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have also forced companies to be very flexible.
How do you mean?
If they want to survive, they have to adapt to reality very quickly. Previously, you could think about renting an office and remodelling it so you could have 150 people working there for ten years. There are now very few companies that can say how many people will be working for them in five years' time. That's why these investments sometimes fail and companies look for more flexible options such as ours, with the ability to cancel after a year or even after shorter periods.
What do you think are the prospects of coworking in Spain compared to other countries?
This sector has always evolved a lot in the English-speaking world, probably due to cultural reasons. Businesses flow more and are more tailored to the needs of the moment, which is also why people are increasingly renting rather than buying their homes. London is the largest market in the world. That city alone has more and much larger workspaces than the whole of Spain. Here, until recently we had many very small independent spaces, but that is changing very quickly. The average size of available places is growing a lot, because very large spaces, some of them almost 10,000 m2 in size, are being opened.
Can the emergence of these large players distort the essence of coworking?
I think a comparison can be made with hotels. Large hotel chains can coexist with boutique, charming or rural hotels. Anyone who operates within the ecosystem of a large chain of spaces already knows what it offers and what they will find around the world, but there are also a lot of independent spaces with the much stronger mark of the owner or manager.
For obvious reasons, the majority of available spaces are in large cities, but rural coworking also exists.
Anyone looking for corporate clients invests in city centres and makes a large investment that must yield a return in this way. But there are also many operators emerging in other types of environments. Operators that work outside city centres as a matter of principle are already emerging in Belgium and the United Kingdom. They specialize in the outskirts and smaller towns but with larger spaces. And there are also more artisanal coworking spaces, with maybe around 20 desks, where there is much more rapport and capillarity and synergies can flow better. As for rural coworking, it's worth noting that it's very important in terms of its ability to energize communities.
What are the forecasts for the future of the sector?
Based on the figures we have, we estimate that by 2030 there could be 1.5 million people working in a coworking space in Spain on a daily basis, because we're seeing trends such as the conversion of shopping centres into office centres. There will be an evolution towards hybrid models combining coworking with other things. This business provides solutions for all kinds of needs, and this diversity is going to increase manyfold. Vertical coworking spaces specializing in one activity, such as those for engineers or photographers, are now emerging. I predict that this significant yet diffuse growth will continue due to people's diversity and the ability to offer solutions to new needs.
The development of coworking spaces in Spain is a reality that has been gaining strength for years and has even been accelerated by the pandemic, generating new work dynamics. Eduardo Salsamendi is the president of ProWorkSpaces, the association of flexible workspace operators in Spain. He recently participated in the seminar Spanish National Workshop on New Working Spaces, organized by the i2TIC research group of the UOC's Faculty of Economics and Business, where he reflected on the impact and future prospects of coworking spaces.
Coworking has been evolving and growing over time, and the concept of corporate coworking has recently been gaining strength. What does this involve?
In Spain we've had business centres since 1978, as a replica of what was referred to in the United States as executive suites, which focused mainly on offering a service. Coworking was born around 2010, partly in response to the financial crisis, with the initial idea of sharing synergies, spaces and projects and focusing on the community. As they evolved and reached other profiles beyond freelancers, people started to demand more services of these spaces, which started to include business centre aspects. At the same time, people started to want aspects of coworking in business centres, with the result that now many of us are straddling these two worlds. What is usually meant when talking about corporate coworking is a business centre that has incorporated coworking values. This is also referred to as a flexible office. The variety of names is one of the curses of this sector.
In any case, it seems to be doing well. How is it doing in Spain?
It's tremendously diverse, with 1,800 spaces ranging from small boutique coworking spaces, with the initial philosophy of the first projects, to large, specialized chains with large surface areas and investments to accommodate corporate clients. And in the middle are all possible variations of the above. Furthermore, this is a time of huge constant evolution. Before the pandemic, there was double-digit annual growth, almost reaching 20%, especially due to the emergence of WeWork and big investors. Now it's growing exponentially, and it's evolving constantly because needs change.
The pandemic has brought about changes to the approach to work that are certain to have influenced them.
Exactly. Large companies that until now had not considered options such as ours but now value it and consider it attractive. In Madrid or Barcelona it's now very common to have clients with 200 or 300 flexible jobs, something that was unthinkable a few years ago. And, since a corporate client's workers must have the same ergonomic and workplace quality requirements as those working in its offices, accommodating them helps our evolution.
In a scenario of uncertainty, it seems that one of the most important characteristics of the sector must be flexibility. Is that right?
Of course, because needs in terms of space design, technology and community evolve a lot and will continue to do so. We used to talk about large spaces full of desks and chairs. Now there are other needs: much more spacious multi-functional spaces, areas for relaxed work, offices, meeting spaces.
If we were already flexible before the pandemic, we're even more flexible now, to the point of providing workplaces even for a single hour through an application. But the pandemic and the war in Ukraine have also forced companies to be very flexible.
How do you mean?
If they want to survive, they have to adapt to reality very quickly. Previously, you could think about renting an office and remodelling it so you could have 150 people working there for ten years. There are now very few companies that can say how many people will be working for them in five years' time. That's why these investments sometimes fail and companies look for more flexible options such as ours, with the ability to cancel after a year or even after shorter periods.
What do you think are the prospects of coworking in Spain compared to other countries?
This sector has always evolved a lot in the English-speaking world, probably due to cultural reasons. Businesses flow more and are more tailored to the needs of the moment, which is also why people are increasingly renting rather than buying their homes. London is the largest market in the world. That city alone has more and much larger workspaces than the whole of Spain. Here, until recently we had many very small independent spaces, but that is changing very quickly. The average size of available places is growing a lot, because very large spaces, some of them almost 10,000 m2 in size, are being opened.
Can the emergence of these large players distort the essence of coworking?
I think a comparison can be made with hotels. Large hotel chains can coexist with boutique, charming or rural hotels. Anyone who operates within the ecosystem of a large chain of spaces already knows what it offers and what they will find around the world, but there are also a lot of independent spaces with the much stronger mark of the owner or manager.
For obvious reasons, the majority of available spaces are in large cities, but rural coworking also exists.
Anyone looking for corporate clients invests in city centres and makes a large investment that must yield a return in this way. But there are also many operators emerging in other types of environments. Operators that work outside city centres as a matter of principle are already emerging in Belgium and the United Kingdom. They specialize in the outskirts and smaller towns but with larger spaces. And there are also more artisanal coworking spaces, with maybe around 20 desks, where there is much more rapport and capillarity and synergies can flow better. As for rural coworking, it's worth noting that it's very important in terms of its ability to energize communities.
What are the forecasts for the future of the sector?
Based on the figures we have, we estimate that by 2030 there could be 1.5 million people working in a coworking space in Spain on a daily basis, because we're seeing trends such as the conversion of shopping centres into office centres. There will be an evolution towards hybrid models combining coworking with other things. This business provides solutions for all kinds of needs, and this diversity is going to increase manyfold. Vertical coworking spaces specializing in one activity, such as those for engineers or photographers, are now emerging. I predict that this significant yet diffuse growth will continue due to people's diversity and the ability to offer solutions to new needs.
Press contact
-
Editorial department