A new, independent survey of 250 UK office landlords commissioned by workspace provider infinitSpace found:
- When repurposing traditional office space, flexible or coworking space was the most popular type of conversion (11%), ahead of hospitality (10%), retail outlets (8%), and residential property (7%).
- In the last two years, 23% of respondents have converted at least some of their traditional office space in their buildings into flexible/coworking spaces.
- 22% plan to convert some of their traditional office space into flexible/coworking spaces in the next two years.
Office landlords in the UK are turning to flexible or coworking spaces when converting existing offices into new types of real estate, new research by infinitSpace has revealed.
It revealed that repurposing traditional office space into flexible or coworking space was the most popular type of conversion (11%), ahead of hospitality (10%), retail outlets (8%), and residential property (7%).
This comes as a quarter (23%) of landlords have converted their traditional office space into flexible or coworking spaces over the past two years, and one-in-five (22%) plan to do the same in the coming two years.
When questioned about their greatest motivations for converting into a flexible workspace, over half (57%) of landlords said that aligning with current market trends was the most popular answer.
This was followed by keeping pace with competitors (54%), enhancing the value of their property (43%), maximizing revenue from empty or underutilized space (40%), and futureproofing assets (35%).
“If it wasn’t already clear, these results show that the traditional office model has and will continue to evolve rapidly. As many traditional office spaces face low occupancy rates, it has never been more important for office landlords to adapt,” said Wybo Wijnbergen, CEO of infinitSpace.
“So, it’s positive to see that most landlords recognize the importance of upgrading their portfolio to keep pace with the rapidly evolving demands of UK office workers – as well as of of course boosting revenues and property values. For many, that looks like converting into flex space,” added Wijnbergen.
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ABOUT INFINITSPACE
infinitSpace creates and manages tech-enabled white-label flexible workspaces on behalf of commercial landlords. It aims to empower human endeavour by bringing together local communities in world-class spaces that have customised curated services and high-spec technology.
It operates its own flexible workspace brand – beyond – which landlords can choose to adopt for their own buildings. Alternatively, infinitSpace can create white-label brands and technology, allowing landlords to collaborate in choosing the exact make-up of their workspace. For more information, please visit www.infinitspace.com
ABOUT THE RESEARCH
The market research was carried out in May 2024 among 250 landlords with UK office properties via an online survey by independent market research agency Censuswide. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society which is based on the ESOMAR principles. Its MRS membership means that it adheres to strict guidelines regarding all phases of research, including research design and data collection; communicating with respondents; conducting fieldwork; analysis and reporting; data storage. The data sample is fully nationally representative, ensuring the respondents are weighted by age, gender, region, employment status and political views.
