Our first GCUC UK Webinar was a great success and delivered some great conversations. Antony Slumbers was joined by Natasha Guerra, CEO Runway East, Chris Davies Director Uncommon, Jonathan Weinbrenn MD BE.Spoke and Seb Royle CEO Platf9rm.
For a quick overview I have pulled together my top 10 quotes.
1. Jonathan Weinbrenn – “This will be a massive tipping point (from the CRE perspective) to drive more business to the flexible workspace segment….. people may take less space, but will pay more for it because they see the value in it.”
2. Antony Slumbers – It’s not an office people don’t want, it’s bad offices they don’t want.”
3. Seb Royle – “Whilst coworking will take a hit due to social distancing, there is still a desire for people to come back together again and be part of a community. It’s a short term issue and we are all social animals and will all come back together again when we are allowed to. ”
4. Chris Davies – “Covid-19 is accelerating what was already happening in the sector…..we have to continue to provide better office space because that’s the challenge for the sector as that’s what people will be paying for and the focus on healthy, safe spaces has moved up the rankings in their requirements.”
5. Natasha Guerra – “Impact of Covid-19 will long term massively change the recruitment dynamic. Before when you needed to hire someone you hired from within the city that you lived in, but now it has opened up and you can hire anyone in the UK/World and it massively opens up the employers talent pool.”
6. Antony Slumbers – “If companies have become comfortable with staff working remotely then they will be less bothered about where people are, which will change the dynamic between London and the regions.”
7. Natasha Guerra – “Now clients are not wanting their office all the time, so we are having to reimagine our office space service offering. We are focussed on innovating around our products and offer a better value experience to customers when they return.”
8. Natasha Guerra – “Retention is our priority over sales, our theory is that it’s 6 times easier to retain a client than it is to win a new one.”
9. Jonathan Weinbrenn – “Increasingly we will find that customers will come to us directly now because they are seeking out alternative strategies for office space solutions.”
In summary, short term challenges lie ahead, opportunities are there in the medium to long term with an increased requirement for health, safety and air quality.
The flexible workspace market size is going to dramatically increase, but the methods of consumption are going to change.
At present the traditional landlord proposition is the least customer centric model in these difficult times, whereas the flexible workplace sector is agile and here to support customers. Flexible workspace offers operational expertise, excellent hospitality skills, a good understanding of property and great teams who are focussed on delivering all these services.
And to sign off in these unprecedented times…… quote No.10 – Seb Royle – “Stick with it, we’re all in this together!”
The webinar can be viewed here
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