It used to be all the world’s a stage. Now it appears that all the world is – or is soon to be – a WeWork.
And there will be plenty out there in the real estate world who are thankful for that. It seems like not a week goes by without a WeWork headline popping up somewhere.
Last week, WeWork helped secure top spots in the EG LOMA rankings for Cushman & Wakefield and CBRE and supported take-up figures for Q2 (click here to have a rummage through all our London Office Market Analysis data); this week it has helped Cain Hoy Enterprises fill its The Stage scheme in Shoreditch, EC2, two years before completion.
The world’s most valuable start-up has agreed to take 240,000 sq ft at the £750m scheme, paying more than £65 per sq ft. It’s a big deal in itself, another quarter of a million square feet to add to the 1.6m sq ft it already has in the capital, but as the group’s executive vice president of real estate Patrick Nelson says, this is only the beginning of WeWork’s takeover of London (head to www.estatesgazette.podbean.com to listen to an interview with Nelson, and check out our other podcasts while you are there).
A side note: while WeWork may be stealing the headlines on the growth of flexible working in London,
it is not the only player out there. Click here for our look at whether the capital’s future is flexible.
But what is more interesting than WeWork’s (for the moment) unstoppable growth – a $760m (£580m) equity raise, $500m jvs with Softbank et al in Japan and China, all in the last month – is what it is doing outside co-working.
While WeWork won’t be drawn on where, it does want to expand its WeLive concept: co-living with the same style and brand values as its co-working concept. At a price, of course. It had mooted almost two years ago that it was bringing WeLive to Canary Wharf, but that didn’t happen. Perhaps it didn’t offer the right sort of clientele. Is WeWork/WeLive really the type of space that bankers and traders desire? Doubtful.
But what does make sense for WeLive is The Stage. The Stage sits in that part of Shoreditch that is fast becoming TMT central. Next door, conveniently, is Amazon’s new 600,000 sq ft London HQ – an HQ that will accommodate 5,000 workers. And it is likely to have staff from its global HQ in Seattle, Washington, and offices all over the world passing through regularly. Techies and creatives make more sense than bankers and traders.
But whether WeLive or WeWork, we do have to be more flexible as an industry. Whether that is in the space that we design, the leases that we offer, or as discussed on this week’s TechTalk Radio (head back to www.estatesgazette.podbean.com for that) the data we share, flexibility and adaptability is the key to succeeding in this brave new world.
■ Talking of adapting, EG has had a transformation itself this year and we continue to improve our look, feel, and accessibility to ensure we provide you with what you need. Our latest improvement is to www.egi.co.uk, overhauling the site to make it easier to navigate the many products and services EG has to offer. Take a look, tell us what you think.
To send feedback, e-mail Samantha.McClary@egi.co.uk or tweet @Samanthamcclary or @estatesgazette
