Project spaces: a more agile, cheaper model to help build long-term resilience

Start-ups and small organisations are traditionally more flexible and agile than their larger corporation counterparts, with remote and flexible working often part of their DNA.

But with the current COVID-19 pandemic this model has become the rule rather than an option. Workers cannot gather in large groups and are forced to avoid public transport and a crowded CBD or dynamic economic areas for health safety reasons.

Small organisations are under immense operational and financial strain, and need to find quick solutions to drastically cut unnecessary spending while keeping their employees engaged and productive.

Commercial and office space is one of those areas where businesses can easily cut costs, and use that adaptation to the pandemic conditions to transition to a model that will serve them in the long run.

Long-term, expansive commercial leases obsolete

Pandemic or not, for small businesses and start-ups it doesn’t make sense to invest in long-term, often very expensive and non-flexible commercial leases. Unfortunately, except from co-working centres there have been few options available to SMBs.

Commercial space is one of those spending areas that can be easily optimised and this is why we are seeing a tremendous rise of a shorter-term, flexible workspaces model. Even more now that work is slowly transitioning closer to people’s homes, with satellite economic areas and smaller satellite offices developing across suburbs.

Working from home not a sustainable long-term solution

As the OECD pointed out in its latest report, while the era of remote work has become a reality, and a short-term solution that many small businesses have opted for, there are major concerns in the long run.

Not everyone has the luxury and the capability of working from home, while many workers are stuck working in a home environment that is less than ideal, in spaces that are unsuitable for work and/or alongside children, without access to proper enterprise-grade collaboration tools and cybersecurity protection.

The addition of isolation makes working from home not a sustainable model.

Project spaces: moving to a short-term, more agile and modular commercial space model

Project spaces are temporary working environments that conform to the needs of a business or individual worker at any point in time. Those are compartmentalised and ready-to-use spaces that can expand or downsize based on businesses and teams’ needs, size and type of projects. Most of them are usually fully serviced with for example COVID-safe measures and cleaning, premium amenities, business grade and secure Wi-Fi, etc.

Whether it be single desks, meeting rooms or other types of office spaces available for rent for an hour, a day, a week, or a month, more small Aussie organisations and workers are opting to rent out those cost-effective spaces often located close to their homes

We are even now seeing businesses such as hotels transforming their unused rooms into short-term working spaces for professionals looking for cheap options to work from safe, ready-to-use office spaces.

A long term solution to saving on costs, building resilience and investing in business growth

The move to this new type of 100 per cent modular and short-term rental office space model is what can help small businesses not only survive the COVID pandemic but build resilience in the long term as it means they can become highly adaptable to changing internal and external conditions.

In addition, the savings made from not having a fixed and expensive commercial lease can be re-invested in areas that truly add value to the business, that can help drive growth and remain competitive in an increasingly challenging economic situation.

Daniel Gunning, CEO, Spacenow

Flexible working is here to stay. Check out our site to book your own flexible working haven!