The coworking trend has been a major shaping force in the development of the post-pandemic work culture, and business hubs across the UK and Ireland have been quick to embrace the flexibility that these modern workspaces offer.
Fuelled by the headway of remote and hybrid work models, coworking spaces have emerged as a compelling alternative not just to the home office for freelancers, but also to traditional office spaces as businesses strive to optimise costs and maintain flexibility. And, with a coworking space density nearly double that of the United States, the UK and Ireland have rapidly embraced flexible workspaces, driving innovation and competition in the industry.
With this in mind, our quarterly report series provides a regular snapshot of the state of the coworking industry in the UK and Ireland by shedding light on the size and distribution of the inventory and the key market players, as well as median pricing across multiple space types.
Leading Markets by Number of Coworking Spaces
Coworking Supply Surpasses 3,000 Spaces Throughout British Isles
The UK boasts a robust coworking infrastructure with a total of more than 2,800 locations at the mid-year mark.
Of course, London reigns supreme as the nation’s coworking epicentre, housing nearly 800 spaces (more than one-quarter of the national coworking space stock), followed somewhat unsurprisingly by the second-largest city, Manchester, with just less than 70 flex workspaces.
However, Bristol landing in third place is more noteworthy given its much smaller size. In fact, the city’s 52-strong coworking space inventory pushed the three-times-larger Birmingham to fourth place. Bristol also far outperformed other, bigger cities — like Leeds, Southampton and Liverpool — signalling a clear market response to the progressive, highly educated workforce’s demand for modern, flexible workspaces.
Outside of England, Edinburgh took the pole position with 44 spaces to snatch fifth place in the UK-wide ranking. It was closely followed by Glasgow with 39 in seventh place. Meanwhile, Cardiff and Belfast represented Wales and Northern Ireland on the leaderboard with 33 and 26 flex workspaces, respectively. Aberdeen also secured a place among the top 15 UK coworking hubs with 18 spaces to round out the Scottish podium.
While smaller in scale, the coworking sector also has a strong foothold in Ireland with the country currently accommodating just more than 200 coworking spaces. Eclipsing even London’s dominance, Dublin is home to about half of the nation’s coworking inventory, underscoring the city’s status as Ireland’s primary business and technology hub.
Coworking Subscription Prices
London’s Most Expensive City Title Challenged in Dedicated-Desk Category
The cost of coworking subscriptions shows a wide variation based on location, workspace type and additional amenities. For instance, in the UK, the median monthly rate for dedicated-desk prices closed the second quarter at £215, open workspaces stood at £155 and virtual office prices hovered around the £40 mark. Meeting rooms came in at a median rate of £25 per hour.
Granted, London coworking spaces command the highest median prices, at least for open workspaces (£250 per month), virtual office memberships (£99 per month) and meeting rooms (£45 per hour). That said, Brighton and Hove defied the capital’s usual price dominance: Dedicated desks in these cities cost a whopping £35 more per month, possibly due to a combination of high local demand driven by a robust remote work culture and a smaller pool of available spaces — compounded by the city’s premium living costs.
At the same time, Ireland presented a slightly higher price point with the median monthly rate for a dedicated desk at €280 and open-workspace subscriptions at €200. Additionally, virtual offices are priced at €50 per month, and meeting rooms command an average hourly rate of €37. These figures are naturally pulled upward by Dublin, where the median monthly price showed a €19 premium over the national level with meeting rooms also commanding €7 more per hour.
Distribution of Top Operators Within Largest Coworking Markets
Dominant Coworking Players Reaching for Low-Hanging Fruit
The UK coworking landscape is characterised by a healthy mix of both international and domestic operators. Namely, Fora, Workspace Group, The Boutique Workplace Company, WeWork and Landmark Space emerged as the leading players in the top 15 coworking markets, collectively managing almost 10% of the total UK market. However, their portfolio is not spread out as wide geographically as it is statistically.
For example, market-leading operator Fora has just four of its 62 spaces outside of London and only dips its toe with one space per city to cautiously extend into Bristol’s and Leeds’ mature coworking markets. Moreover, even its two more experimental targets — Reading and Cambridge — can be considered solid ground with 15 coworking spaces each. Similarly, runner-up Workspace Group also has only two of its 58 spaces outside of greater London, which is still essentially within London’s gravitational field.
In third place, The Boutique Workplace Company is also present in a handful of cities outside of London. Again, the majority of them are other established coworking markets within the national top 15 with plenty of demand. Even global coworking giant WeWork only has six of its 38 UK spaces outside of the capital, with Manchester being the only location with more than one coworking space under the global brand’s umbrella. Finally, as we reach further down the list, Landmark Space breaks the mould to some degree by operating in five cities outside of London with two spaces each in Manchester, Birmingham and Milton Keynes.
In Ireland, Pembr, Iconic Offices and Workhub dominate the coworking scene with Pembr holding the largest market share. The same pattern can be observed here as in the UK, only pushed to the extreme: The top three operators hold all of their inventory in Dublin. Clearly, these operators have successfully tapped into the capital city’s demand for flexible workspaces by offering a range of options to suit different preferences and budgets.
Methodology
- To compile this report, we used proprietary data from CoworkingCafe to determine the number of coworking spaces per market and the leading operators.
- The study relied solely on CoworkingCafe inventory data as of July 1st, and pricing data as of July 17th, 2024.
- Data was analysed at the city level with the exception of London (City of London plus 32 boroughs). Cities with three or fewer coworking spaces were excluded from the analysis.
- In terms of pricing, we looked at the national median starting prices per person per month for virtual office, open workspace, and dedicated-desk coworking subscriptions and hourly rates for meeting rooms.
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