Coworking continues to play an important role in the evolving work culture across the UK and Ireland, with flexible workspaces becoming a popular choice for freelancers, small businesses, and even large corporations as hybrid work models gain traction.
In fact, the region now boasts more than 3,300 coworking spaces. That amounts to nearly twice the number of coworking spaces per capita as the United States.
This widespread adoption places the UK and Ireland among the global leaders in the paradigm shift toward flexible workspaces. At the same time, it also shows that businesses across the UK and Ireland increasingly view flexible workspaces as an optimal solution for maintaining agility and reducing overhead costs.
With this in mind, our quarterly report provides a comprehensive snapshot of the coworking market by exploring inventory distribution, key operators and median pricing across various workspace types.
Leading Markets by Number of Coworking Spaces
UK & Ireland’s Combined Supply Surpasses 3,300 Flex Offices
The UK’s coworking market boasts a robust infrastructure with nearly 3,100 locations available, while Ireland’s flex workspace stock surpassed 230 locations by the third quarter of 2024.
Unsurprisingly, London continues to dominate the coworking landscape with 887 spaces for more than one-quarter of the national total. In second place, Manchester solidifies its status as the North’s leading coworking hub with 74 coworking spaces. And, despite its smaller size, Bristol rounds out the podium with 55 spaces, demonstrating notable demand in a city with a strong professional base and thriving tech and creative sectors. Close behind, Birmingham takes fourth place with 54 spaces, further highlighting a broadening reach of coworking hubs beyond London.
Outside England, Edinburgh leads with 48 spaces for fifth place overall, followed closely by Glasgow’s 38 coworking locations, which earned it eighth place on the UK-wide leaderboard. Not to be outdone, Cardiff and Belfast hold positions as key hubs in Wales and Northern Ireland with 33 and 30 coworking spaces, respectively.
Meanwhile, Ireland’s coworking stock remains concentrated primarily in Dublin: The capital city is home to nearly half of all coworking spaces in the country. That’s no less than 116 spaces out of the 234 total nationwide flex space inventory, thereby reflecting the capital’s unique role as the country’s leading business and tech hub.
Coworking Subscription Prices
London Leads Overall, but Brighton and Hove Push Dedicated Desk Rates Higher
The coworking subscription landscape shows considerable variation in pricing across different locations and workspace types.
For instance, the median monthly rate for a dedicated desk in the UK stands at £210 at the end of the third quarter, while open workspaces come in at £160. Meanwhile, virtual office memberships hover at the median price of £50 per month, and meeting rooms clock in at £25 per hour.
Of course, London reigns as the most expensive city for open workspace memberships (£245 per month), virtual offices (£100 per month) and meeting rooms (£46 per hour). However, in an interesting twist, Brighton and Hove actually see a higher price for dedicated desks at £310 per month — £35 more than the median price recorded in greater London. This is likely driven by the city’s strong remote work culture, high demand and limited availability of spaces.
In Ireland, virtual office and meeting room costs are slightly below the UK-wide median at €50 per month and €25 per hour. That said, the other two popular space types present a higher price range: The median price for dedicated desks is €267, while open workspaces come in at €225 per month.
Turning to the capital, Dublin’s median prices match the national level when it comes to open workspaces and virtual offices, but dedicated desks cost more than 10% more than the national median. Meeting rooms come in at a more than 30% price premium.
Distribution of Top Operators Within Largest Coworking Markets
Key Operators Compete for Market Share Across Leading Hubs
The UK coworking market benefits from a balanced mix of domestic and international operators. Specifically, in Q3 2024, Regus, Fora, Workspace Group, The Boutique Workplace Company and Spaces rank as the top five operators across the UK’s 15 largest coworking markets. Collectively, these providers oversee a significant portion of the UK-wide coworking stock — more than 400 spaces in total, including almost 280 in these leading hubs.
By far, Regus is the most prominent operator, managing 195 coworking spaces throughout the UK. Apart from its remarkable portfolio size, the coworking giant also stands out with a unique locational strategy: In stark contrast to most leading operators, less than half of its national portfolio is concentrated within the 15 busiest coworking hubs. Even so, with 80 spaces in these markets, Regus still dominates the top end of the list, too.
Fora comes in second with 66 spaces in total — 64 of which are concentrated within the leading markets, particularly in the greater London area. In third place, Workspace Group’s portfolio of 57 coworking locations shows a similar distribution pattern with 55 spaces within the top 15 cities. It’s another example with a heavy focus on the London area.
In Ireland, Dublin’s coworking scene is dominated by Pembr, Iconic Offices and Regus. Together, these top operators capture more than one-third of the market share in Dublin. While Pembr and Iconic Offices have focused exclusively on Dublin thus far (with 18 and 12 spaces, respectively), Regus’ more diversified expansion strategy is evident in Ireland, too. Apart from its nine Dublin locations, Regus operates another six coworking spaces throughout the country with Cork and Limerick being its key targets outside of the capital.
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 and pricing data as of 1 October 2024.
- Data was analysed at the city level with the exception of London (the City of London plus 32 boroughs).
- 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. Cities with three or fewer coworking spaces were excluded from the analysis.
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