Meet The Founders of Spacemade: A Company Aiming To Provide Flexible Workspace Solutions

Spacemade is a first-of-its-kind operational partner for landlords looking to provide a bespoke flexible workspace offer directly to their customers. We launched to the market in June 2020 and now operate across the UK including London, Leeds and Bristol.

The demand for high-quality, flexible, service-led workspace has increased dramatically in recent years, and we see ourselves as a service provider which helps building owners deliver this directly to their occupiers.

Every flexible workspace that we create is a unique proposition because each location and demographic that we are active in is very different. For example, we currently operate a building opposite the Royal Courts of Justice and it’s a very legal-focused area, so the target for the space is lawyers and professional services, whereas we have another space launching at the beginning of April in London Fields, which is much more creative, tech-led and entrepreneurial.

Each space is individually branded for the building owner but all linked together within the Spacemade network so that the landlord’s customers can enjoy the benefits of a unique space and benefit from a wide and diversified network. The best of all worlds.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
Dan: Both myself and Jonny had been working within the real estate industry for many years, albeit in different areas. I had been working for a major investor and noticed that buildings were not letting in the traditional way. A system that had been working for over 50 years was suddenly changing and building owners right across the sector were caught on the backfoot and didn’t quite know how to respond.

Jonny: I have been working within the flexible workspace industry for 10 years, and founded my former business Headspace Group in 2012. After selling that business, a mutual friend brought us together and we got talking. Dan and I had each recognised a change was occurring within the sector towards a more agile, flexible and service-led workspace offering. We also knew that building owners lacked the know-how and infrastructure to manage such an operation. This is where the idea for Spacemade was conceived.
 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
Our model revolves around accelerated change, and the market has evolved massively over the past year. There has been a big shift in the way end users and employees want to engage with office space. In a 12-month period, the pandemic has brought forward shifts around flexibility and remote working which may have otherwise happened over the next five years.

At the same time, the co-working and flexible working market has reached a level of maturity, it is more nuanced than it was a few years ago. People know what they want from a workspace and will aspire to a type of space that fits their business and individual brands.

Rather than sitting on increased vacancy, what we’re now seeing is that building owners are keen to deliver this type of space and service directly to their customer, but often don’t have the infrastructure to operate it themselves. Spacemade is a conduit to this.
 

What can we hope to see from Spacemade in the future?

 
We’re getting ready to launch our next space, Neighbourhood Works at London Fields in the coming weeks, and working on many more spaces in the pipeline. We have recently secured £1m worth of funding to help us scale our platform across the UK. We’ve laid some really strong foundations so far and are excited about what’s to come. Our mission is to continue to grow our network of beautifully designed, amenity rich, well-located workspaces on behalf of building owners, helping them to reconnect with their customers.