Co-working spaces are in high demand again because of the new flexible and hybrid work culture produced by the Covid-19 pandemic, as IT businesses urge employees to log out of work from home (WFH).
Even though the co-working market had a significant drop in the aftermath of the pandemic, industry insiders claim that occupancies are again back to extremely healthy levels as businesses seek flexibility to keep employees delighted and tackle rising attrition levels. Most coworking spaces have responded by shifting into high gear and rapidly ramping up capacity.
Smartworks, which has roughly 6.5 million square feet of space across the country and about 6 lakh square feet in Hyderabad, is preparing for a substantial expansion.
“By the end of this month we will be over a million sq ft in Hyderabad as we are seeing a lot of traction, mostly from large enterprises that are having their employees come back to work,” said Smartworks founder Neetish Sarda, pointing out that most companies are taking up multiple offices spread across different locations and are looking for more collaboration zones.
According to reports, WeWork plans to virtually double its footprint in the city by the end of the year by adding another 2-3 lakh sq ft, or 2,000 to 3,000 seats, to its existing presence of 3,300 seats in two locations.
Awfis, which has roughly 11 centers in Hyderabad with 6,800 seats, plans to more than double its capacity to about 20 centers with 14,000-15,000 seats in the next six months, according to Amit Ramani, founder, and CEO of Awfis.
With the growing momentum in the office market and flex becoming a must-have for enterprises, according to Veera Babu, managing director, Cushman & Wakefield, the city’s coworking footprint is likely to increase in the next 3-to 4 years.
“Flex is no more an amenity, it has become a necessity for occupiers as well as developers. From a stop-gap arrangement to a satellite or extended office, it has transformed into a business solution over the last 2-3 years. Hyderabad is a focus market for all flex space operators and their growth has been phenomenal in recent years,” Veera Babu said.
He noted that the city’s coworking space take-up was 2.08 lakh sq ft in the first quarter of 2022, with another 5 lakh sq ft space likely to be leased by the end of the year.
He noted that coworking occupies 6.5% of the city’s 80 million square feet of office space or 5.1 million square feet.
