Features / Feature
The co-working revolution
Sadly Keynes’ 1930s prediction that we’d all be working a 15-hour week by 2030 looks to be a fading dream (if only), but the way we work is undoubtedly changing. No longer slaves to The Man, the UK’s workforce is more elastic and dynamic than ever. Flexible working is commonplace in large organisations, there’s been a boom in the emergence of micro businesses and freelancing is an established trend.
There are now 4.5 million self-employed people in the UK – an estimated 15 percent of the workforce – up around 40 percent since 2000. A Bank of England report earlier this year found that self-employment has become an important feature of our labour market, accounting for a third of the increase in employment since 2010. Brothers and sisters are doing it for themselves.
These shifts have brought with them a boom in co-working, a trend which hasn’t passed Bristol by. Beyond cafes and public buildings – the simplest incarnation – dedicated spaces are springing up to cater for demand.
Why are people choosing to move into shared spaces? Some opt to work from home, but find that cabin fever – demotivating and deflating – is a real and present danger. Co-working demarcates business and pleasure, creates a casual working environment, and allows ideas to be bounced around.
Meanwhile Creative’s Pithay Studios
“In its most broad sense co-working is people working in environments that foster collaboration and sharing of ideas,” muses Jack Doran of Meanwhile Creative, which has two such spaces, has just taken the keys to establish another in the former YMCA building on Old Market and plans to open a fourth by the end of the year. “These days developments in business are coming from small, rapidly growing companies rather than from the big guys. This new generation of companies and the entrepreneurs that lead them have a different set of norms to those who have gone before. They’re not all about guarding everything from view and being insular; they want to share their ideas, work together and find solutions.
“More than anything, I think it’s a rejection of the formal office set-up with blue carpets, suspended ceilings and bad banter in the queue for the photocopier.”
Bristol has no shortage and their number is rising. Hamilton House, Pithay Studios, The Island, Engine Shed, 77 Stokes Croft and the Old School House are just a handful of our home-grown options.
The YMCA on Old Market, soon to be Bristol’s newest co-working space
“Co-workers tend to be young, culturally engaged and open-minded so it’s no surprise that Bristol is the perfect city,” Jack continues, underlining the glut of entrepreneurs here. “It’s recognised as a hub for start-up businesses. Once they start clustering together you get something of a snowball effect.”
“In the technology sector there are definite advantages in being around other people doing a similar job in terms of sharing experiences, skills, knowledge, and generally having fun,” adds Jon Tan, co-founder of Mild Bunch office space in Stokes Croft. “Plus, co-working has become a cool thing to do.”
He says normal occupants include “service industry professionals like designers, illustrators, web developers, writers, independent architects and consultants, and small teams working on start-ups that aren’t ready to rent somewhere exclusively.
“In Mild Bunch we have designers who’ve worked with clients such as Doctors without Borders and National Geographic, web developers working on projects for WhatsApp and the BBC, the editor of the Daily Mash, and an architect. Pretty diverse.”
Yet while Jon has reservations about the trend growing, cautioning that “there are a lot of free desks in Bristol right now”, Jack believes that co-working will only ever grow in popularity – “affordable work spaces in fun, creative environments on short contracts; what’s not to love?”
Photo – The Mild Bunch offices in Stokes Croft