New York, Sydney and Brasília: three global cities on three continents share one thing—coworking providers have established themselves in the office market. Flexible office providers have also strengthened their market share in neighbouring European countries such as England and the Netherlands. In Germany, coworking is still often called a “trend”, although flexible workspaces are already firmly established in the office markets of at least the TOP 7 cities. This development is now spreading to B-cities.

Coworking originated in the United States and describes an office-market model that lets tenants use workspaces flexibly in terms of time and location. Instead of renting entire office floors with traditional one- and two-person offices on long leases, companies rent individual desks or office units as needed, including infrastructure such as furniture, printers and washrooms, in workspaces. Initially used mainly by start-ups and freelancers, coworking spaces in Germany are now one-third occupied by corporates.

“Coworking has arrived in Essen and will prevail in the long term. It is not a trend, but a logical development in the world of offices that responds to the needs of modern employees. Customers are no longer just founders and people in creative professions. Large companies occupy almost one-third of the space, often for project teams. In future, it will be increasingly important for companies to offer employees flexible working options in terms of time and place. Flexible workspaces meet this need. I expect demand to rise significantly,” says Eckhard Brockhoff, Managing Partner of Brockhoff & Partner.

Essen is the Ruhr region’s office city and has recorded the region’s highest office take-up in recent years. It is therefore no surprise that coworking providers have chosen the city for their next expansion phase. Unlike the TOP 7 cities, Essen also has available space in sought-after locations.

In the first half of 2019 alone, around 7,754 m² of office space was leased to coworking providers. A further 3,000 m² is under option. Against total office take-up of almost 110,000 m², this represents a substantial share of around 9.78%, according to Essen-based brokerage Brockhoff & Partner.

Since this year, Design Offices alone has made almost 7,000 m² of flexible office space available to the Essen market in Ruhr Tower. The modern-work specialist has also secured an option on a further 3,000 m² in the tower. “Coworking providers are looking for space in prominent locations that is available flexibly and has excellent technical office facilities. Following renovation, the former Rheinstahl tower near Essen Central Station is ideally suited to this business model. It is no surprise that Design Offices secured a substantial amount of space,” explains Tobias Altenbeck, head of office agency at Brockhoff & Partner, which holds the property’s lead agency mandate.

A prime 1A location, state-of-the-art technical facilities and short-notice availability were also decisive for Work Inn. Brockhoff & Partner brokered a whole floor of around 754 m² in the listed office complex at Lindenallee 29-41 to the Ruhr-focused flexible-office provider.

In 2017, BROCKHOFF INVEST sold the former Schenker headquarters at Alfredstr. 81. Following extensive refurbishment, it has housed around 1,700 m² of coworking space since 2018. Another approximately 800 m² of coworking space is centrally located at Rüttenscheider Str. 120. Ruhr:HUB offers more than 40 flexible workstations across over 500 m². Numerous smaller providers add to the offering.

Although a considerable share of coworking offices in Germany still struggle with profitability, office markets in neighbouring countries support the view that coworking is more than a trend. In the Netherlands and England, for example, the one- and two-person offices common in Germany, often behind closed doors, are unusual. Employees are generally accustomed to choosing their workplace flexibly. “That not only saves fixed costs by reducing space requirements, but above all encourages communication between colleagues. The speed of information sharing is an increasingly important competitive factor. Germany would therefore be well advised to leave outdated office concepts behind and embrace modern structures. Major companies such as RWE and Innogy are leading the way by redesigning their premises or renting flexible workspaces,” says Brockhoff.