Q&A: Convene on flex, diversification and the future of the office

Roughly four years after committing to opening its first UK meeting and events space in London, at an under-construction 22 Bishopsgate, hospitality company Convene is on an ambitious expansion drive, underlined by a £200m deal to acquire etc.venues. [caption id="attachment_850904" align="alignright" width="150"] Elliott Sparsis[/caption] The US-headquartered company, which designs, builds and manages premium meeting, event, and flexible office spaces, made waves when it bought an additional 16 locations from UK based etc.venues earlier today. The company is now valued at $800m (£649m) and with the acquisition, Convene now has a network of 38 meeting, events and flexible office locations across the US and UK including London, Birmingham, Manchester and New York. Convene boss Elliott Sparsis sits down with EG and talks consolidation in the flex market, opportunities for diversification and the future of the office. Why did you decide to make the move to acquire etc.venues and how does the decision tie into bigger expansion plans that you may have in the pipeline? “We have seen a real shift post-Covid with our clients that are the big corporates, that are outsourcing all their large meeting and event inventory. None of the large corporates now want to build meeting and event space in their own footprint. We see it time and time again at 22 Bishopsgate (pictured), no tenants in this building have built a large auditorium. They’ve all designed their space with a knowledge of what we built on the first two office floors at level three and four. And they’re outsourcing all of that inventory down into our footprint. So that allows them to take more efficient space upstairs and reduce their overall real estate square footage base take, which allows them to reduce their cost. And then they can focus on doing what they do well. “Clients then have the confidence that we have got a full-blown kitchen with four chefs, we have got AV technicians, we have got all of the right people in our footprint to deliver a great experience for them that they simply can’t deliver in their own footprint just because they are not specialists at doing so.” Will etc.events operate under a different name? “No decisions made as yet. We’re going through a process of bringing both of the businesses together, so we’re going to analyse that as we get through the next period.” Are there going to be any job cuts as a result of the acquisition? “It’s very early stages. We’re working through the integration and the acquisition [was] only signed last night, so we’re collectively working through that at the moment.” What does the current state of the Convene portfolio tell you about the future of the office? “We have seen it direct from our clients that they genuinely believe the workplace of the future is a physical meeting space. We have all experienced what it’s like to be at home for the past two years through Covid, and collaboration really only exists physically within an environment where people can come together. So we are super excited by the future of work and the future, in our mind, is physical meeting spaces.” Is there an element of diversification to this deal and, if so, what does that look like? “We don’t see ourselves as a flex business. We see ourselves as really the leader in delivering true hospitality services, in partnership with building owners. And we are excited by the next 12 months. I think Covid has proven to building owners and to corporates that buildings need to give them something more exciting rather than what just was at a desk. And we fundamentally delivered that here at 22 Bishopsgate, we have consistently delivered that across our portfolio across the US. So we are really excited by that amenity-led product that is supporting landlords and occupiers and bringing people back to the office for that real reason of true collaboration in an environment.” To send feedback, e-mail chante.bohitige@eg.co.uk or tweet @bohitige or @EGPropertyNews