Knight Frank launches managed office jv

Knight Frank has teamed up with a flexible office space provider to launch a managed workspace offering for landlords and occupiers. The agency has partnered with Work.Life to set up joint venture Yours, which will provide landlords with a new operating platform that offers flexible as well as traditional leases in their buildings. Work.Life, which was set up in 2015, has targeted small and medium-sized occupiers. Co-founder David Kosky said smaller spaces will remain a focus for the jv with Knight Frank, which aims to help landlords corner a larger share of the sub-10,000 sq ft market increasingly dominated by co-working companies. “This is helping a particular pain point for landlords,” Kosky said. “There are plenty of people who partner with landlords on 50,000 sq ft or 100,000 sq ft, but the majority of the market is the sub-10,000 sq ft floorplate, where we’ve seen an increasing void. That is where none of the other operators are helping landlords, but that is where the need is.” Companies taking space in a Yours set-up will also be able to use Work.Life’s existing 11 locations in London, Reading and Manchester. “From an occupier’s perspective, it’s delivering them fully serviced [space], all the benefits of co-working, with their own front door,” Kosky said. “It’s managed space that is fully fitted, and what we think is a better solution than taking cat A-plus or a co-working space.” James Nicholson, partner at Knight Frank, said the Yours offering would recognise the changing occupier market for flexible office space. “It isn’t just for start-ups and rapidly scaling small businesses,” he said. “It is increasingly for those growing in maturity that still want to have the ease of provision of serviced and co-working [offices] but actually need more of their own space, more privacy and to tailor that space to their own needs. That’s a target market we’re trying to address, as are corporates who are increasingly running more of a core and flex model.” Research by Knight Frank shows that flexible office take-up in London stood at 1.96m sq ft last year, increasing more than eight-fold over a decade. Work.Life was set up by Kosky, who previously worked at asset manager London & Capital, and entrepreneur Elliot Gold. The company has struck deals in the past with institutional landlords including Investec, Mayfair Capital and Legal & General. Kosky expects the company to have 18 co-working locations by the end of 2020. “We felt that the co-working market was at some point going to mirror the hotel market where landlords own the real estate, find the right brand and partner to deliver a solution – the right operator and the right asset,” he said. To send feedback, e-mail tim.burke@egi.co.uk or tweet @_tim_burke or @estatesgazette