UK co-working space almost double that of US

The volume of co-working spaces across the UK and Ireland has grown to more than 3,300 flex offices – almost double the volume in the US. New figures from CoWorking Café reveal almost 3,100 locations in the UK, with upwards of 230 locations in Ireland. London continues to dominate the co-working landscape with 887 spaces. Manchester is in second place with 74 co-working spaces, while Bristol is in third with 55 spaces. Close behind, Birmingham takes fourth place with 54 spaces, further highlighting a broadening reach of co-working hubs beyond London. Outside England, Edinburgh leads with 48 spaces for fifth place overall, followed by Glasgow’s 38 co-working locations, which earned it eighth place on the UK-wide leaderboard. Cardiff and Belfast hold positions as key hubs in Wales and Northern Ireland with 33 and 30 co-working spaces, respectively. Ireland’s co-working stock remains concentrated primarily in Dublin. The capital city is home to nearly half of all co-working spaces in the country, some 116 locations. Pricing variation CoWorking Café’s report also shows considerable variation in subscription prices for co-working locations across the UK and Ireland. The median monthly rate for a dedicated desk in the UK stood at £210 at the end of the third quarter, while open workspaces come in at £160. Virtual office memberships hover at the median price of £50 per month, while meeting rooms cost, on average, £25 per hour. London is the most expensive city for open workspace memberships, costing around £245 per month, with virtual offices costing £100 per month and meeting rooms £46 per hour. Brighton and Hove, however, command a higher price for dedicated desks at £310 per month – £35 more than the median price recorded in Greater London. This is likely driven by locations’ strong remote work culture, high demand and limited availability of spaces. In Ireland, virtual office and meeting room costs are slightly below the UK-wide median at €50 (£41.94) per month and €25 per hour. The median price for dedicated desks is €267, while open workspaces come in at €225 per month. In Dublin, median prices match the national level when it comes to open workspaces and virtual offices, but dedicated desks cost more than 10% more than the national median. Meeting rooms come in at a more than 30% price premium. Top operators Regus, Fora, Workspace Group, Boutique Workplace Company and Spaces came out as CoWorking Café’s five biggest operators in its Q3 results, with the five providing more than 400 spaces in total. Regus is the most prominent operator, managing 195 co-working spaces throughout the UK. Fora is  second with 66 spaces in total, followed by Workspace Group with 57 locations. Balazs Szekely, co-working specialist at Coworking Café and author of the report, said: “Flexible workspaces in the UK and Ireland have reached a new level of accessibility, with over 3,300 locations catering not just to solo remote professionals but also to businesses of all sizes and needs. “As demand grows beyond London to regional hubs like Manchester, Birmingham and also numerous smaller cities, this growth highlights a notable shift with businesses increasingly seeing co-working as a sustainable long-term solution that combines flexibility while reducing overhead.”