“Continued demand from established companies and the flourishing startup ecosystem, coupled with the new hybrid culture, has positively impacted the flex space take-up,” said Ramita Arora, managing director, Bengaluru & head – flex at property consultant Cushman & Wakefield. “Managed space providers have made this solution more acceptable – with a high adoption of technology, easy access of collab spaces, flexible leases, customisation of design and spaces, they have seamlessly facilitated proactive management of office spaces in the current ambiguous workplace environment.”
Flex space providers were among the top three-four contributors to office leasing volume, taking-up over 12% of the overall leasing volume in the country’s eight largest cities, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
“The demand momentum for flex space will continue to remain robust among corporates with occupiers of all sizes increasing the percentage of flexible spaces in their real estate portfolio owing to the asset-light and cost-efficient agile solutions it offers to businesses. Wider adoption of flex spaces will be used by enterprises to enter a new market, offer on-demand meeting and collaboration spaces for employees, and test alternate workplace designs,” said Neetish Sarda, founder, Smartworks.
The company plans to add 2.5-3.0 million sq ft in the coming year, taking the total space in its portfolio to 10 million sq ft. By 2026, it aims to expand this to 28-30 million sq ft.
Flex spaces started to emerge as QSRE (quick service real estate) as they are technology-enabled, fully equipped office space available on a just-in-time basis with consistent service standards across multiple locations.
“Awfis was quick to identify the uptake in demand from tier-II cities owing to the emerging concept of ‘distributed workspaces’ and became one of the first branded coworking player to tap into the potential of these markets to stay ahead of the curve,” said the flexible space provider’s CEO Amit Ramani.
In 2023, flex space operators are expected to continue developing business models that would cater to their customer’s needs while promoting sustainability.
