Year: 2020

OneSpace and Brain Embassy signed a free hosting agreement for workspace customers in Israel and Dubai.

Oren Gozlan, Brain Embassy Israel country manager: “The peace agreement triggered strong interest among Brain Embassy’s members to cooperate with UAE, in particular on behalf of startups looking for foreign investments. The collaboration with OneSpace will provide our members with the utmost convenience and assurance during business meetings in Dubai. The decision to collaborate was taken after both parties have examined the quality, comfort, amenities and location of the workspaces in each country.”

Brain Embassy, the workspaces chain owned by Adgar Investments and Development, recently entered a collaboration agreement with OneSpace, a workspace chain from Dubai.

Under the agreement, the members of both chains will have access to the workspaces and meeting rooms in either Israel or Dubai. Additional membership benefits will include hotel discounts and other offers to facilitate professional work and lower the visit costs. Brain Embassy has entered a discount agreement with Crowne Plaza in Israel, whereas members visiting Dubai will be able to stay at Mariott Hotels and Premier Inn.

Matt Hewitt, CEO of OneSpace, told Calcalist, “The peace agreement with Israel, with its reputation for being the Startup Nation, has aroused a great deal of interest in the business community of Dubai, for business collaborations and potential investments in Israeli companies. I believe the collaboration with Brain Embassy will help promote and facilitate the joint work for the interested parties.”

OneSpace, which is headed by Matt Hewitt, is considered as the leader in Dubai’s collaborative workspaces sector. Founded in January 2019, it currently manages over 2,000 square meters in 56 offices and 55 workstations.

Brain Embassy was founded in 2016 in Poland to expand the space leasing offering of Adgar income real estate Company. With a vision to evolve according to the changing customer needs, Brain Embassy currently manages over 20,000 square meters in Poland, Belgium, and Israel.

Adgar Investments and Development, run by CEO Roy Gadish, is the real estate investment arm of Zur Shamir. It focuses on income real estate including purchase, development and betterment of properties. Adgar’s operations are located in Israel, Canada (Toronto), Poland (Warsaw), and Belgium. With a real estate portfolio spanning 370 thousand square meters and worth ILS 4 billion, Adgar initiates projects involving the betterment of existing properties and construction of new office spaces for leasing.

Since business and leisure activities in Dubai were allowed to resume, companies have been eager to restart the engine. But will COVID-19 mark the end of the coworking culture? This would appear to be a logical assumption many are making in the current situation, with changes in all aspects of life amid the pandemic and country-wide lockdowns.

However, given Dubai’s dynamic economy and the UAE’s overall response to the pandemic which makes it one of the safest countries in the world for Covid-19, we are confident that the coworking industry is going to emerge stronger from the pandemic. Some of the drivers behind the rising demand for serviced offices post-COVID-19 are:

1. Remote workers have to work somewhere

COVID-19 has forced the world to embrace remote working. While working from home has slowly integrated into our work life during the pandemic, maintaining productivity away from the office can be a challenge for some, and living arrangements can sometimes make working from home difficult.

These remote workers have probably never been exposed to the concept of coworking before the pandemic, but will likely turn to this as an alternative to working from home in the ‘new normal’ once the pandemic is over.

2. Businesses are looking to de-densify their offices

While a lot of businesses are allowing their staff to continue working from home after the lockdown, others are exploring the possibility of a ‘work-near-home’ policy where staff are offered alternative office options closer to their homes. Serviced offices will meet exactly this need.

There is also increasing demand for businesses to host multiple office locations rather than just one, as companies look to de-densify their corporate headquarters. With the need for social distancing in mind, the demands for less dense workstations also mean that some companies now need more office spaces to keep their staff safe and also make them feel comfortable working in an office environment again after months of lockdown.

3. Businesses need flexibility more than ever

COVID-19 or not, serviced offices are known to bring many advantages to organisations. One of these is the flexibility to rent only a part of a large working space without any pressure to sign a long-term lease. Companies have the flexibility to take the space they need at the time with the option of expanding or decreasing when they need to.

This will meet the spike in current demand for flexible workspaces as companies embrace social distancing as part of their new work model. Companies can now invest all that money on their people or expanding their business rather than on expensive city-centre offices.

Until we have more clarity on what the future of work will look like, serviced offices remain the best option for companies looking for short-term, flexible solutions.

4. Remote workers miss the social interactions

While most of us will continue to work remotely after months of lockdown and isolation, we do miss the human and social interactions. We miss the connectivity, the water-cooler chats, and the social energy that an office environment provides. The pandemic has also made us realise how important it is to be part of a community.

We expect that some small corporates and SMEs that currently let their staff work from home amid COVID-19 will look to start using serviced offices in search of the social interaction they miss.

 

Conclusion

Remote workers and companies in Dubai have massively adapted to the ‘new normal’ over months of the pandemic. The way we work has changed, and we can assume that the demand for serviced offices like OneSpace is only going to be stronger in a post-COVID-19 world.