The characteristics of the coworking growth across Europe

This 2019 Coworking Europe conference deck by Instant examined the scale, composition and geographic development of flexible workspace across Europe. It estimated that Europe contained 17.5 million square metres of flexible office space and mapped concentrations of supply across major cities. The presentation distinguished coworking from serviced and managed offices, while identifying hybrid space as a combination of these formats. It reported that coworking represented 17% of total flexible-space supply and hybrid operations represented 25%. A chart of demand across Europe excluding the UK showed annual growth of 29% in 2017, 19% in 2018 and 30% in 2019, alongside an increase from roughly 24,000 desks in 2016 to approximately 48,000 in 2019. The deck also considered regional drivers of expansion, highlighting startup activity in Central and Eastern Europe and listing Malta, Poland, Ireland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovenia and Latvia among the European Commission’s highest economic-growth forecasts. It framed coworking as an emerging segment that had begun moving beyond early adoption but still had substantial scope for further development.

Key findings

• The deck estimated that Europe had 17.5 million square metres of flexible office space in 2019.
• Coworking represented 17% of total flexible-space supply, while hybrid space represented 25%.
• Demand growth across Europe excluding the UK was shown at 29% in 2017, 19% in 2018 and 30% in 2019.

Presented by James Rankin, Instant, at Coworking Europe 2019