Flex Office Report – Spain 2021

This November 2020 report, authored by ProWorkSpaces and Cushman & Wakefield, examined Spain’s flexible-office sector during the COVID-19 disruption. It considered which changes in office use might persist after the pandemic and discussed the effects of remote work on productivity, leadership development, employee relationships and promotion. The report argued that flexible-space operators had adapted rapidly to health protocols while facing lower activity, rent costs and uncertainty over the longer-term use of offices. Its market section charted flexible-space take-up and flexible offices’ share of total stock in Madrid and Barcelona. It also described a shift in operators’ business cycle from deployment-plan development in 2017–2019 to business-plan management and development in 2020–2022. A valuation section compared flexible and traditional occupancy models through illustrative assumptions covering floor area, rent, occupancy costs, employee density, fit-out expenditure and amortisation. The table of contents indicated additional sections on occupancy trends and the ProWorkSpaces Survey 2020. Overall, the report documented how the pandemic had affected demand, operating priorities and workplace planning in the Spanish flexible-workspace market during 2020.

Key findings

• Flexible-space take-up in 2020 Q1-Q2 was 2,427 sq m in Madrid and 9,120 sq m in Barcelona.
• In 2020 Q1-Q2, flexible space represented 1.2% of Madrid office stock and 2.5% of Barcelona office stock.
• In the report’s model, businesses unable to reach 51 employees paid less under the flexible model than under the traditional model.

Published by ProWorkSpaces and Cushman & Wakefield, 2020