Previously mentioned here, and now available in it’s own domain.

We will be interested in talking to other Co-Working spaces around the country and beyond – seeing if there’s synergy, the possibility of desk swaps and working together. What say you?

Subsequent to some more frantic viewing, Andy McMillan and I have put the stake in the ground and decided that CoWorking Belfast will be opening soon.

As Andy writes:

we viewed a 1200sqft open-plan office (with kitchenette, disabled access & a shower) – on the first floor above the Black Box. The property ticks all the boxes – it’s finished to an excellent standard and could happily fit around a dozen coworkers simultaneously – and most importantly of all is mere feet away from coffee, pizza and beer.
Without negotiation on price – and with 10 coworkers renting full-time – its about £200pm – although obviously this price would fall when subsidized by hot-desking, virtual office services, room hire etc. As soon as we hit the 10 mark, we’ll be in a position to begin talking to the estate agent and actually open the coworking space.

We’ve also put funding into the Creative Industries Innovation Fund for desking and equipment so we’ll see where that takes us.

We definitely want to see permanent residents but also a smattering of Bedouin workers and temporary hotdeskers who just need a a conducive environment and some kick ass equipment.

CoWorking update on Digital Circle
CoWorking Update on Cimota.com

I’ve said before that I’m not really interested in using a public coffee shop for working. I think it might be more workable in the US where internet access is ubiquitous and there’s certainly more of a laptop culture but laptops are still few and far between in Europe.

The spacial logistics for using a coffee shop are also pretty poor:

• Tables often too small (designed for two lattés and a danish)
• Coffee plus laptop = bad (Trust me on this one)
• Laptops often too big (Come on Apple!)
• Large laptop bags obstruct walkways (this creates coffee+laptop situations)

I’ve witnessed business meetings in coffee shops around Belfast – three smart suits with starched collars, three document folders, one laptop and no room for any of it. People working off their knees is going to be fine for a short meeting but not for a co-working facility.

When we wrote up the business plan for “The New Workspace” last summer, we considered these problems very carefully in our design and plans for the office.

What would you consider as essential logistics for a workspace?

This article in The New Yorker debates commuting.

“I was shocked to find how robust a predictor of social isolation commuting is,â€? Robert Putnam, a Harvard political scientist, told me. (Putnam wrote the best-seller “Bowling Alone,â€? about the disintegration of American civic life.) “There’s a simple rule of thumb: Every ten minutes of commuting results in ten per cent fewer social connections. Commuting is connected to social isolation, which causes unhappiness.â€?

What of coworking?

Coworking is certainly the province of the self-starting entrepreneur or the employee of a progressive company. There’s something enchanting about gangs of workers throwing off their bowler hats and umbrellas and trailing to coffee shops and coworking facilities. Perhaps a different place every day. With different clientele, different views. And much like homeworking, it’s not for everyone. Some people need structure and discipline in their day. Coworking should have the advantages of working in an office environment (with nearby workers, sustenance, business services available) without the disadvantages of homeworking (loneliness, keeping very odd hours and having meetings while only dressed in your underwear).

When you cowork, technically your work is always with you. You can work on the train, you work in coffee shops, you can work where you are comfortable. You know the people next to you are also “working” and their presence in a coworking facility is evidence they have bought in to the concept. The reduction in social isolation should be considered a primary benefit of coworking in addition to the other benefits of business services which may be present at a coworking facility.

I don’t really want to use a public coffee shop as an office.

Last year when setting up my software company, I investigated a lot of office options from the most basic government-funded business park closet to expensive serviced offices from industry leaders. Though the carpeting and wall coverings were very different, as were the provisions of furniture, there were still the same basic problems as I saw it.

• Closed doors leading to a lack of collaborative space and human contact.

The problem with the closed door is that it shuts everyone off in their own little domain complete with personal printer and coat hanger. It didn’t matter whether you were paying £250 a month or £1250 a month, the setting was the same.

At one large office vendor I toured, half the offices had their doors wedged open. That may have been because of the soaring temperatures in Ireland that month but I think it was as much to give the occupant, a sole salesman, entrepreneur or account manager, some sort of human contact during their working day. As I passed these offices, the individuals within would always look up and see what was going on, who was passing their door. When visiting the low rent office parks, the experience was the same. People leaving their doors open.

What was this for? It couldn’t lead to a productive work day if you valued privacy, peace and quiet. The closed door office must have been impeding the enjoyment of the work for these individuals.

There were places where the individuals left their cosy offices and interacted with others: the tiny kitchen facilities where individuals would fill their kettles, the vending machines where they’d stock up on sugar, the greasy spoon or sandwich bar where they’d get their lunch or outside and around the corner where they’d smoke their way through networking opportunities. The social aspect of

I asked the local business park about shared workspace and they looked a little surprised. It wasn’t something they’d ever been asked for before.

I asked Regus about hot-desking and collaborative spaces and the duty manager pointed at a sofa which used the same legroom as the people standing to use the vending machine and fill the kettle. In her defence, she did mention the Regus Network Access card which, for £200, provided access to hot-desking across the globe: but in Belfast, even after paying £200, you got the sofa.

In between the serviced office and the public coffee shop, there is a niche for a collaborative workspace. An informal space formally reserved for co-working.