Demand for workspaces will rebound
Has plans to bring co-working brand Spaces to Hyderabad
IWG is a global workspace provider and it has built a network of office, co-working and meeting spaces for companies. Harsh Lambah, Country Manager India, VP Sales – South Asia at IWG plc tells B Krishna Mohan about the sector, company’s plans and more.
Sector and Covid
Like every sector and industry, the co-working sector has been impacted due to Covid. In the first wave, we worked with the developers as well as customers to ensure continuity of services. Like many other industries, we did not realise that the second wave of the pandemic would be so intense and aggressive. The sector has been limping back to normalcy but the second wave stuck in April/May. Once the Covid numbers are down, we are hoping to build a pipeline of products and are hoping for a positive demand.
Hyderabad presence and plans
We have 100 plus centres across India. We have eight centres in Hyderabad and these have about 2,500 workstations. These include dedicated offices, co-working desks, meeting room seats and lounge membership seats. Hyderabad is a focus city for us. We have been in talks with multiple developers and landlords. We are also open to acquisitions of properties from other players as well. We plan to bring in Spaces, our co-working brand and also expand the REGUS network in the city at the right opportunity.
Demand
We expect the demand for co-working, dedicated offices and other segments will rise in the months to come. The demand will be from across sectors and industries. We are getting in touch with customers who were supposed to sign with us around April or May but have deferred their plans due to Covid second wave.
Rentals
What we have seen in first and second waves of Covid is that all landlords and developers worked with tenants to ensure there is some activity. There are some vacancies now but the demand is also rising again. While rentals remained intact there is some scope for negotiations after the second wave.
Vacancies
Vacancy is from all sectors as the pandemic has hit all segments the same way. Demand has dried for all sectors except the medical and emergencies sectors. It is an issue for all. Some sectors and industries have started rebuilding around November or December and the momentum continued till March. However, the second wave has hit the momentum and further plans once again in April.
Redesigning and hybrid model
The work spaces have been redesigned to reduce the density. The industry focus has been on safety and hygiene. The workplaces are complying to the evolving situation. There will also be some consolidation in the industry as smaller players will find it difficult to keep the show going. Some of them have already stopped offering their services due to the pandemic. While the work-from-home will continue, the offices and work hubs are likely to opt for a rotation system. The physical offices are relevant but there will be a higher flexibility as 100 per cent of the staff cannot opt to work from home simultaneously . We are hopeful that the demand for work spaces will rebound in a few months.
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