Post Covid, Awfis see rise in co-working space; intents to open 1,000 centres across the country in the next five years

Flexible workspace provider, Awfis Space Solutions based in Delhi has expanded its operations in Kochi as part of strengthening its presence in Tier II cities.

Amit Ramani, Founder & CEO, Awfis said that the company is strengthening its foothold in the southern market with Kochi as the city still welcoming branded co-working players. The company aims to meet the burgeoning demand for workspaces in Tier II markets and the Kochi centre comprises 650 seats at Mezhukkattil Matrix.

He pointed out that there has been a steady growth in co-working space in the country, especially after Covid, touching 70 million sq ft from 25 million sq ft two years back. The industry is growing at a CAGR of 25 per cent and the company intends to open 1,000 centres across the country in the next five years, he said adding that there would be 200 centres by March next year.

At the back of strong demand for flex workspaces, Awfis has now built 150 centres and 88,000 seats across 17 cities, he said.

Sumit Lakhani, Deputy CEO, Awfis said that the foray in Kochi is a testament to the growing demand for flexible workspaces in Tier II markets as Indian corporates and MNC’s facilitate hybrid working and work near home for employees.

This story appeared in the 10 November, 2022 issue of The Hindu Business Line and was originally published at: Focus on Tier-II markets. Awfis Space expands operations in Kochi

Majority of employees in telecom and consulting sectors have returned to office with significant fall in Covid-19 cases but the IT sector is lagging, according to a survey by Colliers and Awfis.

Property consultant, Colliers India and co-working operator, Awfis’ joint report explores the status of return to work across different sectors.

Post third wave

“As the third wave of Covid-19 started waning in February, the return-to-office gained momentum. As a result, by June 2022, 34 per cent of the companies saw 75-100 per cent of the employees back in office,” the report said.

About 41 per cent of occupiers stated 25 per cent of their employees have returned to office.

The survey showed telecom and consulting sectors saw the highest (75-100 per cent) rate of return to office while IT and new technology companies saw the lowest (0-25 per cent).

Distributed workspace strategy

“The survey has made it clear that a distributed workspace strategy is the way to go for occupiers in this new era of experiential workplaces, as occupiers emerge from the after-effects of the pandemic. Flex spaces, in particular, are leading this growth, as occupiers from varied sectors are housing teams in flex centres across cities,” Colliers India, CEO, Ramesh Nair said.

Flexible workspace operators leased about 3.5 million square feet of office space in January-June this year across six cities, almost three-fourths of the flexible space leasing in entire 2021, he added.

Survey results

The survey was conducted during May-June among occupiers to understand their strategies regarding distributed workplace. The respondents were from IT/ITeS, BFSI, engineering and manufacturing, and others.

Total 150 responses were received from Founders, CEOs, COOs, and CHROs of various companies. The company size of the respondents varied, starting from a range of 1-500 employees to companies having over 10,000 employees.

As per the survey, about 74 per cent of the occupiers are likely to adopt distributed workspace while 53 per cent of occupiers prefer working from home plus office as their preferred workplace portfolio strategy.

About 49 per cent of the occupiers are likely to adopt flex centres to enable distributed workspace, followed by setting up their own offices in metro and non-metro cities.

Flex spaces

The consultant sees opportunities for flex spaces not only in metro cities but also in non-metro cities. “In fact, in non-metro cities, total flex spaces are likely to grow more than two-fold to 5.5 million square feet by the end of 2022,” Nair said.

Amit Ramani, Founder and CEO, Awfis said the findings of the survey are a testament to the success of the distributed work model and subsequently of flex spaces in catering to the ever-evolved workspace needs of India Inc.

“Going forward, 77 per cent occupiers will include flex spaces as part of their workplace strategy. We expect exceptional demand in the future, driven largely by large corporates for de-densification of existing traditional offices,” he added.

Office leasing

According to the Colliers India data, the gross leasing of office rose to 32.9 million square feet in 2021 from 30.1 million square feet in the previous year. During 2019, the numbers stood at 44.8 million square feet across Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Pune.

In the first six months of this year, the office leasing has risen to 27.5 million square feet from 10.3 million square feet in the year-ago period. The share of leasing by flexible workspace operators stood at 13 per cent.

This story appeared in the 4 August, 2022 issue of The Hindu Business Line and was originally published at: Return to office highest in telecom, consulting sectors; IT lags: Survey

Tier-II markets witnessing traction

Co-working space rentals have gone back to pre-Covid levels driven by short supply coupled with an increasing demand from Tier-II markets. Price corrections, an 8-10 per cent upward movement, is expected in the coming quarters as “back to office” picks up and hybrid work models gain popularity, says Amit Ramani, Founder and CEO, Awfis, the country’s largest co-working space provider.