Opinion-in-brief: Don’t judge a city by its WeWork offices
WeWork’s failings, including expected losses of £1.1bn this year, should not distract from the vitality of the City of London’s office market, which is showing that the office is far from dead.
It should come as little surprise that WeWork has suffered from its own high-risk strategy. Its long-term lease commitments made for a brittle business model which has begun to break beneath the burden of empty offices globally.
Landlords are choosing portfolios which are spread between leased, owned, and managed workspace. Operators with more diversified models have proven more resilient.
September saw workers flock back to the capital. As businesses crave greater flexibility, London’s flexible workspace sector is set to tell a very different story than WeWork.