The impending office revolution

Operating co-working spaces is big business in Shanghai, and there are no signs of this trend dying out any time soon as millennials demand for more flexibility in the workspace

The term "strategic front line" is what co-working space providers like to use to describe the importance of Shanghai.

The spate of recent developments in the city illustrates why this is so.

Less than one year after world-leading flexible workspace solution provider Regus' parent company opened its first co-working space in the Shanghai Tower, the company will launch another two co-working centers in the city later this year, said the company's China head Audrey Low in a recent exclusive interview with China Daily USA.

Such rapid growth, according to Low, is supported by increasing market demand in Shanghai. In fact, IWG China — the parent company of Regus — has even chosen Shanghai as the national hub given its economic vitality and consumers' open mindset.

"People here welcome flexible working as a new lifestyle," said Low.

Meanwhile, the world's largest co-working network WeWork on July 1 launched its eighth space in central Shanghai. In contrast to its previous spaces, the newly opened facility features the addition of its incubator function WeWork Labs to provide support to early-stage startups.

And WeWork is hardly done with its expansion. The company said that it would soon open another space in Xintiandi in downtown Shanghai, with more to follow.

Shanghai-based co-working service provider Distrii also launched its flagship workspace in downtown Shanghai on June 15. The space, which can accommodate 772 seats, is the largest among the 19 spaces that Distrii currently has in the city. During the opening ceremony of this space, its founder Hu Jing announced the company's A+ series financing which amounted to 150 million yuan ($22 million).

Zhong Shu, president of the emerging co-working brand Kr Space, said in late May that they too would open eight offices in the core business areas in Shanghai within 100 days.

"Shanghai will definitely become the largest market for Kr Space," he said. "Co-working space users are the most active here thanks to Shanghai's high acceptance of new things."

According to a report released by global real estate service provider Cushman & Wakefield in May, there were a total of 546 co-working spaces in six major Chinese cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Taipei — as of the first quarter of this year. Among these cities, Shanghai had 168 offices, the most of the lot.