101 Solutions/ Planning

Ideal Collective Work Spaces

A good collective working space has to be ready at all times and in working conditions prepared for all their clients/ guests. It would be better of the collective work space would be open for 24 hours during the weekdays excluding public holidays, this will allow the clients more freedom in their working hours, however opening for 24 hours would means the electric bills would be much higher which should also be taken into consideration.

Also a good collective working space has to be in a good location, preferably inclusive of beautiful scenery that can inspired the workers. Also high speed Wi-Fi is a necessity as everything is done online in this modern age, a worker will have trouble with their time. The ideal work space should have reasonable rent price and entertainments. Printing machines are also essential services and so does maintaining a cleaning service.

Narrowing down the 101 solutions to 4 ideas based on their practicality and feasibility, in which might solve the problem we are targeting. All these ideas have a similar goal of improving the demands for a collective workspace which in turn would hopefully spur more business investors to adopt the concept and start up more collective working space in Singapore

Interview

Question for the owner of a collective working space

                   1. How much has your work style altered since you work in collective work spaces?

                   2; Why did you decided to work at this collective working space?

                   3. How do you interact with your fellow coworkers?

                   4. How much do you like your collective working space on a scale of 1 to 10?

                   5. Does your collective working space belong to a network of co/ work spaces?

                   6. How much money was invested to open your collective working space?

                   7. The advantages or disadvantages of being a collective working space operator?

                   8. What developments do you forecast for your space next year?

                    9. How much time have you spent on your business?

     10.  Are you satisfied with what you have accomplished so far?

Who is this interview directed to

 Collective work space owners and even the clients as well

Purpose

Learn more about the problem that collective working spaces are facing from operators’ point of view to gain a better understanding of the situation

Through these questions we hope to learn more about the problem that collective working spaces are facing from operators’ point of view to gain a better understanding of the situation. The interviews will be conducted on multiple collective work space owners and possibly even the clients as well.

Case Study: Fueled Collective (New York)

The Fueled Collective is a co-working space in Manhattan and has become one of the most exciting startups in New Your City. Though there are already many working hubs in NY, like We Work Labs, and General Assembly, demand for hip workspaces are so high that there’s more than enough clients to cater to. Fueled Collective had to step out from the crowd to attract customers by paying attention to the location, layout, and services the workspace provides.

A distinguishing feature of the Fueled Collective is its layout and décor. Amenities include a snack bar with mason jars of candy, a ping pong table, popcorn and ice cream carts, leather couches, and an upright piano.

The fueled Collective is located in Prince Building in Manhattan’s SoHo district; the Collective’s neighbours include other notable startups like Thrillist, a digital media company consisting of men’s lifestyle brands, Foursuare and ZocDoc. SoHo is a high-end shopping distict that is home to Manhattan’s great restaurants, nightlife and companies.

   

The company itself is a full floor of high-ceilinged, open layout workspace abundant with windows. The whole space is lit up by sunlight, and in cool weather let in plenty of fresh air. The space accommodates 9 conference rooms, consisting of wide desks, ergonomic chairs, and a beautiful view. As written on the Collective’s website, “It just feels good to work here.”

The Fueled Collective also provide supplementary such as high speed WiFi, snacks and drinks, a kitchenette and lunch area, coffee throughout the day.

Users will only have to pay USD650 a month to rent the space. The workspace is open 24 hours. Few startups that are currently occupying the Collective include, Elevatr, Zen Digital, Movable Type, Coinsetter, NetMobi, and a few more new but notable organizations.

Analysis

Collective working is highly recommended for new organizations who are just in their beginning stages of starting up the company, or freelancers who does not require a big expensive and permanent working space. Collective working resolves problems such as social isolation and also introduced people into an environment where they are allowed to be inspired and motivated.

Since realizing that collective working space is such an advantageous way of working why does Singapore not have more collective working spaces like those in London, Berlin, and New York. As a small developing city, Singapore has to advance in her way of working as well. Currently Singapore has 8 professional collective working spaces, of these 8, 2 of them are unavailable to freelancers.

Some problems collective working space in Singapore might face are the demands and especially the cost for spaces. To set up a collective working space in Singapore is extremely difficult due to the high prices for land space in Singapore, rent is expensive especially in center business district which is the most ideal place for a collective working space.

It is too risky for an interested businessman to successfully start up a Co workspace in Singapore, most of the collective space companies are international corporations. So in order for collective working space to become more common and successful in Singapore, the demand for the market has to increase first. As working individuals develop more interest in using collective working space, the popularity and business will grow accordingly as well.

Collective Working Space

A collective working space is a working environment in which supports working professionals in their individual and cooperative work. In collective working spaces, professionals work together regardless of their geographical location. They use the environment to share information and exchange views in order to reach a common understanding. As a result, enabling a more effective and efficient collaboration among different expertise.

UK is one of the European countries who are responsive to the idea of collective working, especially in London. As of 2012, the city led the collective working market not only for large working spaces but also huge variety to suit the different kinds of start-up businesses, enterprise, and freelancers.

Collective working is becoming more common in continental Europe, in Berlin and some major cities. The popularity has also been slowly spreading throughout the globe. This kind of environment is not exclusively for big cities but are also very feasible and suitable for smaller urban areas with many young and creative people, especially universities city where people are just starting out and looking for new opportunities.

From a survey conducted in 2011, the collective workers are usually around their late twenties to their late thirties, of an average of 34 years, both man and woman are open to working in a collective working space. The majority of the people who are working in collective working space are from creative industries or new media, and slightly more than half of the collective workers are freelancers.