[Manager] Headspace’ latest opening: Manchester!

If you follow our blog, you are familiar with Headspace Group, a coworking space with several locations across London. The team recently opened their latest addition to the Headspace family, Headspace Manchester! We sat down with Jonathan, Head of Marketing to get his insider insights on their latest opening.

Could you please introduce yourself?

Sure! I’m Jonathan Hausmann and I head up the marketing for Headspace Group.

How did you come into coworking?

This is actually my first role in co-working, before Headspace I worked in marketing across various industries including Formula One racing. When this opportunity arose I became fascinated by what was happening in the co-working sector. There’s been a huge growth in the market in the past 5 years and there are some really exciting businesses doing innovative things, including Headspace!

Can you tell us more about the Headspace Group History? Why and how it started?

Headspace launched in September 2013 with the mission of creating inspiring workspaces in which businesses can thrive, all without compromising on design. Headspace’s founder, Jonny Rosenblatt, was working in commercial property at the time and was struck by how unsuitable most traditional office space was for startups and fast-growing small businesses. One of Jonny’s main ambitions was to shun approaches traditionally favoured by the commercial property sector, in particular the lease model. In Jonny’s words: “thriving businesses should never take a lease”!

You recently opened a new location in Manchester, could you tell us why you decided to open there?

Manchester is a thriving hub for small businesses and a genuinely exciting place to have launched. There’s been investment and development across the board and there is a growing demand for modern, innovative workspaces. We were analysing Manchester for over a year before we launched and it became clear that whist it boasted one of the UK’s most exciting tech and creative scenes, it was also underserviced by good quality workspaces.

We are interested to know more about the space there, how big is it, how can members join the space and what kind of offer do you propose?

It’s a beautiful 15,000 square foot space, which is part of the unique 100,000 square foot cluster of buildings that make up ‘The Albert Estate’ (‪www.thealbertestate.com), a community of dynamic businesses based around Manchester’s Albert Square.

We’ve designed and developed the space to be fun, clean and modern and it comprises a mix of uniquely designed private offices and coworking spaces, all equipped to a high specification. Additional facilities include a nap room, a range of uniquely themed meeting rooms, private work booths, refreshment bars, reception area and shower rooms, as well as a 60-person event space with stunning views overlooking the city.

We offer very short-term leases — usually 3 months — and members can sign up for their own office, a dedicated desk, or a more flexible roaming membership.

What kind of Members do you have at Headspace Manchester?

We’re aimed at fast growing businesses in the tech, media and creative sectors, and our members range from global tech businesses to freelancers. High profile names that we have welcomed to our community over the years include Eventbrite, Theodo and Buzzfeed.

What is the added-value for people to join Headspace?

We’re looking to create an environment in which small businesses can flourish together in a beautiful, community-driven space without the constraints of onerous five-year leases. We’ve seen members of our community securing tens of millions of pounds worth of funding and collaborating with each other on a number of projects. Key to Headspace’s ethos is an emphasis on community and collaboration amongst members and we have a dedicated team to manage the community aspect of our spaces. They curate a range of social and business events for local startups and scale-ups, ranging from panel discussions and workshops to yoga and social events.

Any tips you would like to share with people running a co-working space with several locations?

As we’ve grown from 1 to 3 buildings it’s no longer applicable to run the business in the way we did in the early days. We’ve had to re-design how we operate behind the scenes, from operating systems to how issues are reported as well as how we deal with our sales database. Ensuring these operational factors are well managed is crucial in making sure our customers continue to be well looked after as the business expands.

How do you see Headspace in 5 years from now?

We have ambitious plans to grow the business across the UK. We’re already scoping out other potential locations for expansion.

Thanks Jonathan for your time! 🙌 to the nice selfie we made together last time we met.

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