photo: madrideducacion.es. creative commons
A little while ago, I told you about my personal experience with teleworking and staying productive when working from home.
Yes, there are both good and bad things about working remotely, it is not always the same and it definitely doesn’t always have to be a coffee and pijama kind of setting (in fact, you shouldn’t allow for that to happen that often!). As more and more startups result to a remote team, we have to think about what the future holds when it comes to working spaces and we have great news! If you are a freelancer, a startup or even a student looking for an office, Coworking spaces are your best alternative!
While working on The Growing Startup Scene of Europe infographic, we learned that there are currently 1600 coworking spaces in Europe and that the number DOUBLES every year according to The Startup Europe Coworking Assembly.
Coworking spaces all have one thing in common: they provide a space, with a desk and other office like amenities to make it possible for you to complete your tasks. But many have special and interesting offerings that could make you cry of joy. And…since the only way we can really get to know the spaces is by visiting them and unfortunately, I’m still not able to visit all – I decided to “web” travel through many of the hottest cities in Europe in search of the coolest alternative places to work, their location and their perks!
So stay tuned for The Ultimate List of Coworking Spaces in Europe… this is Part I. Tag along with me!
Amsterdam
Deskowitz offers shared and personal desks in their two locations, Amsterdam Museumplein (right in the fancy Old-South quarter) and Amsterdam Dam, in the center of the city. Deskowitz also offers free legal and financial consultation.
Workspace6 is 280 sqm of flexible space, located in the renowned Tussen de Bogen complex, nearby Amsterdam’s Central Station. Here you can share a desk, get your own one or even have a 12 sqm private office. They also offer courses and workshops on different subjects.
The Thinking Hut is a fresh creative co-working space located in the East of the city, in a building from 1912. With 270 sqm and 2 meeting rooms (the large, for 16 people), The Thinking Hut offers a range of memberships to suit different needs, beginning with a Day Pass. The “Fixie” membership, ideal for those looking for continuity, includes 1 hour/month of consultancy with one an expert.
Located in a beautiful old factory building within walking distance of both Museumplein and Leidseplein, Amsterdam’s Bouncespace houses some unique shops at ground level, while providing a fully renovated workspace upstairs. The workspaces are designed to match the different stages of a company’s development –from a freely accesible lounge for quick work sessions, to a personal desk and to a fully furnished private office.
Barcelona
Betahaus Barcelona claims to be a private club for creative professionals and entrepreneurs. With 2.000 sqm divided in 6 floors and 5 terrace, Betahaus offer membership and space options for both individuals and teams (up to 6 people). Betahaus also have a makers area where you can build your prototypes and they use to organize interesting events for members. They also have spaces in Berlin, Hamburg and Sofia.
Situated in an industrial space of 1000 sqm, Makers Of Barcelona (MOB) is collaborative community, coworking space and meeting place. Apart from the co-working space MOB holds monthly events ranging from 3D printing workshops, Java Script Meetup, Social Media brainstorming sessions as well as hosting some bigger events including: the Global Service Jam, Firefox Apps Day, Etsy Meetup and the WeArt Festival.
Founded in 2007, Gracia Coworking Center (GCW) was one of the first coworking spaces in Barcelona. Located in the multicultural and creative district of Gràcia, it’s 130 sqm house several professionals in the field of communication, marketing, design, audiovisuals, tourism and more. You can rent a desk for hours/days or in a monthly basis. Workshops on Legal aspects and on Online Communication Strategies are performed regularly, as well as several courses on different topics.
Valkiria Hub Space is a 1.500 sqm coworking space located in the 22@ District. They offer private or shared work spaces, a large room for events, 8 meeting room and a big restaurant, where you can meet professionals of different areas in Tematic Lunchs. Their projects include Valkiria Launch (a startup accelerator) and Valkiria Hub Events (events organisation and management), as well as different social projects focused mainly on women and kids.
Located in the centric district of Gràcia, Start2bee is a technology-oriented coworking place. They also offer classrooms, conference and meeting rooms as well as a space to relax that doubles as a fully equipped video conference room. Some of their extra perks include a nice kitchen space, regular IT events, language workshops and the in-house “Start2Bee Band & Orchestra”. Like other coworking places, Start2Bee offers differents rates and schedules. Access for residents is 24/7. Start2bee is a proud member of Silicon Gràcia.
Berlin
Located in Berlin Moabit, nearby Berliner Hauptbahnhof, Raumstation gathers an international community of professionals from different areas, specially Media, IT, music and non-profit. With maximum of ten working places by floor and a great atmosphere in an historic factory building, the space is very comfortable. Raumstation offers different membership options according to your needs, and includes one probe week to test their facilities.
Agora is a project space in Berlin that hosts people and projects based on a philosophy that reflects the values of its community: diversity, self-organisation and social ties. Meetups and workshops take place here on a regular basis. Located nearby the old Tempelhof airport, Agora’s work spaces are housed in a spacious and bright building across five floors including a vibrant working room, a silent working space, a multifunctional room, a café and a garden. Agora offers both daily and long term passes.
Located in Berlin City-West, ClubOffice Berlin 01 (there will be soon a second CulbOffice in the city), claims to be one of the biggest coworking spaces on the world. Actually, it’s huge: 24.000 sqm, distributed in 300 co-working desks, 3 coworking open-spaces, over 200 fully furnished private offices, 26 conferences rooms… ClubOffice also has buildings in several other german cities, as well as in San Francisco and Shangai.
Ahoy! Berlin is an over 1.300 sqm coworking space, where you can rent a desk, a private office for small teams (starting at 20 sqm), a meeting room or facilities for events with up to 180 people. Located in the District of Charlottenburg, it also has a full equipped kitchen and two big relaxing spaces with sofas, billiard, etc.
Copenhagen
Founders House is a shared invitation-only workspace for ambitious technology startups and experienced tech entrepreneurs. Founders House’s new headquarters in Islands Brygge (700 sqm in a converted warehouse) aims to become a new innovative tech+ hub –the Startup Village of Copenhagen. To join them, a startup must apply and wait if they admit you, although They claim to be totally subjective in picking startups that will fit in and that can add value.
Republikken is a network of creators and professionals but also a new design café and workshop space. There, you can share an office and meeting and conference rooms (2-18 persons) or use their prototyping machinery eg. laser cutter and CNC. Republikken also offers courses and workshops. Currently, Republikken houses 75 professionals within fields such as design, graphics, communication and craftsmanship.
Founded in January 2012, Creative Destruction has grown to accommodate more than 30 entrepreneurs and housed just as many startups. You can rent your own private deck and also get access to a meeting room, your own locker and everything you need to work. Creative Destruction aims to keep the lowest prices while maintaining a high quality level.
Dublin
Under their slogan “It’s not about desks. It’s about the people”, CoCreate is an independent coworking environment dedicated to freelancing designers, developers, webdesigners, programmers, video artists, game developers… Located in the center of Dublin, CoCreate focuses mainly on commercial work but also on workshops, courses (SEO, Web Design, Marketing…) and other creative activities.
Located near Dublin Castle and close to Trinity College and Christchurch Cathedral, TCube Dublin provides meetup space for software, web and mobile user groups, and co-working/meeting space for tech entrepreneurs and start-ups of all sizes. Co-working spaces can be rent on a daily or monthly basis, and they also have private offices for startups, meeting room and a spacious 50 seat presentation area.
The Treehouse claims to be not just a coworking space, but the antidote to offices. Located in the heart of Dublin, with a stunning view of the River Liffey, the Treehouse offers three different packages: virtual office, coworking space and dedicated office. Their facilities include meeting rooms and breakout spaces, a 12-seater conference room with state-of-the-art audio/visual cabling and a private balcony.
Helsinki
Minimum Viable Office (MVO) is located in the heart of Helsinki. As their name implies, they like to keep it all simple: a desk, internet connection, access to meeting rooms and ability to organize your own events. MVO also organizes weekly startup events.
UrbanOffice is a great option for short term working. They offer work space for free at the Helsinki City Library and the Kouvola City Library. You may get a quiet single work space, have a meeting in an acoustic work space or work with your team in the coworking space. All this free of charge.
Istanbul
Founded in 2011, Ideapol Cowork the first Coworking Space in Turkey. It’s located in the center of Istanbul and it’s built around the idea of community-building and sustainability. Besides that, Ideapol Carrière organizes seminars on a variety of topics ranging from economics, finance, management and marketing to international affairs
Located at the trendy Karakoy district and with a wonderful view of the Bosphorus, Yazane offers coworking spaces that can be rent on an hourly, daily, weekly, monthly or even yearly basis. Their facilities included a lounge area, meeting rooms, a kitchen and phone booths.
Founded in 2013, Atölye claims to be Turkey’s first large scale independent makerspace. It offers full-time and part-time co-working spaces for freelancers and small companies developing both digital and physical projects. Aiming to become a FAB hub, Atölye provides digital and analog prototyping tools, ranging from 3d printers to a laser cutter, from table saw to high-performance desktops. Currently, Atölye is still working on finding a permanent home.
London
Created in 2012 by Google, Campus London has seven floors dedicated to coworking, networking events, workshops and conferences. The lower ground floor is a non-dedicated co-working space and café area for registered users, while floors 1 and 2 are dedicated to the TechHub, the coworking space for startups. The building is also home of Springboard (an incubator) and Seedcamp, one of the largest accelerators in Europe.
Innovation Warehouse London is located in the historic Smithfield Market in Farringdon, within London Tech City. They offer Hot Desks and shared offices, and the facilities include multiple meeting rooms, a Boardroom, event space, cafe (free tea & coffee) and high-speed fiber-optic WiFi. Besides that, Innovation Warehouse Capital works as an incubator and accelerator, helping entrepreneurial initiatives, particularly in the IT and Digital sectors.
Club Workspace is a fast-growing network of creative co-working business clubs, with exclusive locations across London for entrepreneurs and professionals alike. Club Workspace currently has 8 clubs and soon there will be 3 more. Their membership options go from a hot desk 3 days a week in your chosen venue, to full access to every club of the network and to your own lockable desk in one of the venues. Extras include personal locker, printing service and mailbox.
Third Door is an innovative space that combines coworking facilities with a registered daycare nursery. Their packages are very flexible, so you can use only the workhub, or both working space and nursery. The coworking space includes a full equipped meeting room for up to ten people.
Madrid
Utopic_US owns two large coworking spaces in the center of the city. Each center has 1000 sqm dedicated to coworking desks and offices, meeting rooms and spaces for relax and networking. Their facilities also included the so call Gastrobares, restaurants with a nice gastronomic offer where you can meet clients, do some networking or just ejoy a good meal. Their membership packages are very flexible, going from a Day Ticket to your own desk and to private offices for startups.
ImpactHub is a global network of coworking spaces, with presence in 60 cities. Impact Hub Madrid has three spaces, all of them located in the Barrio de las Letras, nearby Atocha train station. Impact Hub Classic, their flagship space in Madrid, is a 300 sqm old parking, reconverted to host several meeting rooms, a library and a kitchen. Upstairs is the Hub Up, a zone for coworking desks. Their services include everything you would expect from a large global network, including workshops, courses and the possibility of use Impact Hub’s facilities in other cities.
Urban Lab Madrid is a business and coworking center located nearby the Chamartí train station. Coworking desks and private offices can both be rent per hours or on a long term basis, and they also offer a virtual office service. The facilities include several meeting and multipurpose rooms. Their services also include computers and communications support, legal and financial consultancy, translation, etc.
Milan
Founded in 2012, StartMiUp offer high-quality office sharing services for digital and tech startups and freelancers. Their offer includes fixed and flex desks both for individuals and teams. All the packages allow members the use of all the facilities, from meeting rooms, to printing and phone calls. StartMiUp also organizes and hosts workshops, training courses and events for professionals
Talent Garden Milano (TAG) is a coworking center focused on digital and tech business. With 1500 sqm dedicated to startups, freelancers, agencies, incubators… TAG has 150 working places (coworking desks and private offices), 5 meeting rooms and a space for events with up to 200 attendants. Talent Garden also has coworking spaces in several other italian cities and in New York.
IF: Idea Factory Milano, is a coworking space that focuses in digital creativity. Becoming a member, you can get your own desk and get access to all their facilities, including a locker, meeting room, recepcionist, relax spaces, kitchen and a fully equipped photography/video studio. IF Milano also offers extra services, like legal, business and sales consultancy.
Paris
Located in the center of the city, Numa is a continuation of La Cantine, the first coworking space opened in France in 2008. The groundfloor of the building is dedicated to Connect –a space open to all without restrictions or bookings, with comfortable seats and free Wi-Fi access– and The Numa Café, that offers drinks and fast-food. The first floor is a coworking space with capacity for 50 people. You can get a daily pass or rent a reserved office space on a monthly basis. Their services include a dedicated community manager to publicise your projects on the Internet. Numa also hosts a very successful acceleration program.
Mutinerie is an open ecosystem, where you can get a daily pass or rent a long term coworking space. Their facilities include professional print service, spare 22 inch computer screens, the possibility to get a registered office address for your organization and a meeting room with capacity for 10 people. Mutinerie also organizes and hosts events such as conferences, workshops and startup weekends. Mutinerie is member of the international Copass network, and their membership options include an Explorer Pass, that allows you to work at any coworking space of the network.
Founded in 2008 and located in the center of the city, La Ruche focuses exclusively on social entrepreneurship –individuals or teams working on socially responsible, transparent and sustainable initiatives. La Ruche offers two membership packages (half-time and full-time), which include access to all their frequent networking events and workshops, as well as to the ones organized by the network of Paris Incubators.
La Cordée is a network of coworking spaces, based mainly in the Lyon area. Recently, they have opened a new local in Paris –a ground-floor space nearby la Gare de Lyon train station–, which adapts to their formula of large and confortable working areas, but adding a few extras, such as three meeting rooms and large lockers. Their membership options and rates are very flexible and suitable both for individuals and teams.
Located in the heart of Paris, Soleilles coworking space has 30 open space desks, a large table for coworking/colunching and two meeting rooms (the larger one, with capacity for 12 people). Their membership options go from daily tickets, to monthly or even an annual package (that includes access to the intranet, to all the events and special community offers, among other benefits). Soleilles Cowork also offers coaching sessions, technical training, seminars and many networking resources and events.