Hyderbad: International Workplace Group (IWG), formerly known as Regus, is in talks with developers to add about 60,000 sq ft in Hyderabad under its Spaces brands of co-working space. It is hoping that it will close the deal this year. Spaces is a large format co-working space. It is a Dutch brand that Regus acquired last year and is introducing in Indian cities, said its country manager Harsh Lambah. On Spaces, he said this is a new concept and the average size is larger than the conventional work stations. They use a lot of natural elements and have a new design to appeal to the millennials, who are the major users. The one that is proposed in Hyderabad is coming towards Hitec City, the central location for many IT companies and startups. IWG, which was created in 2016 as the holding group for different flexible workspace providers, now has six work hubs under Spaces in Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and Gurgaon and each is about 60,000 sqft. Globally, it has plans to spend about 230 million pound (about Rs 2,163 crore) in expanding its operations. India is a prominent markets and a significant amount of the spend will come to India, he said without giving specifics, he said. In all, it has about 3,300 work spaces across the world and about120 such clusters in India. Within Hyderabad, it has eight such work hubs. It has also expanded to Tier II cities like Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore, he said. IWG’s companies include Regus, Spaces, No 18, Basepoint, Open Office and Signature. Only the first two are now present in India. About 2.5 million people globally have set up their workstations through IWG. The group provides employment to about 10,000 members globally. Lambah said it will partner with property owners and brokers and help them tap opportunities in the flexible workspace industry.
IWG is in negotiations with developers over a 60,000 sq ft property in Hyderabad’s Hitec City for its Spaces brand, which it hopes to secure by the end of this year. Spaces already operates six sites in India, located in Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru and Gurgaon, each of which is also about 60,000 sq ft. The Spaces locations are designed to appeal to millennials and are larger than conventional workspace sites, according to country manager Harsh Lambah.