Regus Co-Working Brand Expands into Bangkok, Jakarta

The global co-working craze has spread to Southeast Asia, where Amsterdam-based Spaces is raising its profile by preparing to open two more shared workspace venues in Bangkok and Jakarta.

Spaces, a subsidiary of serviced office giant IWG (the parent company of Regus), will launch a new location in Bangkok by the end of the year and has signed for another centre in Jakarta that will open its doors in 2018, the company says – bringing its APAC portfolio to 12 locations already opened or on the way.

Rival co-working players including WeWork and JustCo are also expanding in the Southeast Asia market, angling to take advantage of the growing number of companies looking to bring more flexibility to their office footprint.

Bangkok and Jakarta To Get More Flexible Office Options

The Bangkok centre is located in Summer Hill, a mixed-use retail and office complex under construction on Sukhumvit Road in the Thai capital, next to the Phra Khanong BTS station. Developed by Thailand’s Boutique Corporation, Summer Hill will house 40 retail and lifestyle brands and its first phase is expected to open by the end of the year.

Sporting chic furniture and fast wifi, the 1,260 square metre co-working centre will feature 334 dedicated desks and three meeting rooms. The price to use the facility starts at $137 per month, or customers can rent out a fixed desk for $220 per month and up. Contracts for flexible, tailored workspaces are also available.

This week, Spaces also told Mingtiandi that it has leased out 33,000 square feet (3,066 square metres) for its Jakarta address at WTC-3, a grade A office tower in the city’s core business district. The facility offering more than 240 desks will be split into two spaces across the third floor (in the retail podium) and the 19th floor (office portion) of the 42-storey tower within the World Trade Centre complex.

Regus Sister Brand Expands Its Asian Spaces

Formed in 2006, Spaces opened its first Asia Pacific location in Melbourne in 2015, and set up a foothold in Southeast Asia with a site in Singapore last year. The European brand now operates a network of centres across more than 60 cities worldwide and counts Uber, Paypal, and GoPro among its global clients.

In Asia, Spaces has also debuted in mainland China – where it has a 1,360 square metre space in the world’s second-tallest skyscraper, Shanghai Tower – as well as Japan, South Korea, and India, and has upcoming centres in New Zealand and Taiwan.

The company jumped into the Hong Kong market in September by leasing out an entire 77,000 square foot (7,154 square metre) building to create the biggest co-working space in the Sheung Wan area.

Co-Working Catches on in Southeast Asia

International brands hawking similar flexible office options in the region include US giant WeWork, which has raised $500 billion for its growth in Southeast Asia and Korea, as part of a $4.4 billion capital infusion from Japan’s SoftBank and Vision Fund. The $20 billion firm has also acquired Singapore’s Spacemob, which has two co-working centres in the city-state and plans to launch more in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Also joining the fray is Singapore-based JustCo, which recently partnered with Thai developer Sansiri to make an inroad into Bangkok, as part of a broader expansion strategy targetting centres in Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila in the first half of 2018.

JustCo aims to build its platform to 30 locations with a total floor area of over 1 million square feet (92,903 square metres) by next year. The $200 million startup is now the most valuable co-working player in Southeast Asia.