New Co-Working Spaces for Melbourne’s T&G Building

It looks like Melbourne’s co-working culture is here to stay, with flexible workspace provider Spaces signing a 10-year lease in Collins Street’s T&G building.

Spaces has signed across levels one and two of the T&G Building as owner Pembroke Real Estate completes the final stages of the building’s refurbishment, which commenced in January 2017.

Due for completion in February 2018, the building at 161 Collins Street will offer 43,000 square metres of prime grade commercial office and retail space, enhanced by a reconfigured atrium and expansive floorplates up to 4,000 square metres.

“Pembroke recognises that flexible workspace is a market of growing importance within the real estate and entrepreneurial communities,” Pembroke Real Estate’s vice president Matthew Knight said.

“Spaces, together with our exceptional mix of luxury retail including Gucci, Bottega Veneta and Versace, and long-term commercial tenants like Accenture and IOOF, will help create a vibrant and creative community at the T&G Building.”

Versace leased a 307-square metre shop in the building in December as it opens Australia’s first stand-alone Versace store. Accenture was secured early last year as a major tenant in the building on a 10-year lease, taking nearly 30 per cent of the available leasing space.

Spaces, which is part of London-listed serviced office provider IWG, currently has one location in Melbourne in inner-suburban Richmond and one in Surry Hills, Sydney. IWG has more than 3000 locations globally.

[Related reading: Softbank Announces $4.4 billion Investment in Co-working Start-Up WeWork]

Global co-working giant WeWork expanded its Australian operation in November with the opening of its six-storey Bourke Street location at Melbourne’s London Stores building, marking its fourth location in Australia and first in Victoria. A second WeWork location is due to open at 401 Collins Street in 2018.

The rise of co-working spaces has seen organisations using a mix of spaces to provide an attractive proposition to their employees, service their clients more effectively and drive out some of the fixed costs of traditional office space.

[Related reading: WeWork Launches Primary-School called ‘WeGrow’]

T&G Building has been refurbished for Pembroke by building contractor Built.

The Spaces lease deal was negotiated by Adam Raap and Tim Farley from Colliers International.