Taking the blueprint of a revolutionary business service winning headlines in the US so you can be the first to set up, market and sell your own version of it in the UK sounds risky.
But three former freelance creatives have proved that hefty outlays, legal rows or ownership disputes are all avoidable, if the core product of that business service is ‘space.’
Launched entirely with the trio’s own savings, the Werks, with sites in Brighton and Hove, is the UK’s first ‘coworking’ group to offer creative, collaborative workspaces to freelancers.
Doors opened in December 2007 under a ‘no barriers to entry’ policy, meaning those freelancers who turn up to either site short of the entry fee can still get in by paying in kind.
Once inside the Coachwerks in Brighton, an ex-garage, creatives are free to knuckle down with their messy projects, like film or model-making, or interact with their fellow ‘werkers.’
The primary Werks site at Hove is for the office-based creative, who works with a broadband-connected PC or in a conference or events room rather than in a studio or workshop.
However at both sites, each of which are already 90% full, werkers regard 'Rules of Engagement,' like respecting the space; each other, each other’s privacy and the resources.
These rules bind the group’s core values - sustainability, accessibility, community, collaboration and openness, and help explain why “the Werks isn’t just another ‘rent a desk’”.
Speaking yesterday, its co-director Rosie Sherry explained to FreelanceUK that her business was not far off a live enactment of the best-selling business book The Wisdom of Crowds.
“It is not just about getting freelancers in, it's about getting them in so that they can be social and collaborate. The result of this will be that they are stronger and may well end up creating successful businesses or ideas.”
The aim of the Werks, she said, was to create a different kind of working life for freelancers – one where they “fit work around their life, not life around work.”
“There is serious imbalance in our society, [and] we want to change this. Our intention has always been to help independents and to make them stronger. Currently there is very little support” and they “often get stuck.”
The Werks is currently scoping out two new workspaces it hopes to add to its portfolio, one in the East Sussex town of Lewes, a growing hub for creatives, and the other in West Hove.
“Whilst we have some studios that we let out on six-month licenses we are
working towards space as a service,” Ms Sherry said.
“At the moment we are in the process of allowing our members to control when to start and stop their membership. This is [us] adapting to people's lives.”
Nov 21, 2008
Email this article
Printer friendly page
Previous Page
