Techspace London expands Old Street coworking hub to meet start-up demand

The facility is split across two sites and will soon offer space for 50 start-ups

By Sam Shead | Techworld | Published: 11:31, 03 February 2014

Techspace London, a coworking facility near Old Street’s Silicon Roundabout, announced today that it is expanding its facilities to keep pace with the number of small tech firms looking for a base in in the area.

The space, which is one of several in East London, is split across two different sites within 500 metres of each other.

The more recently acquired site on Underwood Street is being expanded by 25 percent over two new floors – bringing the total square footage across the two sites to 10,000 square feet and making Techspace London one of the largest coworking spaces in the Tech City area.

The expansion, set to be complete by the end of March, represents a 300 percent growth since the company first opened its doors to start-ups last year and means that Techspace London will now be able to accommodate up to 50 start-ups.

“There is an explosion throughout the UK in tech and enterprise,�? said co-founder and entrepreneur David Galsworthy at the company’s Bath Street facility. “I think those two things are combined on Old Street and in the Tech City area, which explains why there is so much demand.�?

He added that coworking spaces are attractive to start-ups because they offer the flexibility that many small tech firms require, as it allows them to expand and contract with relative ease without being tied into a long-term office space contract.

Other co-founder Alex Rabarts said: “We are very much focused on technology companies and there aren’t many others that do that specifically. That’s our key differentiator.�?

The majority of Techspace members are technology start-ups, most of whom have already secured their first round of funding, as well as a sizable number of technology-related service and consultancy businesses that cover finance, big data and social enterprise.

“The reason why we chose Techspace London is we just got on with the people and they were looking to build a really strong community,” said Pinal Gandhi, co-founder of Big Data Partnership and resident at Techspace London. “They were looking to expand so not only do they grow but we can grow with them.”

The average size of start-ups at Techspace London is six to eight employees, according to Galsworthy. “We cater for a slightly later stage tech start-up,” he said, adding that education start-up and Techspace resident Apps for Good has 19 members of staff.

“The age of people here is generally 30s rather than 20s,” said Galdsworthy. “They’re usually the kind of people that have been involved in other start-ups or have held senior positions in companies like Skype or Google.�?

When asked if Techspace London had any plans to expand overseas in the same way that companies like Rainmaking Group and Tech Hub have, Galsworthy said: “We really think London is where it’s going. Old Street is the focus point and we have 10,000 square feet right in the middle of it all. We’re going to continue to stay London-focused for the time being because that’s where we feel the best start-ups are.�?

Galsworthy and Rabarts revealed they are launching a new start-up in the commercial property space in the near future.

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This article originally appeared at TechWorld and is reproduced here.