Sophisticated and flexible workspace with great views and natural lighting shared with like-minded people. It’s a common tagline for Doha’s trendsetting co-working spaces. The demand for co-working spaces or flexible serviced accommodation in the commercial real estate sector in Qatar has been rising. Majority of the tenants are budget-conscious international firms just entering the Qatari market and a rising number of start-up companies in the country.
In its latest Qatar Market Report, real estate advisor DTZ Qatar said most of the lease agreements for the prime office accommodation in the fourth quarter of 2018 revolved around start-ups and SMEs. According to the report, this demand is primarily focused on flexible serviced accommodation or small inexpensive units in secondary locations.
Talking to The Peninsula, a country manager for a UK-based insurance company, said he arrived in Doha last year and secured a co-working serviced office at the Al Fardan Towers, which he now shares with three other start-up owners. He pays a monthly rent of QR2,200. He said, “As with other countries in the West and elsewhere, co-working space is an ideal start. The biggest advantage is the cost, it’s a fraction of a third or quarter of the cost that you’d pay for a sole occupancy space. An office address is a requirement by the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC). So to have a registered office in West Bay which is a well-known business location gets a foothold. Also, being in a serviced office, part and parcel of that is you can choose your own work hours. In this tower, there’s 24 hour access seven days a week. You can work long hours or short hours to suit international companies depending on where they are”.
Fariba Tabaee, general manager of Fab Offices, which operates co-working spaces in Doha Tower in West Bay said landlords are also now adjusting to the growing trend of co-working spaces. She added that a number of landlords are now approaching her team to build similar work spaces in their towers due to the increasing demand. She said, “We noticed a changed mentality among the landlords of how they’re leasing. The flexibility and market is changing. They’re understanding that they need to break up their suite. There’s no longer a company who goes in and takes three floors. And we work with multinational blue chips, so they’re coming into the market and they’re used to efficiency and productivity. They usually ask, ‘Do my employees need to be in Qatar full time? No. Let’s use this resource and move them around globally’. And there has been a huge response from such companies since we opened three months ago”. added Tabaee.
William Hadlow, project manager of office design solutions company ID WORKS GLOBAL, also said, “There’s a lot of new companies coming to Qatar that are small with only one to four people. These companies want to stay and be registered in Qatar so they need to keep a team here. And with co-working spaces like this, they can move in a lot faster and have a smooth transition in Qatar. Also, we’ll be running networking events from here. The idea is bringing back the days of when companies actually come together and socialise and discuss about contracts and different types of business. People want to be more open now. For instance the towers on The Pearl Qatar are inviting for office workers. They put in a gym, a restaurant, and other amenities that people want to come to work and stay at work. Not just coming and going home at night. I think a lot of the towers now are starting to get this concept that social areas are actually more important sometimes than office space”.
According to DTZ, the demand for small office suites and serviced accommodation will continue to grow as new government initiatives to expand the private sector, including the introduction of the 100 percent foreign ownership law (Law No. 1 of 2019) take hold. The recent growth of companies registered with the Qatar Financial Centre highlights the recent drive to encourage private enterprise.
In general, supply of prime office accommodation continued to grow in Q4 2018. Overall supply of Grade A office accommodation in West Bay and Lusail has now topped 2 million sq m.
