Since the coworking concept first came to Prague in 2009, the Czech capital has seen a huge rise in the take-up of flexible office space. However, our latest research shows the share of flexible office space in Prague signed up by co-worker space providers in 2018 was under 5 per cent of Prague’s office take-up, which compares poorly with a European average of near 10 per cent.

In our March report, Flexible Office Space, we found that the European cities where the flexible office space (FOS) take-up is greatest are those with the best economic prospects and future employment growth, which are also attracting rising amounts of venture capital (VC). The actual growth of the FOS sector is conditional on the availability of office space.

• Stockholm (24.8 per cent of total office space)
• Brussels (22.0 per cent)
• London West End (21.0 per cent)
• Paris CBD (14.8 per cent)
• Warsaw (12.9 per cent)

Prague – where VC volumes were just $15m in 2017 and $6m for the first three quarters of 2018, and there is also a lack of supply of quality office space – meant the FOS take-up in 2018 remained relatively low at 4.7 per cent, putting it in 15^th place out of the 19 European cities that Savills surveyed. (This does not include smaller coworking centres based within buildings that are not part of the Prague office stock as monitored by the Prague Research Forum). The Czech capital was below Frankfurt (6.6 per cent) but above Berlin (3.8 per cent). Prague is not high on the Savills list of European FSO hotspots for 2019-2020 either, coming in at 18^th spot, above only Dusseldorf.

Despite the relatively low VC volumes and limited supply of prime office space, Prague nevertheless saw a big increase of 246 per cent in the flexible office take-up in 2017 and 2018. An explanation for this big increase is that like another Eastern European city Bucharest, which saw a decent FOS take-up last year of 8 per cent, Prague is a cheaper location in terms of property and labour costs, and has a strongly growing economy with low unemployment.

New centers, new trends

Prague had 28 coworking centres and 24 serviced / flexible office space locations at the end of 2018.

New developments in 2019 include Savills client New Work Offices, which already operates an approximately 2,500 square metres of flexible office solutions and is opening another 3,000 sq m of space soon. It is also considering another two to three locations in Prague, all with Savills representation.

2019 will also see the arrival of global FOS provider WeWork, which will open its first coworking centre in the Czech Republic at Národní třída in Prague 1. Spaces (by IWG) is also opening a new coworking centre at Národní třída in Prague 1, while HubHub expanded its centre at Na Příkopě 14 and is opening a second coworking site at Jungmannovo náměstí in Prague 1.

General trends in the flexible office space market to watch for 2019 include the increasing globalisation of providers, the growth of niche providers (women-only spaces, on-site crèche facilities etc.), and consolidation between providers as competition heats up.

Further  information

Read more: Flexible Office Space Spotlight or contact Savills Office Agency