Kiwi Business Story – Coworking Round-Up

More and more businesses globally are taking advantage of the benefits of working in a shared space ecosystem. Lower operating costs generally, reduced commercial rents and abundant networking opportunities are three of the plusses we hear about from the businesses utilising The Icehouse’s coworking space in central Auckland.

 
Greg: We made the move to Parnell in April 2020. We had stunning premises off Parnell Rise, but post-COVID, with the team working in different ways, they were no longer fit for purpose. We had too many desks, and not enough meetings rooms, also we decided we’d rather reallocate some of our rental cost to hiring new talent. As soon as we went into lockdown we knew that we wouldn't come out of it the same, so we approached The Icehouse about taking one of their suites. 

Here we make use of everything; we have rooms for training, access to the boardroom and we’re using meeting rooms all the time because we spend a lot of our time communicating with clients face-to-face. This space gives us freedom to operate how we want to operate. Often there will be three or four of us in client meetings and logistically we just couldn’t have got that done in the old office.  
 
There’s also a great energy here, and you experience it as soon as you walk in. There are so many great thinkers and exciting businesses in the coworking space –smart people running smart business so the team gets to speak to different and interesting people all the time. It’s the little things – I love the fact that everyone has lunch out in the main areas. We’re accountants, we're naturally reclusive, so it’s good that our guys are out there interacting. There’s a real camaraderie here. 
 
From a business perspective, being here through COVID has enabled us to focus on our clients and our business without having to worry about facilities and H&S issues that are bogging a lot of businesses down. We feel far leaner and more agile since our move. 

Marty: I was very familiar with The Icehouse, having clients already in the coworking space. I’d also attended a couple of Icehouse Demo Days but, when I signed up for a coworking tour, it was oversubscribed, and I didn’t get to go. I turned up a few weeks later to meet up with one of my clients, got talking to The Icehouse team, had an impromptu tour, and signed-up in July 2020.  
 
There are so many things to recommend. It’s a great place, full of good people. I can knuckle down to do my work, but I can also break and spark into conversations.  Secondly, the people who look after us make sure that we're getting what we need.  
 
It’s a full-service facility – you don’t have to worry about the small stuff, and it’s a pleasant, modern environment with exposed brickwork and plenty of natural light, so clients enjoy coming here. My 16-year-old son came here for some work experience and said he didn’t realise work could be so much fun!  
 
Lorenzo: We shared a space with 4Sight in Victoria Street West, who are environmental planners, and who we have a business relationship with, so we’re very used to working in a shared space. 
 
When the team came back after the two lockdowns, it was like a post-battle scene. The space was about 20% to 30% full and it was just a reminder of the bad times. 
 
Our lease just happened to expire at the end of March 2020, so I elected to have a reset. After talking to Greg Byers at Frank Accounting  (with the business rebirth four years ago, I replaced our professional advisors and Frank became our new accountants) he mentioned that he’d just moved into The Icehouse. I visited, and said ‘yes’ on the spot. It’s refreshing, it’s stimulating, and it feels like a new start. It's fantastic. 
 
The team elected not to work from home and be here instead. It fits into an integrated business model, but it’s also the day-to-day things. The IT services are good – we managed to relocate our server here – we have car parks available close to the building, which is very important. We can also host large project stakeholder workshops in-house. 
 
And there are two distinct parts to the interaction. One is to have a busy office which is also ‘part’ of a busy office. You feel a part of that, even if you're not engaging with other tenants all the time. The other part of it is that we have been to some of the talks and social functions, and they're great.  
 
Click on the link to find out more about coworking at The Icehouse.