Leading coworking operator WOTSO will open its 40th location across Australia and New Zealand at Macquarie Park, northwest Sydney, and expects network growth to accelerate over the next 12 months with a strong pipeline of partnership opportunities.
WOTSO has signed a lease with global real estate company Mapletree on a high-profile ground floor site across 1,000 square metres in its office precinct at 22 Giffnock Avenue.
CEO Jessie Glew says Macquarie Park, one of Australia’s largest suburban office markets, offers strong coworking opportunities with increased residential development bringing more people and small businesses to the area.
“Hitting our 40th WOTSO location is an important milestone and reflects our experience that demand for flexible workspace outside of CBDs continues to grow with suburban and regional coworking locations performing well,” she says.
Macquarie Park will be WOTSO’s 19th coworking space in Sydney – creating a city-wide network enabling members to easily work from multiple sites depending on where they live or are doing business.
“What we keep seeing is that new locations are not starting from zero, they’re building on an existing network so at Macquarie Park we expect the communities across our Rhodes and North Strathfield spaces to frequent this location,” Glew says.
“Members are increasingly using multiple sites, and landlords are seeing value in activating space through a proven model.
“Mapletree have been great to work with and we look forward to activating the ground floor of their building in Macquarie Park.”
Glew says demand for WOTSO is increasing. “Based on our current pipeline, we expect to be at 50 locations within the next 12 to 18 months.”
Joseph Carlino, head of commercial for Mapletree in Australia, says the office leasing market continues to evolve post-COVID and having a coworking space is now important for the overall amenity of commercial buildings.
“The way our occupants utilise their space can vary a lot,” Mr Carlino says. “For example, some businesses may have a significant number of interstate or international employees and housing them temporarily is a lot easier when you have coworking space.
“At the other end of the spectrum, it’s an extremely positive and easy way for smaller businesses of 1-5 people who do not want to take on significant risk through a long-term lease but still have the same amenity and aesthetics.
“One thing I applaud WOTSO for is they build an office culture, which is difficult to do for a small business. Having that core community environment that WOTSO provides is very positive.”
Work on transforming the ground floor site in the north building at 22 Giffnock Avenue into WOTSO Macquarie Park will start soon and is expected to complete by mid-2026.
