From scrappy start-ups to global giants like eBay, tech companies are increasingly turning to co-working spaces to build out headquarters in the North. But it’s not just the lunchtime pizza or yoga sessions drawing them in – it’s the chance to plug directly into the buzz of thriving regional tech communities.
“At Colony, we’ve seen a sharp rise in tech companies of all sizes choosing our workspaces, from early-stage startups to global players like eBay,” Jamie Halliday, head of marketing at Colony tells Prolific North.
Colony launched its first co-working space, Jactin House, in Ancoats back in 2017 and now has six locations across Manchester. Colony’s dedicated community teams organise everything from networking events to support for its growing network of creatives, entrepreneurs, freelancers and established tech businesses.
“For many of them, flexibility and community are just as important as location and infrastructure. They want more than just office space, they’re looking for a launchpad that gives them access to talent, ideas, and networks. That’s what we’ve built our venues around.”
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Inside Colony’s Fabrica co-working space, tech companies are able to host events with an auditorium-style presentation space, take part in yoga classes, brunches and industry panel talks.
It’s clear to see why these co-working spaces appeal to businesses early on in their journey, or for those looking to scale with specialist, specially designed workspaces. In 2024, eBay’s web3 team settled into 4,000 sq. ft space of serviced office space within Colony’s The Astley building.
“Serviced offices give us the ability to scale quickly and leverage the resources at hand. We are very happy to be in our new home with Colony,” said Andy Gray, director in eBay’s Web3 team at the time.
Just last week, global sportswear brand Puma revealed a major commitment to the North with plans to relocate its London headquarters to Manchester.
Signing for 20,000 sq ft at No.3 Circle Square, Bruntwood SciTech’s £87m flagship development in the city’s Oxford Road Corridor is fast becoming a key hub for digital, tech and creative businesses.
Lucynda Davies, Puma’s UK Managing Director, hailed the ‘state-of-the-art facilities’ but explained being ‘surrounded by such a strong line-up of industry’ in the heart of Manchester’s thriving tech community, was an important deciding factor to relocate to the North.
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Earlier this year, digital automotive marketplace Autotrader agreed a lease for 130,000 sq ft of specialist workspace for a new head office in the same building.
Autotrader’s new workspace will span seven floors; with six floors dedicated to office space, and a private rooftop terrace.
Beyond those attractive facilities, being based at a co-working space offers a gateway to a mix of benefits, such as access to Bruntwood SciTech’s events programme, growth support opportunities, and connections with neighboring businesses.
At the time, Josh Whiteley, commercial director at Bruntwood SciTech said the community at Circle Square “forges connections and promotes knowledge-sharing” between well established businesses, start-ups and scale-ups, from the Tech Incubator through to the large-scale new buildings.
“All customers have access to the same talent, funding, and networking opportunities to help them develop and reach their full potential.”
And that neighbourhood is growing by the day, with an established ecosystem of global tech brands from Avalere, Roku, Bosch and Autocab – now acquired by Uber – now based at Circle Square.
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But it’s just a snippet of Bruntwood SciTech’s £260m portfolio of workspace spread across Manchester city centre, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Leeds and Liverpool.
And this June, property development and investment company Allied London will launch Campfield, a new creative tech campus in the St. John’s neighbourhood of Manchester, with promises to “change the workspace landscape in Manchester”.
At the heart of Campfield will be Department, a flexible workspace provider owned by Allied, which will deliver the full operational infrastructure of the campus. Founded in 2020, Department is now home to over 250 businesses across locations in Manchester and Leeds, including Department Bonded Warehouse, the Globe Building and Department XYZ.
The mega campus will also house Exchange, a successful tech accelerator that has supported more than 200 businesses from the likes of Housr to HACE over the years.
Now in its ninth cohort, Exchange’s move to Campfield will expand its support to include both start-ups and growth enterprises in deep tech.
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Just over two years ago, we also had a sneak peek around Department Leeds Dock, fresh after its launch. It’s now a swish home to a thriving cluster of tech, media and creative businesses, such as edtech company Glean.
Jessica Jackson, investment manager from Praetura, recently pointed to how the health of an ecosystem can easily be measured by the upsurge in accelerators, incubators, alongside co-working spaces.
“If these are popping up at an increased frequency, within or alongside co-working spaces in a city or town, then it’s probably because there’s a healthy start-up scene, significant public funding, decent investment activity, or a combination of all these.”
Hailliday agrees: “We fully agree that the presence of accelerators and incubators within or around co-working spaces is a strong sign of a healthy, thriving ecosystem. We see that daily in the collaborations, mentoring, and resource sharing that happens organically across our network of shared workspaces.”
Elsewhere across the North, although it would be near impossible to mention all of them, you’ll find an abundance of co-working and flexible workspaces from Baltic Creative in Liverpool, Fraser Hub House in Lancaster, Platform in Leeds, to Floe in Newcastle.
While there might be plenty of co-working spaces, is there enough space for businesses looking to scale?
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“The space isn’t available for some tech companies to expand, some Northern businesses need to leave because of this, but we’re definitely getting better at it,” explains Dr Elizabeth Young, investment manager at Par Equity.
While Halliday agrees space is a challenge, in some parts of the North West at least, the picture is improving.
“The availability of space remains a challenge in some parts of the North West, but we’re getting better at meeting demand through flexible yet high-end solutions,” he explains.
“Our own expansion, including new sites like Spring Gardens, is a direct response to that need. When the infrastructure keeps pace with ambition, Northern tech companies can scale here, and that is what we are seeing across Manchester at the moment.”
