Co-working in NewQuay

Co-working in NewQuay

Co-working startup TwoSpace has just opened its newest Melbourne space in NewQuay.

The NewQuay space is its fourth Melbourne venue and brings its total venue count to 14 – a significant number considering it launched in 2016.

TwoSpace describes its model as “co-working with a difference” and initially only utilised the vacant (day) space of restaurants that were only open during the evening.

Members, often freelancers or startup founders who would generally be working from home much of the time, are able to use the space as an office and network with other members.

Recently TwoSpace has started collaborating with daytime operators too, like Sir Basil Cafe in Docklands.

The recently opened cafe realised it had extra space with waterfront views, and wanted to engage an innovative business to partner with.

TwoSpace was already set up in Melbourne and co-founder Bill Rutten saw the Sir Basil space as a great opportunity.

Mr Rutten had made contact with TwoSpace a few months after it started operating in Sydney and eventually convinced founder Tashi Dorjee to let him expand the service to Melbourne.

Mr Rutten had previous experience in sustainability-based startups, and said that this was the reason that TwoSpace caught his attention.

“In my first conversation with Tashi I said ‘Man, this is all about sustainability to me’ and he had the same vision,” Mr Rutten said.

Mr Rutten points out the benefits of co-working in relation to electricity and other overheads associated with traditional office space.

With increasing members and popularity, not only in TwoSpace but similar projects, Mr Rutten said it added up.

“If you’ve got 100 members, that might be a whole office you’ve saved from being built. If you’ve got 1000, that could be a whole building,” he said.

Mr Rutten said that this whole philosophy was supported by the fact that TwoSpace was differentiated from the rest of the market by its pricing.

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