CommercialClare BurnettTue 20 Oct 26
The New Office Amenity That Developers Can No Longer Ignore
“Every decent building will have a flex offering,” Flex general manager Josh Alfafara says.
The specialist coworking arm of construction group Hickory was launched in the wake of Covid when the permanent office sector was in flux, Alfafara tells the Blueprint podcast this week.
But now, according to Flexible Workspaces Australia’s 2026 report, supply of coworking is at an all-time low, with just 13,000sq m available. The well-publicised demise of WeWork made operators and asset owners cautious, while the office sector itself remains in the doldrums.
Demand, however, is only looking up. Flex’s latest project, Bourke & Bowden at Alexandria in Sydney, is being built by Hickory and Time & Place.
“This was driven by the demand—the building required this space…it was an intuitive decision,” Alfafara said.
“And it’s a requirement now by tenants when looking at leases, [asking] ‘Does it have a flex offering?’.”
In 2022, Alfafara said, 7.2 per cent of corporate allocation was to flex. That more than doubled in 2025-26 to 15.5 per cent.
“Corporations are now embedding flexible workspaces into their overall workplace strategy.”
And the industry is working smarter, not harder.
“People are smarter with their design ... [and] businesses are smarter now in what they’re looking for. Instead of taking 1000 sq m, maybe we take 500 or 700sq m of space,” Alfafara said.
“It’s no longer about inflexible leases and being tied down to a 10-year lease. It’s about, can you meet our requirements within our workplace strategy?”
It’s not just about meeting-room accessibility anymore either. Within this space is the opportunity to tailor coworking amenities and add-ons to fit, whether workers are interested in having a rooftop DJ, a ground-floor bathhouse, or a bar and catering, encouraging community and networking throughout the whole building.
How businesses approach coworking is changing too, with management agreements and revenue share partnership agreements, Alfafara said.
“Having a flex offering such as ourselves needs to complement the rest of the building, not just [act as] a standalone or just another tenant. That’s where we’re headed.”
Find out more about the future of coworking on the Blueprint podcast, available now on YouTube, Spotify or Apple.
