The 50,000 sq ft-plus premises at The Quayside in Hong Kong’s Kowloon East district is becoming an IWG 'Signature' flexible office.

This is the third Signature brand to be opened by IWG in Hong Kong and the third office space it has taken over from WeWork as the latter surrenders costly premises it has leased from office landlords.

As a former WeWork site, Signature at the Quayside joins existing Signature properties in Hysan Place in Causeway Bay and The Gateway in Tsim Sha Tsui, which have seen surging occupancy.

The IWG Signature office will open in May 2021 and follows the announcement of a global partnership with Standard Chartered, which provides the bank’s 95,000 employees access to IWG’s offices anywhere around the world.

Mark Dixon, founder and CEO of IWG, said: ‘Up until now, organisations have been taking a gradual step towards hybrid working, but now we are seeing companies of all sizes accelerate this approach as a result of the pandemic.' 

He added companies were taking a ‘radically employee-centric approach, empowering their teams to work where is most convenient and productive to them’.

‘Undoubtedly, this trend will only accelerate further and working in partnership with landlord partners, we will continue to open centres like Signature at The Quayside both in Hong Kong and globally.’

Towering in the heart of the energised Kowloon East district, Signature at The Quayside is located in a prime transport hub.

Paul MacAndrew, country manager for IWG in Hong Kong, said: ‘Hong Kong is a key city for IWG’s growth and strategic development. We are very excited to be opening our third Signature centre featuring cutting-edge facilities to meet rapidly growing demand in this vibrant gateway to Asia.’

IWG – which is the subject of PropertyEU’s Big Interview in its next edition - says the pandemic has resulted in the ‘biggest remote working experiment in history’, bringing radical change in employee behaviour and mindsets, which will have a profound impact on how people work in the years ahead.

‘It has accelerated a structural shift towards flexible use of office space, with companies and even landlords having to radically rethink their real estate strategy.

‘Hybrid work modes which combine working from home, at nearby offices and occasionally at corporate HQ, have disrupted our perception of how a workspace should look like. Comparing to pre-pandemic, we have received 30% more inquiries for our services from the same time last year.

‘As well as companies, landlords are also actively re-examining their development strategies and adding flexible workspace to their portfolios is critical.'

See PropertyEU’s March issue for an in-depth interview with IWG’s CIO