Ditching the dots and building Base

For over a decade, Dotted Desks has thrived- albeit under the radar- carving out its niche as a trusted managed office provider, matching businesses of all sizes with vibrant, design-led workspaces. However, as the business scaled, the gap widened - and the brand? It dissolved into a relic rather than a reflection. Fast forward 10 years, Base has been born - a conduit for fully-flexible, upmarket managed space. Here’s everything you need to know about Dotted Desks’ glow-up.

A Bold New Brand

Base’s former branding no doubt leaned into caution- deliberately subdued with muted tones that kept it tethered to the background. But as ambitions sharpened, so did their vision. Shedding the old colour palette for a punchy, fluorescent upgrade, Base’s new branding is unapologetically bold, brash, and built to make its mark.

Reflecting on Dotted Desks’ revamp, Base’s Head of Development, Michael Dean tells Flex and The City: “It needed a fresh look. We intentionally kept things low-key - but this is the complete opposite. We’ve swapped the colour colour scheme for something sharper, with bold blues and oranges that absolutely stand out”.

This evidently is not a quiet evolution. It’s a statement- a sharp departure from the shadows, and a brand that refuses to blend in.

Ditching the ‘Dots’

The previous name unwittingly missed the mark, often mistaken for a hot-desking provider and failing to capture the brand’s true essence. But with Base, the message is crystal clear. Michael sets the record straight: “We are a fully managed product. That means clients can walk into their office on day one, connect to the WiFi, and get straight to work”. And, Base couldn’t be more fitting.

True to its name, Base is a launchpad for ideas and the backbone of growing businesses. It creates a solid foundation - a real “home base” for operations - offering fully managed private offices, tailored to each tenant. This is a name that reflects strength and a commitment to providing businesses with a foundation for success.

Shift in Strategy

Beyond aesthetics, the rebrand aligns with a strategic shift in operations. Base acts as “the glue” between the traditional leasing world and the booming managed market. “We fuse the two together, sit in the middle and provide products for both”, Michael elucidates. Operating on a sharp back-to-back model, Base will secure a lease and simultaneously sublet on a license- a streamlined approach, and no doubt a win, win (win) for landlords, occupiers, and brokers alike.

For landlords, Base provides a gateway to a broader market, going beyond traditional leasing models. For brokers, it unlocks a vast inventory of premium managed offices, offering more choice, more opportunity, and ultimately, more wins for everyone involved.

Michael stresses: “We’ve really simplified the entire process. One of the biggest pain points we heard - especially from brokers - is that traditional deals often involve three parties in what should be a two-way conversation. That’s where we step in and take full control of the lease. So it's super simplistic, for the brokers and their clients in signing a nice little short form license with us”.

Source and Select

Currently, Base offers a portfolio of eight prime buildings across London, from 1000 sq ft up to around 15,000 sq ft, delivering a seamless, fully managed office experience. But unlike most traditional managed or flex operators, clients are not limited to what’s in-house - Base’s model extends far beyond these eight sites. 

With its new approach, gone are the days whereby deals are dictated by availability or businesses forced to fit into spaces that weren’t quite right. Base flips the script- sourcing, creating, and transforming any office on the market into a fully managed setup. “We’re reversing our entire process", Michael reiterates. "In going down the back-to-back route we don’t take on a lease then find the client to fit the space, we find the space to fit the client”.

Base’s transformation has been bold in every sense, and we’re all for it. A smart marketing move never goes unnoticed either - hats off to their stress ball rollout, a plafyful nod to a stress-free solution. We'll be watching, closely, for their next power throw.