Flex and The City’s first Live Panel Debate:
A spicy showdown on the future of Flex

Picture this: one hundred c-suite and senior leaders lounging comfortably in WeWork’s chic auditorium at 10 York Road– tension bubbling, popcorn crunching. The occasion? Flex and The City’s first-ever Live Panel Debate, held in partnership with Yardi and sponsored by MWA and WeWork.

As far as industry debates go, this one was spicy, enlightening, and utterly unfiltered- with speakers ditching polite nods and surface-level chatter for bold, uncompromising, and deeply revealing anecdotes.

Moderated by Justin Harley, Senior Director at Yardi UK, the curated panel featured experts from every corner of the sector: Wayne Berger, CEO of IWG, Philippa Abendanon, Head of Leasing at Derwent, Shaun Simons, Founder of Compton, Natasha Guerra, CEO of Runway East and Richard Smith, Founder and CEO of Office Freedom.

They tackled it all- blurring market boundaries, pricing wars, consumer confusion, and the rise (or fall) of ‘bedroom brokers’. Here’s everything you need to know.

A Market in Motion

The debate kicked off by unravelling an industry shift: the average size of tenants in serviced office buildings is decreasing in size. Driven by the growing dominance of managed leases, this evolution is changing the very DNA of the market, Natasha Guerra explained:

“A decade ago, we were all about open spaces for start-ups. Over time, those offices got larger and larger to the point that we've had up to 200 people in one space. But over the last few years, as more landlords have entered the market, we've decided that's not really where our value add is as a business. So now, our offices are getting smaller and smaller again.”

In this way, Runway East has pivoted from open-plan, start-up-centric spaces to a model built around private offices and curated communities: “We need to be different to compete. The managed lease market prioritises price, location, and design, but what we sell is brand and community”, Natasha stressed.

As clients downsize, partnerships with landlords have become essential. Instead of competing, flex operators and landlords are beginning to coexist and collaborate. Runway East is “sharing leads” with some of their landlords, including GPE, where their flex product exists within the landlord’s building – “If they've got something small or if we've got something big, we work together” – creating a more integrated, symbiotic relationship.

Thinking historically, she added, “Obviously there was a point where a lot of WeWork and operators were mainly offering enterprise suites. And I think that's where serviced office providers, in the long term, cannot compete with the landlords”.

Stepping in, however, Richard Smith contested this notion that serviced office providers and landlords are locked in a long-term battle:

“Traditional landlords have already entered this arena. In the early days, British Land, Derwent, or Land Securities would have laughed at the idea of having a flex product in their buildings. It isn’t going to come. It’s already here. But is it really competition? They've actually just given us an additional beautiful string to the bow that we can now offer to clients that want a flexible solution, whether it be fully serviced or space from a traditional landlord, or an IWG type solution. So it's just getting bigger and bigger- the choice for the consumer - which is only good news!”

Consumer Confusion: Too Many Labels, Too Much Complexity?

While choice is booming, consumer confusion is also at an all-time high. Shaun Simons, with his 26 years of skin in the game (both on the conventional and flex brokerage world), argued that the industry has overcomplicated its own system:

“I think what we have done as a property industry is that we have unnecessarily made the whole system so complicated. Quite frankly, we need to look at offices like hotels. I don’t ask you, are you Bed & Breakfast? Half board? All-inclusive? We’ve made this too complex. At the end of the day, it’s just office space. Different businesses, different budgets, different needs- why all the labels?”

Building on the point of consumer paralysis, Wayne Berger argued that real estate must become truly consumer-centric- something it has mostly struggled with:

“The reality is, the industry still views itself through a narcissistic lens- landlords think about debt maturity, developers about security. We need to look at this from a consumer lens, right? This is now a consumer facing business and industry.”

It seems the consumer, albeit confused is simultaneously more informed than ever. “It strikes me that since the C word [Covid]”, Justin Harley teased, “the consumer is actually more educated than ever before, because it's now become a discussion- Where should we be? What do our employees need?”

Wayne naturally concurred: “We need to shift our mindset, because the client, to me, is a combination of a hurricane and a renaissance. There has never been a greater avenue for choice and optionality for a client than we've ever seen.”

With millennials and Gen Z set to make up 75% of the workforce within three years, it’s clear that flexibility, experience, and seamless tech integration will drive demand radically. Whereas in the early days Richard recalls “it was really only start-ups and small companies” embracing flex - “It wasn’t really fit for purpose”, now more than ever “enterprise companies, are embracing the flexible solution” as a serious alternative to a lease. Wayne reiterated this point, highlighting the surge in interest from major corporations, such as e-commerce giant Amazon enquiring for space at IWG: “The number of inquiries we received from Amazon for space has exploded through the roof”.

Are Operators Undervaluing Their Product?

The pricing debate was where things truly heated up. Are flex operators charging enough for their product? Natasha Guerra says no:

“I think at the moment, we're not charging enough for the product, and there's just not enough of a premium for flex space. The industry isn’t pricing itself properly. There’s too much discounting by providers, and that needs to change for people to actually make a margin on the pricing data.”

But Philippa Abendanon pushed back, arguing that some pricing structures are already reaching eye-watering premiums: “When you do the analysis on some of the pricing structures, there are vast premiums. You know, on the operational side, it might be more challenging, but I do think it is hugely diverse. For the occupiers, it must be really difficult."

Shaun delivered a reality check, warning that raising prices could drive occupiers straight back to traditional landlords:

“If you believe conventional landlords can offer a similar- albeit not identical- product at scale, they hold the power. If you raise prices, all you're going to do is push your serviced office occupiers back into conventional landlord space, who are prepared to offer fitted and flex, and that's the that's why pricing can't go up.”

Bedroom Brokers: Industry Disruptors or Market Parasites?

Talk of pricing naturally segued into broker fees- a topic that sent shockwaves through the sofas. Shaun didn’t hold back, slamming the rise of Google-driven lead generators working from their bedrooms:

“There are brokers working from their bedrooms, throwing money at Google ads, collecting leads, and distorting the market. As the industry matures and the lines blur between conventional and serviced, this kind of low-effort, high-fee brokerage will fall away. It’s not going to stack up anymore.”

But Richard interjected to defend the true brokerage firms that add value:

“Let’s not paint all brokers with the same brush. We’ve been ambassadors of the flex industry for 32 years, running a real brokerage operation with a team of 40, and a whole database and infrastructure through Salesforce. It’s an intense, high-skill business- it’s not about gaming SEO and flipping leads.”

The Future of Flex: More Evolution, More Innovation

As the conversation wound down, one thing was clear: This industry is undergoing a seismic shift, and AI is set to supercharge it. “It’s given us power over brokers” Gary McCausland, CEO, of managed operator Hubflow, signalled from the audience. “It’s going to pivot the market massively”.

AI has already become a game-changer in redefining how spaces are designed, leased, and optimised. Wayne shared how IWG is leveraging AI to streamline floor planning at an unprecedented scale:

“Now we use AI to build the floor plans, and then a person checks it after. It's been a huge unlock for us in terms of speed. We’ve loaded all 4,000 of our locations and mapped out the most optimised sections.”

And yet, while AI will automate execution tasks, the advisory role in real estate will only grow in importance, Shaun and Richard agreed. Understanding client needs, curating experiences, and navigating an increasingly complex market will “require expertise of an agent that technology alone cannot replace”, Richard stressed.

For us? The most fitting takeaway- the very definition of ‘flex”. Shaun urged the industry to strip away the jargon and see flex for what it truly is:

“Flex is just a word. It doesn’t mean serviced office or conventional. It’s a function- a way to provide space. Traditional landlords are doing flex. Brokers are doing flex. The reality? Everything is flex.”

Everything is flex, indeed. With that, the debate wrapped on a note of clarity, conviction and challenge: The lines between traditional and flexible markets will continue to blur, technology will continue to push the boundaries, and those who fail to evolve will be left behind.

If this debate was anything to go by, Flex and The City’s next panel event will be unmissable. To keep up to date with our exclusive industry events, subscribe to our ever-growing community here.