Flex Focus:
Why Runway East should be on your radar
FEATURES / 28 MAY 2024
Destroying boring offices is no easy feat, but Runway East is leading the charge. For over a decade, the serviced office provider has been crafting fun, flexible and faff-free workspaces designed to inspire and empower teams of 1-100. Now, with over 5000 members across 4 UK cities (London, Bristol, Brighton and a soon-to-launch site in Birmingham), there’s no doubt Runway East is expanding and polishing its Flex compass. If this provider isn’t already on your radar, here’s why it should be.
Branded by an unwavering commitment to ‘Team Bliss’, ‘Space to Scale’ and ‘Big Desk Energy’, Runway East delivers vibrant, trendy and faff-free workspaces for start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs. Think Grind Coffee, Deliveroo and Dojo. From its high-quality, eco-friendly fit outs to its vibrant neon signs, friendly pups and greenery galore, every Runway East building meticulously curates a laidback landscape where creative minds can coalesce.
Take the provider’s latest location in Bloomsbury, its largest space yet. Launched in November 2023, the space offers a delightful secret garden, spacious breakout areas, along with 38 meeting rooms and 12 phone booths, providing ample space for both privacy and collaboration.
That the flex provider can hold so firmly on to its appellation as the dreary office demolisher, is certified by its unrivalled collection of team perks, out-of-the-box initiatives and community get-togethers.
“Runway East has been destroying boring offices since 2014. All our members get free meeting room use, free cake on a Wednesday, drinks on a Friday and tonnes of events from cocktail making to karaoke and yoga”, says James Harrap, VP Sales. “We are bringing the fun back to the office, because stuffy, corporate spaces just don’t cut it anymore.”
Beyond providing fun and functional workspaces, the operator is laying down the gauntlet for flexy venue hires – special mention goes to the 120-person basement of the 45,000 sq ft Bloombsury building. Through attracting the likes of big brands like Farfetch, Unilever, and Airbnb, Runway East has crystallised its identity as a trendy hot spot for hosting events and networking forums.
It seems the flex operator, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, shows no signs of slowing down, with six locations across London plus sites in Bristol, Brighton and the latest to launch in Birmingham this July.
"Our newest site sees us expand further North to The Midlands with a new space at the heart of Birmingham's CBD," James announces. The new build sees the operator take 20,000sq.ft. of new workspace at Arca, in part of a 20-year joint venture with Oval Real Estate. "It's an exciting milestone for us, our tenth site, in our tenth year and our first in the Midlands”, the brand stated.
Slated to open July 1st, the workspace touts a large roof terrace with views over the city, ample breakout space, over 15 meeting rooms and phone booths on site, with prices starting from £380+VAT.
Natasha Guerra, CEO of Runway East further explained how the new product taps into Birmingham’s Big City Plan: “The Big City Plan is changing the face of the city, with Birmingham playing a pivotal role in the green revolution.
Runway East started out as a tech collective, and so we’re so excited to be entering a city with such a thriving tech community. It’s full circle for us as this year marks 10 years of bringing what we call team bliss to start-ups, scale-ups and SMEs so that they can concentrate on what’s most important in their day-to-day.”
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Written by
Flex and The City