Urban Village offers flexible working space

Freelancers and home workers are being given the chance to operate from a new dedicated ‘coworking’ office.

Community Interest Company (CIC) indycube has opened its fourth South Wales site at 220 High Street after the success of its operations in Cardiff.

Indycube is the latest tenant to move into Coastal Housing Group’s Urban Village development. A £25million scheme for the regeneration, redesign and rebuilding of the High Street and Strand Row areas of Swansea, the Urban Village offers retail, commercial and living space.

Indycube opened at the Media Centre at Culverhouse Cross in Cardiff in March 2010 as Wales’ first coworking space. The concept, which is well established in the US and is now taking hold in the UK, offers those who are traditionally home-based or anyone else who works alone the use of a desk, wifi and boardroom facilities for a set fee of £10 per day, or cheaper if more days are pre-booked.

Following the success at Culverhouse Cross, the company has started on a process of expansion across Wales, with the new Swansea site its fourth after two further coworking spaces were opened in Cardiff earlier this autumn.

The Swansea site will help indycube, which reinvests any surplus profits for the benefit of the coworking community, continue its ambitious growth plans.

Mark Hooper, indycube founder, said: “It has taken a couple of years for the coworking concept to grow in Cardiff, but now it is established there we are continuing our expansion across South Wales.

“The idea is simple – we offer freelancers and micro-businesses an excellent, low cost way for them to professionalise their business, and get out of the back bedroom or coffee shop. There are also a number of established businesses which have found the coworking experience a better option than the standard office lease.

“The real attraction for many is the community of other businesses in the same space – there’s always someone available to bounce ideas off.

“Over the next year or so we’re looking to expand into other areas around South Wales, with plans for up to 23 indycube sites in, among other places, Bridgend, Newport, the Valleys, Barry and Penarth.”

Gerraint Oakley, Coastal Housing Group’s director of development said: “We are delighted to secure a tenant in indycube. The confidence of indycube to select Urban Village as the location for its operations is further evidence of the strength of the Village’s appeal, services and amenities.”

Anyone interested in indycube can find more details at www.indycube.biz