Co-working company looks set for further expansion

A Caerphilly-based company which runs a string of co-working spaces across the UK looks set to further its growth.

Over the last eight months, TownSq has won six new contracts resulting in additional revenue of £15m over the next five years. These include three new spaces in London and hubs in Llanishen, Rhyl, and Chester.

The new contracts and investment have allowed the company to almost double its team, with an additional nine members of staff joining across the UK. These will be followed by a further six posts over the next few months as further co-working spaces come online.

The company has also agreed to borrow a six-figure sum from bank Triodos.

The finance from Triodos is some of the sustainable bank’s first lending through the Government’s Recovery Loan Scheme, which is designed to provide financial support to businesses across the UK as they recover and grow following the coronavirus pandemic.

In what has been a record-breaking year for TownSq, Chief Operating Officer, Mandy Weston, said the experience of more than ten years in co-working has meant the company is more than ready to press on with its rapid expansion.

Mandy said: “In what has been a tough year, with lots of Covid-related challenges, our entire team has pulled together, and it’s a testament to their hard work that our growth has not only continued but has picked up pace.

“We’ve doubled in size, which might be surprising when you think that our business is primarily based around sharing space with other people – something that has been restricted these past 12 months.

“In fact, it’s a reflection of the genuine desire and need from partners and entrepreneurs to create supportive business communities, to facilitate the new way of working, and to support town centres and high streets, offering local workers an alternative to the traditional office commute.

“Embracing an ethos of business for good has also been an important part of the wider blueprint for TownSq – not just in terms of ethics, but also as a business model. Our new contracts come with social goals, and the fact we are a certified B Corp has certainly played a role in us securing nationwide partnerships.

“Although we are growing quickly, we are doing so in a sustainable and profitable way. By continuing to work with partners and stakeholders such as Triodos, we expect 2022 to be just as fruitful as this past year.”

TownSq is a registered B Corp, meaning it is certified as meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, public transparency, and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.

TownSq grew out of Caerphilly-based co-working space Welsh ICE, which Mandy and Gareth Jones set-up.

Although TownSq has its base at Welsh ICE, they are seperate entities.

TownSq currently operates hubs in Wales, Oxfordshire, West Sussex, Devon and Cheshire, and can support people from an initial idea right through to founding and growing a business.

Many of its locations have high environmental standards and good public transport links, including its co-working hub in Bicester, which is the UK’s first PassivHaus Plus workspace, based in a zero-carbon eco-village.