After just over a year since the coworking space Wespa Spaces opened its doors in Zagreb’s Zavrtnica, numerous companies and freelancers, current and future tenants of Wespa, will soon receive a new space for work, networking, and socializing. This is a new section called Wespa Business Lounge in the nearby Green Gold center, where from the beginning of November, alongside new office spaces, an event space for 500 people, a food courtyard, and even a gym will emerge.
As Amir Babović, one of the co-founders of Wespa, explains, this rapid expansion is the result of their collaboration with PB Group, which owned the Wespa Spaces building and currently manages 150,000 m2 of space in the Business Center of Zagreb, including the Green Gold center. Together, they identified what is lacking in the market, and with the new space, they want to offer additional, occasional amenities such as conferences, project consultations, and creative workshops to small and larger companies operating in Green Gold or in the immediate vicinity.
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—– The occasional use of external resources that are not owned is almost a rule. Workshops, larger meetings, and work with partners and clients often take place in external spaces regardless of the size of the company. The modern era brings project work, where partners or temporary teams work together for a few months, but then return to their own spaces – examples include various audits, project consultations, creative and assisted workshops, and process consultations – explains Babović the idea behind the new location, which would allow large companies to have the option of flexible workspace alongside their own small and cramped spaces.
'Uberized' office model
– We can say that Wespa Spaces was in a way an 'experiment' in which we combined the traditional real estate approach of PB Group with the technology-innovative direction conceived by Wespa. We took a 120-year-old building and an industrial warehouse and through a combination of technology, design, and a focus on user experience created a new version of an office for the 21st century.
PB Group recognized that diversification towards the 'uberized' office model has its place in the market, and here we found a strong synergy that leads to the expansion of cooperation – adds Babović, emphasizing that they invested all profits into further business development.
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In the entire Wespa coworking space, from the acquisition of the building to its renovation and repurposing into business space, and finally the creation of a startup community, Babović and co-founders Nikola Perković, Lovro Petrač, Filip Duvnjak, and Damir Ismailović invested a total of three million euros, which includes a loan approved to them last year. With the Wespa Business Lounge, capacity will grow to 600 workstations.
– Revenues are steadily increasing, with a rise in the number of members, and we are currently at around 400 members who pay between 1300 and 2000 kuna per month per workstation. Our main challenge is to ensure that the business exists in 10 years, and we can only do that by focusing on our clients. All revenues are invested in that direction – from new amenities, through cost optimization, to working on new concepts – says Babović, revealing that one of such concepts is the Community Center for which they are currently seeking sponsors.
In 'coworking' on weekends
Until then, their desire is to provide their members with the best workday – every day. They also hope that people will visit Green Gold on weekends in their free time with friends after experiencing it during the workdays.
– The new space on the same floor, besides Wespa Business Lounge with its play, relax, and creative workspaces, has a gym, a food courtyard, a self service zone, an event space, but also an exit to the square with a selection of catering options, and towards the park with artificial lakes, which we hope to connect into one concept, unprecedented in Croatia.
This would be a workspace that people love to return to on weekends with friends, as the business aspect of usage allows us to invest in an experience that will be valued in their free time – concludes Babović, not wanting to reveal too many details of all the ideas they have.
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