The White Noise workspace in Whangamata gives people an option to work away from the city or outside the home. Photo / Supplied
The White Noise workspace in Whangamata gives people an option to work away from the city or outside the home. Photo / Supplied
It was "the worst possible timing" when Covid-19 hit just as Laura Priestley was about to open Whangamata's first shared working space.
"When Covid hit, our tradies were finishing up, and ideally we would've opened during lockdown," says Laura, 27.
Whitenoise workspace at Level 1, 712 Port Rd is Laura and partner Andrew's new venture in town, a private and sunny shared working space for professionals seeking a quiet environment with others.
Laura, a marketing and communications specialist, says when she moved to Whangamata she found herself unable to find work in town in her field and the couple maximised on the building they'd bought as a business idea.
"I'd noticed a lack of jobs for women in Whangamata, it's clearly a tradies' town which is fantastic, and I realised if we were going to live here permanently I had to create my own path."
The space has a meeting room that all members can book to use, and is available to local businesses when they need somewhere professional for sales meetings or other one-offs.
"Ideally we want as many people as possible to use the space, and we're super-flexible."
Smaller beach towns are seeing shared office spaces popping up - and their owners believe Covid-19 may been an unlikely boon for them.
In Whitianga, Cogworks is a flexible co-working space aimed at those people who need a place to meet clients or who find working from home isn't working out, like family interrupting their work time, or they don't have a good ergonomic set-up, says owner Brett Colman.
"We have had people who have been in Whitianga for a couple of months want a place to work, and we have people who just need a cost effective Whitianga base for their staff to hot desk at," says Brett.
"We have had interest from people wanting to start up business through to those wanting to downsize their work footprint."
The Office in Wilson Rd, Waihi Beach, has been open 18 months, and owner Teresa Qualtrough says by the time she'd hit a one year anniversary the space had several regular users, including a web designer, programmers, app developers, an architect and two planners.
Teresa Qualtrough believes her shared office space in Waihi Beach will gain popularity as city workers reasses life post-lockdown. Photo / Supplied
"Coming out of lockdown everyone has returned and I think that's indicative of everyone here still having plenty of work on.
"Our view is there's a really good chance our membership will increase as people relocate to Waihi Beach because of their lockdown experience. Either they've discovered they can do their job remotely or their employer has. Or perhaps they want to get somewhere more beautiful and less congested than the city if lockdown happens again."
Laura says lockdown has turned out to be a positive for the venture since it showed people they could work remotely and also left city workers questioning the need for expensive office buildings.
However, the reality of working from home can include loneliness, loss of social contact, and distractions, which is where a shared space at $25 per day is one solution.
Laura Priestley in her new shared office space in Whangamata. Photo / Coastal News
"We think there's going to be a real shift in people working from home then realising maybe it's not all it's cracked up to be. There's motivation to get work done and the social side of things that a shared office space can offer.
"You're also working with people from all different backgrounds and perspectives, which can lead to small businesses collaborating with each other."
