The days of 9-5, cubicle constrained worklife are seriously numbered. One of the major reasons for that – aside from a generational unrest with the normal office routine – is the speedy proliferation of Wi-Fi.
Other than facilitating easy access to cute animal videos anywhere (one of life’s great pastimes), it has also made hyperconnectivity a reality for anyone that wants to take their business on the road, quite literally.
Have Wi-Fi, will travel.
But if you think trends like being a digital nomad are just flash in the pan, we’ve got news for you: the growth of non-traditional, office-free work arrangements – like coworking – just cannot be ignored.
As travellers and freelancers ourselves, it’s an exciting time to be working; the fact that you could make an office anywhere – even if that anywhere is a pine-scented national park with a snow-capped mountain out your window – is thrilling for us wandering types.
But as work-from-anywhere professionals we’ve definitely struggled with the pitfalls of casting off conventional desk-bound arrangements.
We’re talking woeful productivity (see: endless internet video spirals), patchy Wi-Fi, one too many conversations with our four-legged friends; or overstaying our welcome, and caffeine tolerances, in the local cafe.
Which is why the idea of coworking is just so darn appealing. It’s flexible, affordable and strikes the balance between motivational (often home to start-ups and solo entrepreneurs), cool and social.
So, if you are a Wi-Fi hopping lone wolf worker who wants to explore the land Down Under without stuffy, grey cubicles to harsh your freelance creative dream then check out these cool coworking spaces around Australia.
In the heart of Maroochydore, Share Space is light, bright, breezy and as laid-back as you’d expect a coastal coworking hub to be. Filled with Scandi-cool meets coastal-fresh touches, the open-plan, Queenslander-style community hall has been lovingly restored with a fresh lick of white paint, a twinkling strand of fairy lights and all the mod-cons of a good office. The Wi-Fi is lightning fast, the coffee’s free, there’s a reliable printer and you can even add music to the communal Share Space Spotify playlist.
Dibs a desk for a day or week; book a meeting in the UnBored Room (complete with ping pong table) or even the whole space. Then, when the day is done, you can stretch down or bliss out at one of the regular yoga, meditation or Pilates classes held in the space. There’s no membership fees so all you need to do is book in and show up. Plus, the beach is just minutes away so a salt-air injection to shake the brain fuzz is never far away.
There are definitely worse places to make an office than above one of Melbourne’s best breweries. Friday afternoon drinks are sorted thanks to the kitchen keg, but it’s not all about beer. Perched atop the cool cats at 3 Ravens Brewery, CoBrew channels converted warehouse vibes, welcoming a regular community of collaborative creatives and professionals.
Great Wi-Fi is a given as well as printing but there’s also access to meeting rooms, pop-up events and workshops, music and entertainment plus the opportunity to meet and network with like-minded souls.
Prospect Studios, Brisbane, Queensland
52 Prospect Street, Fortitude Valley, QLD, 4006
+61 418 982 725
Nestled into a former industrial area in the heart of Brisbane’s entertainment precinct, Fortitude Valley, Prospect Studios is what urban coworking dreams are made of.
Filled with natural light thanks to the floor to ceiling steel-framed windows, the converted warehouse has been fitted out to include a mixture of hot-desks, lockable desks, plenty of private spaces (for small teams) and casual event space/meeting rooms. The space is full of plants, quirky design features and a bonus internal garden atrium – and is dog friendly, too.
Spaces. New South Wales & Victoria
Ground floor, 111 Flinders Street, Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW, 2010
+61 2 8302 5500
&
580 Church Street, Richmond, Melbourne, VIC, 3121
+61 3 9240 3100
Oozing minimal but functional European-style design appeal, Spaces began its life in Amsterdam before moving to New York, London, Rotterdam, The Hague, Menlo Park (California), Sydney and Melbourne. With a strong focus on community building and collaboration, this space offers much more than an aesthetically pleasing change of scene from your home-based pyjama party.
fSpaces sits in the heart of buzzing port city, Fremantle – Freo to the locals – where the freelancers of the city find refuge from their procrastinating selves in this funky, colourful workspace. The perks are pretty good too: super speedy Wi-Fi, access to colour printing and copying, events, free tea and coffee plus the use of the office bike to zip around the city if needed.
Majoran, Adelaide, South Australia
Level 2, 14 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, SA, 5000
Contact via email: hello@majoran.co
Majoran’s heart lies in the tech industry but their real mission is to see Adelaide’s early-stage entrepreneurs and startups get ahead on a global scale. Home to hackathons and Adelaide’s tech meetups, this is the place for creatives and tech professionals to find workspace niche, while enjoying all the perks of membership in the Majoran community.
Thinklab, Darwin, Northern Territory
22B/82 Nightcliff Road, Rapid Creek, Darwin, NT, 0810
+61 1300 457 025
Like all of Australia’s capital cities, tropical north Darwin, has a healthy population of thriving freelancers, remote workers and solo business peeps who make their way to Thinklab to escape the isolation of #freelancelife. It’s the city’s first coworking space, and offers casual ‘pop-in’ style bookings as well as longer term residencies.
The WeCo crew know that working from home isn’t all it’s cracked up to be 24/7, 365. Sometimes you need an excuse to get out of your PJs, and shake off the routine. And WeCo’s bright open coworking space is just the fun place to do it.
Shared workspaces with breakout spaces and meeting rooms, the no lock-in contracts make this eastern suburbs coworking space ideal for consultants and freelancers who like structure but not too much commitment.
Parliament Co-Working, Hobart, Tasmania
Suite 30, Level 3, 11 Morrison Street, Hobart, 7000
+61 427 876 736
Parliament Coworking kicked off in 2012 to give the local freelance community somewhere to collaborate and call home, in Tassie’s capital. The shortest pass is seven-days with 24-hour access so Parliament is best suited to medium- to long-term freelancers rather than casual, more transient workers.
There are no shared desks so the Parliament community is encouraged to personalise and make their space feel like home, which adds to the feeling of togetherness.
The Studio Braddon, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory
1/7 Lonsdale Street, Bradden, ACT, 2612
+61 2 8035 3486
Canberra is a city brimming with political ambition and an undeniably business-like energy. But it’s also home to a healthy undertow of creativity and plenty of enterprising freelancers, solo workers and entrepreneurs kicking goals outside of political circles. In the heart of the Braddon, The Studio by Lonsdale Street Roasters is just one of the spaces where these creatives can come to work, network and showcase their business.
The fully-equipped share space (above a cafe and restaurant) with plenty of natural light streaming in through large windows is already plugged into the NBN (national broadband network) so the Wi-Fi speeds are off the charts.
Desta Cullen is a writer and editor based in Brisbane. She loves a good glass of rosé and overuses the pineapple emoji. Her work has appeared in Australian Traveller, on Tourism and Event’s Hello Sunshine blog, The Collective blog by Topdeck Travel, The Urban List, in Peppermint Magazine, and in Queensland Performing Arts Centre’s magazine Story, among others. Follow her on Instagram @theneontropic
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