A search is on to find flexible working places across a North Wales county to support workers and start-up businesses as well as local venues. After a successful pilot last year, Cowork Local is launching in three locations across Wales: Denbighshire, Swansea and the Vale of Glamorgan – backed by UK Government’s Community Renewal Fund.
Cowork Local aims to support local businesses by having people work within their own communities – either running their own companies or saving them from a commute to their employer. Not only will this give people the benefits of working closer to home – getting up later, ditching the commute and saving money – but it will also give them a professional environment to work within, without the distractions and difficulties of living and working from the same space.
The organisers are now calling for venues in Denbighshire to sign up and give their space a new lease of life by offering flexible working opportunities and business support to the community around them. Venue owners who apply before June may be eligible for a grant of up to £5,000 to cover the cost of setting up, including marketing and photography, before they are ready to welcome coworkers and generate extra income.
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Cowork Local is being run by coworking and small business experts, Town Square Spaces Ltd (TownSq), which operates several existing coworking hubs across England and Wales – including a new site in Rhyl. The Cowork Local team will provide ongoing support to venues from getting up and running to managing bookings as a fully operational site.
Elwyn Edwards, Cowork Local community manager for Denbighshire, said: “There are people in Denbighshire still travelling to Liverpool, Manchester and Chester every day when they might not need to. We can tackle that and also be a resource for people who are working at their kitchen table five days a week.
“We want satellite versions of the co-working hub in Rhyl right across Denbighshire, from sites in towns to small villages. We have up to 12 registrations sent in and are just signing final agreements, from Ruthin to Clawddnewydd and Llangollen. We are looking at community-run venues first so that it supports them too which fits with our own agenda. We want the money to go to the best places first.”
Mike McKenna, community coordinator for Denbighshire, said: “This is also about being in a venue with like-minded people – people who have already done it and can offer advice, someone you can have a conservation with.”
TownSq CEO Gareth Jones said that it’s an exciting opportunity for local spaces to take on a new business venture with confidence and collaboration: “The primary objective of Cowork Local is to help reduce long commutes and to provide local, flexible working options for workers across Denbighshire.
"We want to help make sure that venues in communities benefit from this new workstyle and see cafes, pubs, old town halls or even castles and manor houses turning into great places to work closer to home. We’d encourage any local venue interested in making more of their space, to get in touch with us, and see how we can help them grow their community.”
For more, visit coworklocal.co.uk/become-a-venue, call 0330 043 0443 or email coworklocal@townsq.co.uk.
