Festival of Coworking marks growth of flexible working project

A festival celebrating local businesses in Swansea, Denbighshire and the Vale of Glamorgan has marked the growth of an innovative project that brings flexible workspace to high streets, community spaces and venues across the regions.

As part of the Cowork Local Project, the three-day Festival will run from 21 – 23 June and sees venues open their doors to coworking, whilst showcasing local role models with a series of lunchtime talks from founders and leaders including Tiny Rebel’s Chief Financial Officer, Hannah Williams.

The festival offers free access to the Cowork Local spaces for its duration, with catering by a variety of local businesses and a series of lunchtime talks with entrepreneurs and experts from the area.

The Festival is just a part of what will be a long-term opportunity for local people to work closer to home, helping them reduce their commute, escape the isolation of working from home and join a collaborative community of like-minded people.

The Cowork Local project was pioneered by coworking and business support experts Town Square Spaces Ltd (TownSq), whose research found that 85% of people want to commit to working closer to home sometime in the future. With this in mind, it’s hoped that allowing more people to work within their communities will increase footfall in shops, cafes and businesses, injecting new life into the local economy.

40 venues are already up and running, ranging from scenic B&B’s and golf clubs to local pubs and historical sites, and the team expect to double the number of venues in the near future.

Co-founder and CEO of TownSq, Gareth Jones said: “We’re so proud to have kicked off Cowork Local with the Festival of Coworking to engage with the small business community and convey what the project is all about. Local enterprise is a key part of the economic landscape here and it’s a privilege to be connecting local venues with the thriving business community.

“Our mission is to create more options for people to work flexibly and championing entrepreneurship is at the core of everything we do. As a B-Corp, we have a commitment to sustainably improving the local economies, communities and opportunities available in all of the places we work – and Cowork Local is a big part of that.

“This ethos of enabling communities is the driver behind Cowork Local. Through providing practical workspaces in the heart of the region, we hope that the wider impact will see more people buying lunch or shopping from nearby stores, business owners collaborating and networking, and a flourishing startup scene emerging to boost the economy and bring people closer together.”

To learn more about Cowork Local, Festival of Coworking or to find a coworking hub near you, visit coworklocal.co.uk or contact coworklocal@townsq.co.uk.

The Cowork Local venues available to work from across the three regions are:

Vale of Glamorgan

Bonvilston Reading Rooms

Castleland Community Centre

Dinas Powys Library

Emporium

GVS Illtud House

Glamorganshire Golf Club

Parish Hall

St Bridget’s Farmhouse

St Paul’s Community Centre

The Clock Yard @ Rowleys

The Old School

The Red Lion

The Roost on Rock Road

The Six Bells

The Three Horseshoes

The Tudor Tavern

Y Cwt

YMCA Barry

Swansea

HQ Urban Kitchen

Limitless Activity Centre

Menter Iaith Abertawe

Patti Pavilion

St Mary’s Church

The Phoenix Centre

Space at No. 88

Denbighshire

Cadwyn Clwyd

Capel Hermon Business Centre

Costigan’s

Denbigh Library

Eirianfa Community Centre

Ffordlas Community Centre

Glan Llyn Inn

Rhyl Library

St Collen’s Community Hall

TNR Coaching

Technology House

The Carriageworks

The Old Schoolroom

Y Shed

Cowork Local is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.