IWG PLC (LSE:IWG) plans to open a series of flexible office workspaces around London to enable people to live in "15-minute cities" rather than commute for hours into their companies' main offices.
Under its Regus arm, the company intends to open the first, a new 5,500 square foot "high end workspace" in what was the former Battersea Power Station, later this year.
Chief executive Mark Dixon told the Evening Standard that "more and more workers want to live in a 15 minute city – where everything they need, including where they work, is within 15 minutes of their home".
He said the plans for Regus to open a series of such hybrid office hubs around Britain's capital is "making this a reality for Londoners".
IWG hopes to add as many of 1,000 new locations to its network this year to serve the growing number of hybrid workers in the capital.
The Battersea office is set to open in the fourth quarter of the year.
Mark Dixon, CEO and founder of IWG, said: “With people working locally and skipping the long, pricey commute to London’s city centre, local amenities, businesses and retail outlets across Wandsworth will receive a boost.”
In last week's interim results he said that last year the continuing impact of the pandemic "finally led to the lift-off of the hybrid model that some of us have been anticipating for many years".
He said there was a fast-growing number of businesses across the world that have started to "adopt and reap the benefits of a model that involves employees working from home for a day or two each week, alongside collaborative time spent at a nearby flexible workspace and the occasional visit to corporate HQ".
IWG says that hybrid working can lead to companies reaping savings of up to £8,200 per employee.