The Rise and Rise of Coworking in Ireland

By now most business professionals in Ireland have probably heard of the coworking movement, a “workplace revolution” for entrepreneurs and freelancers which, according to the New York Times, was kicked off by American entrepreneur Brad Neuberg in 2005. Based around the ideals of openness, collaboration and the cross-pollination of ideas (much like the coffee houses of Europe in the 18th century), the coworking movement has quickly spread beyond the shores of the USA – to Australia, Germany, the UK…and yes, to Ireland.

Small Business Labs estimates that there will be 12,000 coworking spaces globally by 2018, playing home to over 1 million startups, SMEs and freelancers. Just last month, New York-based coworking startup WeWork raised $355m at a $5bn valuation, and the company is reportedly planning an IPO. Ireland’s share of this coworking market is still very small, but with the government’s support Ireland could see a rapid growth in coworking spaces in the years ahead.

Successful, well-managed coworking spaces can help startups learn, connect and grow, bringing together talent and developing a professional community that helps foster business connections, investment opportunities, mentorship opportunities, collaborations and ‘professional serendipity’. It is because of these potential benefits that one of the goals outlined in the recent National Policy Statement on Entrepreneurship in Ireland is the growth and proliferation of coworking spaces across Ireland.

Unsurprisingly, Dublin is an important hub for the coworking movement in Ireland, and is already home to a significant number of coworking spaces. The Treehouse, a new 10,000 sq ft coworking space co-founded by Daniel Ramamoorthy and Chris MM Gordon, will also launch in the heart of Dublin in February 2015. With €350,000 in funding, a five-year lease from Dublin City Council and a passionate and highly committed team, The Treehouse brings great growth potential to the coworking movement in Ireland.

There is a growing number of coworking spaces outside Dublin too, and given the encouragement the government demonstrated for coworking spaces in the ‘Entrepreneurship in Ireland’ report, the pace of growth could increase in 2015.

Ireland’s Current Coworking Spaces

A list of Ireland’s current coworking spaces is provided below, broken out by city. If we’ve missed any, let us know in the comments.

Northern Ireland/ Belfast

Blick Studios – http://www.blickstudios.org/

Bloom@BT9 – http://www.bloomworkspace.com/

City Business Hub – http://citybusinesshub.co.uk/

Farset Labs – http://www.farsetlabs.org.uk/

WabiSabi – http://wabisabi.work

Cork

Gate Design House – http://www.gatedesignhouse.com/

Regus – http://www.regus.ie

Derry

Magazine Studios – http://www.magazinestudios.com/

Drogheda

Lightbox Lab – http://www.lightboxlab.ie/

The Mill Drogheda – http://themilldrogheda.ie/

Dublin

CoCreate – http://www.cocreate.ie/

CoworkInn – http://www.coworkinn.com/

Dogpatch Labs – http://dogpatchlabs.com/

The Digital Hub – http://www.thedigitalhub.com/

The Guinness Enterprise Centre – http://www.gec.ie/shared-office-space

Office Suites – http://www.officesuites.ie/

The Hive @ Liffey Trust – http://www.liffeytrust.ie/about-the-hive/

The Treehouse (launches February 2015) – http://thetreehouse.co/

TOG Dublin Hackerspace – http://www.tog.ie/

Versari Hub – http://versaripartners.com/hub/

OBS: Dublin South City co-working – http://www.optimumbusiness.ie/

Regus – http://www.regus.ie

Dundalk

Creative Spark – http://creativespark.ie

Dun Laoghaire

Harbour View – http://harbourview.ie/

Media Cube – http://www.mediacube.ie/

Galway

091 Labs – http://091labs.com/

Kilkenny

New Work Junction (launches January 2015) – http://newworkjunction.com/

Limerick

Fab Lab Limerick – http://fablab.saul.ie/

Regus – http://www.regus.ie

Newry

Code Space Newry – http://www.eveearley.com/index.php/spaces-2/

The Hub Newry – http://thehubnewry.com/

Sligo

The Mall Studio – http://themallstudio.tumblr.com/

Tipperary

WeCreate Workspace – http://wecreate.ie/co-working-spaces/

Waterford

South East Makerspace – https://www.southeastmakerspace.org/