A new office solution that grows with headcount, without rental increases or fit out costs for the business owner, launches in Melbourne, Victoria.
After 25 years in the commercial property industry and another 12 months spent deconstructing the traditional commercial leasing process, Cucumber Offices founder and property veteran, Simon D’Arcy, came to an honest conclusion: the current system of matching property, tenants and landlords is broken.
In speaking to Melbourne business owners, Mr D’Arcy uncovered that not every business sees themselves in the CBD, sharing a space with others or see the value in joining an existing workplace culture. And for some, the process of finding, negotiating, signing to a 3 to 5-year office lease that they have to then fit and furnish, creates angst and comes with capital expenditure.
“The problem the traditional leasing model has for small business owners, is the uncertainty of whether they’ve locked themselves in for a space that is too big or too small for their team and potentially having to stick out or break their rental lease if their headcount changes”.
The Cucumber business model has been given added credence by the pandemic, which apart from creating a work-from-home culture, has made the idea of a small, ground floor suburban office more attractive than a crowded, city high-rise tower.
The "grow-working" model, as Mr D'Arcy calls it, is targeted at small to medium businesses with up to 25 people or smaller units within large businesses, looking to find, fit and furnish a Cucumber Office in almost any suburb.
The careful fit-out allows a small business’ headcount to expand by up to 50 per cent, without any change to rents of between $450 and $500 a square metre.
"So in real terms, the rent cost per head gets cheaper if the tenant grows. This is achieved by sweating every square centimetre of space when we design the office."
These offices are also fully fitted and furnished so all a business needs to do is bring their technology, kitchen items and they’re good to go.
A successful South Yarra pilot was completed in late 2019, with a further 6 Cucumber Offices in the design or construction phase and 1 that is now for lease on Breese Street in Brunswick, on behalf of client and developer, Milieu Property.
“Coworking has its place, but it’s certainly not the future for all SMEs if you believed the hype a year or two ago,” said Milieu director Shannon Peach.
For all enquiries, contact:
Simon D’Arcy
