Glandore provides the space you need to grow

As it celebrates its 20th year in business, Glandore, the flexible workspace provider, is looking ahead to the vastly changed ‘future world of work’ post-Covid.

The family-owned company’s Cork operation is based on Lapp’s Quay and is run by Michael Kelly and his daughters Rebecca, Fiona and Clare, who serve as company directors.

From a solitary employee and 75 desks ‘for hire’ at its launch in 2001, Glandore has since grown into a sizeable operation employing close to 80 people and offering more than 3,500 desks at nine locations in Cork, Dublin and Belfast.

At City Quarter, Glandore’s co-working facility on Lapp’s Quay, companies and professionals can avail of high-end serviced offices, flexible workspaces, co-working options and a virtual office service.

“Unlike a traditional office space, where a company is required to sign a lease of between five and ten years, we offer fully flexible terms for as short a period as three months,” Danielle Healy, Glandore’s sales manager in Cork, said.

“This allows companies, either in their infancy or going through a growth phase, to take the exact amount of space they require at that time – they don’t have to overextend themselves by taking on unnecessary overheads at a crucial time.”

For many companies now looking at a return to the office, a flexible workspace can provide “the perfect environment for hybrid working”, Healy said.

Among Glandore’s existing cohort of Cork clients are Altada Technology Solutions, Horizon8, MarketHub, William Fry, HISCO, Mount Anvil and Cantrillion.

Over the past two decades, Glandore has built an extensive network of partners to support its members in a variety of ways. These include recruiters, insurers, legal firms, financial providers, event organisers, marketers and membership organisations.

The company also works closely with IDA Ireland, the inward investment agency, to support international companies seeking a suitable base in Ireland.

“We are active members of a number of business networks throughout Ireland, particularly here in Cork,” Healy said.

“We were one of the headline sponsors of the recent IT@Cork TechFest and we also have plans to sponsor a Cork Chamber event later this year. Active participation, and connecting with the business communities we work with, is widely encouraged.”

All of Glandore’s flexible workspaces have remained open and available to members, many of whom are essential workers, throughout the pandemic.

The company has also received a high volume of enquiries in recent months from companies and professionals seeking more flexible ways of working. In response, Glandore has launched a Remote Teams Package.

An advanced virtual office offering, the new package combines basic virtual services – a business address, mail service and phone number – with additional benefits, such as member events, collaboration spaces, meeting rooms and a community concierge service.

The new Remote Teams Package had been introduced in response to queries from companies looking for a solution to the isolation felt by many employees working remotely during the pandemic.

The idea, Healy said, was to facilitate human interaction and a sense of community among remote workers.

Glandore has also added a number of collaboration and project workspaces, as more employers begin to introduce a flexible hybrid working model for employees.

Recent research findings have suggested that remote working will continue to feature in Ireland’s employment landscape post-Covid.

In April, the Whitaker Institute at NUI Galway and the Western Development Commission surveyed more than 6,400 employees in Ireland about their experience of remote working one year after lockdown.

The second annual remote working survey in Ireland found that, in the year since the first report had been published in April 2020, the number of respondents who wanted to work remotely full-time had risen from 12 per cent to 32 per cent.

Fifty-three per cent of this year’s survey respondents said they would prefer to work remotely several times a week, while 10 per cent said they would prefer to work remotely several times a month.

Glandore has responded with a range of new virtual offerings for members, including webinars featuring everything from yoga classes to mortgage clinics, to mentoring advice for members from established entrepreneurs.

The company also has impressive green credentials. It was the first Irish co-working firm to make the energy used across all of its locations 100 per cent renewable.

This was achieved through the use of smart light sensors and solar panels. Glandore’s Cork base also became the first plastic-free flexible office space in Ireland in 2019.

To celebrate the company’s 20th anniversary, its marketing team, led by Rachael Kelly and Henry Daly, is developing a ‘Where It All Began’ series.

The concept is to bring Glandore’s business partners, alumni and members together to share their business stories and experiences with the company over the past two decades. The series will culminate in an event planned for later in the year.

“This not-to-be-missed series will feature some of Ireland’s top businessmen and women and will offer some invaluable insights and smiles along the way,” Healy said.

“We are also hoping to have an in-person celebration towards the end of the year with the team, members, alumni and partners. Thankfully, this is looking like a real possibility at the moment.”

Healy is in no doubt that the future is bright for Glandore in Cork and beyond. “We envisage the next 20 years to be full of productivity, growth and prosperity for all of our members and the wider Glandore network,” she said.

“In the short to medium-term, I have no doubt that Glandore will grow its physical presence both here in Cork as well as in Dublin and Belfast.’’