The Great Room wins with bespoke and flexible spaces

By Bong Xin Ying

/ EdgeProp Singapore |

October 29, 2019 12:58 PM SGT

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SINGAPORE (EDGEPROP) - At The Great Room’s newest co-working space at the recently refurbished 132-year-old Raffles Hotel, everything can be tailored according to the company’s needs.

The flexible workspaces can be configured for small teams or large enterprises. Aimed at changing the way people work, meet and socialise, The Great Room offers a range of spaces, from dedicated offices and hot desks to virtual offices and that accessible by day passes.

To keep things consistent, the spaces are furnished with quality finishes, enterprise-level technology, pantry snacks and beverages, and topped with a dedicated member relations team which curates events like fitness classes, lunch-and-learns, fireside chats, and other opportunities to grow a sense of community.

Opened in August, The Great Room at Raffles Hotel is not only iconic due to the hotel’s heritage but also marks the first co-working space in a six-star hotel. It reopened this August after a major revamp. There, the co-working operator has taken up 15,000 sq ft in one wing of Raffles Arcade within the hotel.

The Great Room says: “The Great Room’s co-working spaces are for those who love the concept of community and a dynamic shared space, but aren’t willing to sacrifice their standards of performance, comfort and aesthetics.”

The Great Room at One Taikoo Place in Hong Kong (Credit: The Great Room)

“Our approach is to deliver engaging tenant experiences by integrating spaces, community, and services with technology and a touch of hospitality,” says The Great Room, adding that The Great Room places emphasis on designing workspaces to “keep people productive, happy, and engaged”.

At the EdgeProp Singapore Excellence Awards 2019, The Great Room walked away with the Co-working Space Excellence award.

Established in 2016, in just three short years, The Great Room has expanded to four locations in Singapore – Centennial Tower, Ngee Ann City, One George Street and Raffles Hotel.

And given that The Great Room’s first three locations are already running at an average occupancy of over 90% each and that Raffles Hotel is seeing a take-up rate of 80%, it is no wonder the development of fifth co-working space is already in the pipeline.

Next year, its newest co-working space will open at Afro-Asia i-Mark Building at Robinson Road, as an anchor tenant. The building, scheduled to be completed in 2Q2020, will see The Great Room taking up 37,000 sq ft of office space, the largest outlet in Singapore to date. Apart from Singapore, The Great Room has spaces in Gaysom Tower in Bangkok, and One Taikoo Place in Hong Kong.

The “Drawing Room” at The Great Room’s Ngee Ann City space (Credit: The Great Room)

“We choose the best Grade-A buildings that are centrally located, close to transportation and hotel options, and have many food and beverage options,” says The Great Room.

While design is an integral part of The Great Room’s DNA, technology also plays an equally important and complementary role when it comes to equipping its tenants for work.

“Fundamentally, we believe that technology must be transparent and seamless. We do not let it over-complicate processes for our members but instead use it to support and make their day-to-day journey as fuss-free and as intuitive as possible,” says The Great Room.

The Great Room Centennial Tower (Credit: The Great Room)

Members across all sites in different countries have a one-time set-up and login, and a customised private network that matches their needs. Furthermore, with the online tracking and digital bookings on The Great Room’s platform, space usage patterns are constantly being monitored.

“This also facilitates us offering an entirely unique ‘Hot Office’ product, whereby members are able to book out a private office on demand for an hour, day, or week at a time. It is different from booking a meeting room, because these hot offices have been designed and are facilitated by technology in a manner that makes it sustainable over the long term – members can pay less, but still be able to have a private office whenever they need it,” says The Great Room.

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