Activating local economies and communities via space sharing technology

The situation for hiring most spaces is awkward, time-consuming, and slow.

And then you bring in the unexpected and unprecedented “space-killer” that is the global pandemic - it only adds to the difficulty of finding and hiring flexible space.

The truth of the matter is that we all need space - not just to work but to create, to meet others, to cook, to learn, to have some face to face time with team members who normally work remotely or from home. 

Making it easier to share space would also result in smarter, more sustainable use of existing buildings and places - something that could create win-win situations for space owners, businesses and communities!  

Introducing SpacetoCo 

SpacetoCo.com launched into the world in March 2017. Jeremy Hurst had the initial idea when he prototyped the concept of sharing spaces at his Perth Hills property. People without a backyard could use his garden for a small wedding for example.

Together with his co-founders - Daniel Franco and Daniel McMullen - they launched SpacetoCo - a marketplace where anyone could find and book the space they needed. 

“We all need space and yet the availability of space has not been shared very well and available spaces are hard to know about,” explained Jeremy. 

“So we created SpacetoCo - an online web application that would meet the needs of people who had a space to share (Host) and the needs of people who needed a space to hire (Guests).” 

More to space sharing than meets the eye 

Mention has been made of the sustainability impact that SpacetoCo brings - a sharing of space in places and buildings that will reduce the need to build more. Imagine the possibilities of using your office space during the day and renting it out at night time for seminars or board room meetings. 

What about your commercial kitchen? Busy at certain times in the week, but available for use on other days and nights for cooking classes or for other budding food entrepreneurs? 

Of course, the economic benefits of shared space are evident. And in the age of the disrupted city, is space-as-a-service just the thing we need right now?

And then what happens when people - from different backgrounds and lives - share space? They connect. 

“We believe space activation plays an important role in community development and building connectedness between people. It is through this that we work towards building a supportive, inclusive and diverse society,” explained Jeremy.

Local government partnerships to activate local economies

SpacetoCo  kicked off their first local government partnership with The City of Vincent, who saw an opportunity to use the marketplace platform to replace paper forms and shift to a more efficient and (and elegant) digital solution for facilities bookings.

Following a successful trial of 17 bookable zones in Hyde Park, The City of Vincent started to roll out its community halls to the platform in 2018.

“We saw the opportunity to provide a boost to local area economies and help connect communities by meeting the space sharing needs of local governments,” explained Jeremy. 

“As a technology company founded with an emphasis on co-mmunity, we always believed in the importance of driving growth to local area economies.”

“Through partnerships with local governments, we are able to provide a means for people to access local spaces, to stimulate a buzz of activity within towns, precincts and localities. We believe that when local economies thrive, communities come to life.”

Using technology to disrupt old process and encourage innovation 

The traditional way of looking at space has been steeped in processes, policies and difficulty with sharing. 

Through technology, SpacetoCo has been able to disrupt this view with simplicity, a great customer experience, and importantly, focus on greater community sharing.

This disruptive space sharing technology recently won a merit in the Innovating Government category and took out the People’s Choice at the 2021 INCITE Awards.   

SpacetoCo also recently won the Government and Public Sector solution at the national iAwards and will now head to the international stage for the APICTA award.

The SpacetoCo team are currently working to expand their platform to local governments interstate and into New Zealand. 

More information: https://www.spacetoco.com/