Hongkong Land opens its Centricity Flex space in Central, embracing flexible work as more people work from home

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Hongkong Land’s Centricity Flex, with 25,000 square feet (2,322 square metres) of space, opens today on the 17th and 18th floor of the Landmark Edinburgh Tower on Queen’s Road Central

Private suites range from 900 sq ft to 2,300 sq ft on the 17th floor while those on the 18th can be configured subject to client’s needs

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The reception at Centricity Flex, Hongkong Land’s co-working space at The Landmark Edinburgh Tower in Central on June 11, 2021. Photo: Felix Wong

Nancy PingandPearl Liu

Published: 9:00am, 16 Jun 2021Updated: 9:00am, 16 Jun 2021

Hongkong Land, the biggest commercial landlord in the city’s Central business district, has opened a flexible work environment at one of the world’s most expensive office addresses, in a U-turn to its reticence to develop co-working space.

The developer’s Centricity Flex, featuring 25,000 square feet (2,322 square metres) opens today on the 17th and 18th floor of the Landmark Edinburgh Tower on Queen’s Road Central. Other tenants in the tower include the audit firm PwC, the Swiss private bank Bank J. Safra Sarasin and the white-shoe legal practices K&L Gates and Skadden Arps.

An international financial services firm has signed on as the first tenant of Centricity Flex, occupying a private office suite, Hongkong Land said without disclosing the customer’s name.

“We would like to offer companies that are similar to those in our current tenants portfolio an option to traditional leases,” said the developer’s executive director Raymond Chow. “By working in Centricity Flex, tenants can get a first impression of being part of Hongkong Land’s community.”

An interior view of Centricity Flex at The Landmark Edinburgh Tower in Central on June 11, 2021. Photo: Felix Wong

The market for flexible working space is picking up again in Hong Kong after the initial slump brought by tough social-distancing rules during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Co-working space operators, who often sublet space to other tenants, have developed a bad name, as the market shrank in the past year. WeWork, the global pioneer of the co-working space concept, gave up 90,000 square feet of space over eight floors in Causeway Bay in March, shrinking its real estate footprint as more people chose to work from home.