🇪🇸 #CWSC2025: A Look Into the Spanish-Speaking Coworking Scene

Rosee Shrestha Among with Georgi Aleksiev

May 29, 2025

🇪🇸 #CWSC2025: A Look Into the Spanish-Speaking Coworking Scene

Hola! 👋 Coworking Spain is one of our favorite coworking events of the year. We are proud to have once again sponsored the #CWSC, which was hosted in 🇪🇸 Madrid on May 27th-28th. Three members of our Cobot team, Kristina Schneider, Laura Tump, and Denis von Brasche, attended the two-day event hosted at the El Beatriz Auditorium.

We arrived in Spain on Monday (May 26th) and immediately went to visit some of our friends around town, such as CoWorkSpace. We met more of them at the official CWSC pre-dinner the same night (and also took some selfies 😅)

Laura, Denis, and Kriesse from Cobot at CWSC 2025 — *Laura, Denis, and Kristina at the CWSC pre-dinner.*

Day 1

The State of Coworking in Spain: A Market in Motion

Manuel Zea presenting his spanish insights at CWSC 2025

Every year, CWSC founder Manuel Zea sets the tone with a data-driven snapshot of coworking across 🇪🇸 Spain. This year’s numbers show continued growth: 1,092 active coworking spaces and over 1.5 million m² of coworking and flex space registered. Notably, large-format spaces (1,000 m² or more) now account for 70% of the total area, while major operators control over half the market share.

These figures confirm what many operators already sense: coworking in Spain is thriving. For smaller or independent spaces, this reinforces the need to differentiate. Publishing detailed listings (especially on coworkingspain.es), and focusing on high-demand offerings like meeting rooms and day passes can help stay competitive.

Megatrends from GCUC: Liz Elam’s Global Perspective

Liz Elam of GCUC brought a global lens to the conversation in Madrid, touching on themes like AI, branding, and design. Her most resonant point was a call to proudly use the term “coworking” and not to shy away from it in favor of more corporate-sounding alternatives like “flex.” It was a timely reminder to own our identity as coworking spaces and define the industry on our own terms.

Human-Centric Growth: The HIT Cowork Experience

Gabriel Bucher, co-founder of HIT Cowork sharing his insights on CWSC2025.

Gabriel Bucher, co-founder of HIT Cowork shared how the company scaled across Latin America, using a people-first approach to design, wellness, and operations. Their event and café offerings aim to reach a 24/7 utilization of the space, adding to revenue without diluting focus. “We sell work experience,” Gabriel said, highlighting that hospitality and service are now key considerations for any space.

HIT’s success underlines how wellbeing can be a real business model, not just a nice-to-have. With burnout rates on the rise, coworking spaces that embed health and balance into their offer are likely to attract long-term tenants and corporate partners alike.

Rural Ecosystems and Strategic Expansion

Cowocat Rural celebrated a decade of activating coworking ecosystems in Catalonia’s rural areas. Jaume Bages and Jordi Silvente stressed the importance of local language and cultural relevance in building sustainable communities. Meanwhile, Catalina Opazo (Marlife) and Gabriel Espín Ordas (Aticco) shared stories of urban and regional expansion, each with a different model, but a shared focus on adaptability and intentional growth.

As coworking spreads beyond urban cores, localized strategy is essential. Whether scaling across regions or investing in rural hubs, understanding how people work and what they value in their daily lives remains key.

Community Building in Practice: The Living Room Málaga

Ben Kolp from The Living Room sharing his insights at CWSC2025.

Ben Kolp from The Living Room gave a practical breakdown of how they keep their community thriving - introductions via WhatsApp, member-led events, and a calendar of experiences rooted in trust and shared identity.

This session was a reminder that technology isn’t a replacement for community, but a tool to support it. Coworking spaces that offer structure without rigidity, where members lead as much as staff, foster engagement and loyalty that algorithms can’t replicate.

Coworking as a Real Estate Asset

CBRE’s Senior Consultant Macarena Baumann presented data showing that buildings with coworking spaces tend to have higher occupancy and more favorable leasing outcomes. Flexible space adds measurable value to commercial real estate. For operators working with landlords or seeking investment, this insight helps strengthen the case for coworking as a strategic asset, not just an amenity.

Day 1 at CWSC2025 made one thing clear: the coworking industry is in a moment of definition. Between tech shifts, market consolidation, and evolving member expectations, spaces need to root themselves in what matters: community, clarity, and adaptability.

Day 2

Day 2 started with some 🌎 global coworking and real estate insights from Uri Iskin (CEO and Co-Founder of HIT) and Rebecca Nachanakian (General Manager of Continental Europe at WeWork), followed by Marta Gracia (CEO of Cloudworks), who told the story of how they managed to overcome the challenges of opening a space far from the center and deal with their customer expectations.

Uri Iskin and Rebecca Nachanakian at their "Flexwork: a Global Vision” talk, moderated by Marc Navarro at CWSC 2025. — *Uri Iskin and Rebecca Nachanakian at their "Flexwork: a Global Vision” talk, moderated by Marc Navarro*

The third talk of the day was from Óscar García Toledo (CEO of First Workplaces), who answered some hard questions from the audience. Oscar was very transparent and opened up about his business, positions, plans, and opinions about competitors and other brands in the market.

After that, the conversation was split into two rooms, and we were able to enjoy four great, smaller sessions:

“The paradigm between Coworking and landlords” by Ernesto De Olazával (Co-Founder & CEO at Comunal)
“The Terminal Hub: the new player in the Marina of Valencia” by Francesc de Paula Pons García (Director The Terminal Hub)
“From local to global: Venture X's franchise formula” by Nicole Rivera (Country Manager at Venture X Spain)
“Small towns, big opportunities. Local Coworking” by María Santos (Co-founder of Magma Espacio)- this session stood out for its energy and engagement. It sparked an open exchange of ideas and quickly turned into one of the most collaborative discussions of the day, with attendees contributing dozens of ideas and personal insights.