Brigade Group Invests Rs 100 Crore to Enter into Co-Working Space - BuzzWorks in Bangalore

Real estate firm Brigade Group is entering the co-working business through the brand BuzzWorks, under which it plans to roll out 2,200 seats in the next two years. The Bangalore-based real estate player has proposed an initial investment of Rs 100 crore for the fiscal year 2019-20.

BuzzWorks will initially launch more than 200 seats at Whitefield and Malleswaram at the Brigade Metropolis and Brigade Gateway campuses totalling 15,000 square feet. Later, the firm plans to offer co-working spaces in locations such as Kochi, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Hyderabad as well.

"BuzzWorks will be a natural extension of our commercial office portfolio and a forward integration for our business," said Nirupa Shankar, Executive Director, Brigade Group.

The Bengaluru-based group started off as a commercial space developer in 1986 and later expanded to other real estate segments including residential and hospitality.

With co-working segment gaining traction, big companies now comprise about half the clients. This has prompted many real estate firms such as RMZ Corp and Embassy Group to enter the business with ambitious plans.

India has more than 200 players operating over 420 co-working spaces across the country, according to Anarock Property Consultants. The consultancy has forecast twofold to threefold growth in this segment in the next two years alone.

Besides, it has said that with office rents rising across India, co-working spaces are likely to grow at least 30% year-on-year in terms of space occupied, with Bengaluru, National Capital Region and Mumbai, followed by Hyderabad and Chennai, offering the best prospects for growth.

The company also has 18 mn sqft of residential development to its credit and plans to launch another 9 million sqft by the next financial year. It has 0.5 million sqft of retail space and around 781 hotel rooms under construction.

Brigade Group has intensified its focus on the commercial real estate market. Brigade Enterprises has 11 million sqft of office space under various stages of construction. It has a partnership with Singapore-based private equity firm GIC Singapore for commercial properties.