Ingka Centres, part of the Ingka Group that also includes IKEA Retail and Ingka Investments, has unveiled the latest in its mixed-use meeting places with the opening of Hej!Workshop, a 700 m2 coworking space at its meeting place in Kungens Kurva, near to Stockholm.
Hej!Workshop is a brand new concept of ‘easily accessible and flexible community workplaces’ where local entrepreneurship and business can work and grow. The company said: ‘The idea is to offer an alternative to working from home or commuting to the office and thus simplify everyday life and create a better balance between work and leisure for the many people.’
Hej! Is a Swedish word used casually as a greeting between friends and equals.
The concept has been developed in partnership with IKEA for Business, which has contributed all the interior design, and supplied furniture and fittings.
Ingka Centres’ global commercial and digital director, Jens Nielsen, said: ‘Globally we’re all living and working more flexibly, and so our meeting places must continue to evolve to meet the needs of our local communities.’
The new co-working concept is the latest innovation to be piloted by Ingka Centres as part of the transformation of its meeting places which stretch from San Francisco to Shanghai.
Earlier this year, Ingka Centres unveiled Livat Hammersmith in London, its first ever format urban meeting place, which included IKEA’s first smaller high street store and which recently piloted Atelier100, a collaboration between Ingka Group and H&M for hyper-local designs and products sourced from London and its surrounding regions.
Nielsen explained: ‘I’ve never been more convinced that retail, leisure and business benefit from physical, connected spaces that complement modern digital lifestyles. We’ve all spent too long locked away, and the value of exposure to new ideas, experiences and contacts has never been higher.’
