A NEW project is launching in Denbighshire which aims to champion more flexible ways of working and give local venues a new lease of life.

After a successful pilot last year, Cowork Local is launching in three locations across Wales - Denbighshire, Swansea and the Vale of Glamorgan.

Cowork Local aims to support local businesses by having people work within their own communities.

Not only will this give people the benefits of working closer to home - getting up later, ditching the commute and saving money - but it will also give them a professional environment to work within, without the distractions and difficulties of living and working from the same space.

The organisers are now calling for venues in Denbighshire to sign up and give their space a new lease of life by offering flexible working opportunities and business support to the community around them.

Venue owners who apply before June may be eligible for a grant of up to £5,000 to cover the cost of setting up, including marketing and photography, before they are ready to welcome coworkers and generate extra income.

Cowork Local is being run by coworking and small business experts, Town Square Spaces Ltd (TownSq), which operates several existing coworking hubs across England and Wales.

The Cowork Local team will provide ongoing support to venues from getting up and running to managing bookings as a fully operational site.

The initial trial in the Vale of Glamorgan last year saw scenic locations such as Fonmon Castle and National Trust site Dyffryn Gardens transform into collaborative workspaces for remote and hybrid workers.

TownSq CEO Gareth Jones said that it’s an exciting opportunity for local spaces to take on a new business venture with confidence and collaboration: “The primary objective of Cowork Local is to help reduce long commutes and to provide local, flexible working options for workers across Denbighshire.

"We want to help make sure that venues in communities benefit from this new workstyle and see cafes, pubs, old town halls or even castles and manor houses turning into great places to work closer to home.

“When people work locally, they shop locally.

"They buy lunch, they grab a coffee, they do a bit of after-work shopping - it’s all a part of reclaiming our economy.

"If we truly want to ‘level-up’, it has to start from the grassroots.

"The opportunities for growth, increased footfall and boost in revenue will hopefully inspire venue owners to sign up. More than that, it’s a chance for our communities to thrive again."

Mr Jones added: “Whether your space is vacant and needing a refreshed purpose or you’re looking to do more with what you have, alongside the funding on offer is specialist support to help the venues to make their space suitable for coworking or just to understand the new business model and opportunities.

“New and more flexible ways of working are becoming increasingly sought after; our research project found that 85 per cent of people want to commit to working closer to home in the future, and this has been echoed by politicians and business leaders calling for new infrastructure and workplaces in communities.

"The COVID-19 outbreak forced many companies to operate remotely, and we are strong believers that coworking will play a big role in meeting this demand for change.

“We’d encourage any local venue interested in making more of their space, to get in touch with us, and see how we can help them grow their community.”

Cowork Local is funded by the UK Government through the UK Community Renewal Fund.

Anyone who owns a venue and would like more information or to register interest in Cowork Local, they can visit coworklocal.co.uk/become-a-venue, call 0330 043 0443 or email coworklocal@townsq.co.uk for further details.