Blackstone and Brockton Capital's The Office Group flexible offices platform has rebranded as Fora and, with the ongoing reduction of rival WeWork's portfolio, is now comfortably central London's largest operator by locations under one brand.

The Fora platform was created via a merger between Brockton Capital’s Fora and Blackstone's The Office Group last year. It now operates from 61 locations across London’s Zones One and Two travel districts, it confirmed in an emailed statement.

That compares with WeWork's now 36 sites, down from a peak of around 65, and just less than global giant IWG's combined total across all of its brands. As a single brand, it is now central London's largest flexible workspace provider.

According to an emailed statement reported by Bloomberg, listed global giant IWG has 65 central London locations but split across its brands. Its Regus business has 36 locations in central London while IWG has 29 sites that it runs via its other brands, which include Spaces, HQ, Signature, Clubhouse and Engine Room. The group has 124 sites across Greater London.

Fora differs from the other businesses in that it predominantly owns the freehold to its buildings. WeWork's model has been built on long leases from landlords, sold on as shorter-term occupancy deals with its tenants.

Fora said it now had more than 70 premium workspaces totalling over 3.2 million square feet. The workspaces comprise those 61 in central London, 58 of which are on its website, but are also in nine more UK and German cities. Fora said its workspaces are home to a collective workspace of 29,000 employers including pharmaceutical company GSK, the grocery delivery firm Ocado, British Fashion Council and menswear brand Pangaia,

The group added that research it has commissioned confirms a shift in occupier demand and its impact on performance. The research was conducted in partnership with the Institute for Employment Studies and finds that freedom in how an individual works is more important than freedom of location for employees. The poll of 2,000 "knowledge workers" shows that nearly half (44%) feel their performance is being compromised by their current work environment, rising to 51% among under 35s. London in particular ranks poorly for employer appreciation of individual work styles, with more than a quarter (28%) of knowledge workers saying their bosses are "oblivious to their preferences".

The group, which is backed by funds managed by Blackstone and Brockton Capital, says its revenues rose 36% year on year to October 2023. It has opened five new workspaces in the last year, including Chancery House, its largest space at 120,000 square feet and most recently at the Blue Fin building in London’s Bankside.

Enrico Sanna, CEO of The Office Group, said in a statement:  “We have grown sustainably for 20 years by responding to the evolving needs of the workforce and we are seeing huge demand for premium spaces like ours, which is evidenced through occupancy rates of more than 90% in our established locations. By leading, challenging and setting the standard for what the workspace experience should be, we are energising and empowering people to create their best work in their best way."

Figures from Knight Frank published on Thursday show growing demand for flexible offices in the West End is fuelling expansion ambitions among its providers. The adviser property consultancy polled 25 landlords and operators of flexible office space in the capital. This included Fora, Landsec, British Land, GPE, Uncommon, Landmark, Argyll, The Boutique Workplace Company, Beaumont and others.

It finds an overwhelming majority of the companies surveyed (84%) said they expanded their London flexible office portfolios in 2023 and an even higher proportion (96%) indicated plans to expanded next year. KF says this was underpinned by 88% of all the operators and landlords witnessing year-on-year increases in occupancy across their sites. Two-thirds of respondents said they are targeting locations in the West End for expansion, while 16% said they were eyeing the City.

At the beginning of November, global coworking group WeWork said it is seeking to reject 65 direct unprofitable office leases in the United States and Canada, including more than half in its home market of New York, as part of its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

WeWork’s locations outside the United States are not part of the Chapter 11 process and the company said it remains "business as usual" in the United Kingdom and Ireland but it has been renegotiatinf its leases across the globe as it reduces its portfolio of offices.

CoStar News reported that WeWork's turnaround plan assumed it would exit 163 global locations including 43 outside the United States and Canada in the run-up to the bankruptcy filing.

In the rest of the world outside of the US and Canada, WeWork has its largest exposure in London. Recent CoStar figures show it has served notice to quit or closed at 10 offices in London in the past two months since instigating negotiations with landlords. These include The Hewett, 30 Curtain Road in Shoreditch, 12 Moorgate and 120 Old Broad Street in the City and 12 Russell Square in Midtown.

CoStar News revealed that WeWork tenants had briefly been evicted at Helical's The Bower in Shoreditch in the City fringe before a short-term license was agreed for it to remain in occupation. Market sources have said that where WeWork wishes to stay in occupation it has sought rent cuts of between 15% and 60%.