Carlos Almansa on Jun 15, 2015

Carles López: "Every coworking space is different in its community, atmosphere and managers"

Carles López is the director of CREC (Barcelona, Spain), where it's his job to provide his team and coworkers with a suitable environment to offer the best service possible. People and the relationships they forge is his vocation.

What is a psychologist like you doing working in a coworking space like CREC?

When I decided to study psychology, I thought about the things I like: people and social relationships. Since then, my life has revolved around these aspects until I came to CREC, thanks to the company that I've been working at for 18 years. So, what better place is there for a psychologist than a coworking space?!

What is coworking for you?

For me, coworking is a new way of working. It's a model based on people and their roles within a community. Furthermore, on a personal level, it's an experience that I learn from every day.

Barcelona has the most coworking spaces in Spain, what makes CREC different from the rest?

Firstly, I would say that every space is different in its community, atmosphere, managers, etc., meaning that everyone can find a space to suit its needs. CREC's main difference is that we came from a company, which means that the synergies and benefits that "crecworkers" have with the other installations that it manages are unique (gym, civic centres, etc.). Another of the aspects that I think makes us different is our interaction with the neighbourhood. We strongly believe in integrating with our surroundings.

Could you define CREC in three figures?

95 (crecworkers at present), 2013 (year CREC opened), 4 (CREC team members)

CREC team members

And in two words?

People and proximity.

At CREC, there are four of you in the management team; What does team work bring to the space and the community?

Team work is basic; managing a coworking space is very much appreciated but it's also very complex and self-sacrificing. Sometimes there are differences in opinion, stress, etc. But the main thing is that the team is united with a single objective during important times. In our case, it's the well-being of our crecworkers. I can therefore say that I work with an incredible team.

A recurring theme in coworking spaces is finance, what factors do you think make a coworking space profitable?

This is something that we have been debating since we started at CREC. I don't think many people would agree with me here, but for me, a coworking space must be spacious and able to accommodate many coworkers, first and foremost. Beyond what I personally believe is that this favours greater interactions and therefore more chance of projects growing. My reasoning is basically based on the fact that a coworking space's costs do not vary greatly and are quite stable over time. This means that your way to profits is achieved with income increasing and, although other possibilities may exist, the two main ones are coworking and events.

What is your community's main value?

I believe that there are many but I deeply admire its professionalism. The coworkers come to CREC to work, grow, make their projects successful and help their colleagues grow with theirs. Then, we obviously have the meetings and social events but they come for the main objective and I really admire them for that.

Does belonging to a coworking space's community have a certain therapeutic value?

Being part of a group or community is therapeutic in itself as we are naturally social beings and that's a vital need. When you're working in a coworking space, dedicating 40 hours a week of your life to projects, etc., this need is even greater. To summarise, a big fat YES!

Do you have a filter for new members?

Since the start, we've had two principles clear:

In our case, we wanted a multi-disciplinary coworking space, meaning that there would be no filter on coworkers' professions.
The people that use a coworking space are part of a community, that's just the way it is. What I am trying to say is that those people that don't want to respect others or the community rules, well, there's no place for them.

Even with this in mind, we have rarely directly had to "filter out" someone. The process is more natural in that the person doesn't feel like it's their type of coworking space and the feeling is usually mutual, meaning that it occurs naturally. A trial week helps both parties see this connection.

Where do you see CREC being in 5 years' time? Do you think there'll be more CRECs open?

If your question is what I'd like to see, well I'd like to see CREC full with a low rotation of coworkers; I'd like it to be a coworking space where although projects grow, they don't decide to move on to their own space and choose to stay here given everything that the space offers them.

In your opinion, what role do you think coworking will have on the work environment in the future?

I think it will be really important. If you look at it from a company's point of view, what better added value can you find in coworking space? It's a partner where highly sought after professionals from different areas work (web programmers, communication, photographers, videomakers, etc.). They trust one another and work with collaboration and creativity in mind, etc. For companies, it's essential to find professionals within a circle of trust, and that already exists in a coworking space.