How Second Home is Designed to Scale-Up Your Business

Second Home is famed for its biophilic design and quirky interiors. But upon arriving at its Spitalfields’s space, I learn that it’s so much more. It has helped many fast-growth scale-ups get so big they’ve had to move out. So, what’s it like to work from Second Home?

When walking towards the space, you’ll be struck by the orange-tinted greenhouse-like café, which hosts interviews, meetings and a tempting smashed avocado on toast. This and the foyer are open to the public; a testament to the office’s inclusivity.

Stepping in, you instantly get a feel for Second Home’s originality. The door shuts itself behind you thanks to a bright yellow fishing-boat buoy, which pulls down on a lever and locks out the cold.

Nothing is too bold to be at home here. For example, the workspace’s furniture is mid-century recycled, which is why you’ll struggle to find two chairs that look the same, giving the workspace its signature look.

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As a tonic for uncertainty, Second Home has launched a new Flex Studio product, which allows businesses to get their own private office with flexible access – paying only for the team they need in the office that day.

Amanda Lim

Head of Flexible Office Solutions

How Second Home has helped startups scale-up

Some of the UK’s most ambitious startups have made their mark here: Bulb, the renewable energy provider; Thread, the online style recommender and shop; and Lightful, the social media tool for charities.

The service in the space is highly responsive to what you and your business needs. The Thread team, for example, needed a section of their studio to act as a dispatch room, and that’s what Second Home helped them achieve.

The Bulb team, on the other hand, grew so quickly that they needed to knock down the wall dividing their studio from the one next to it, so that’s exactly what Second Home did.

There’s something charming about the office’s brutalist aesthetic – it’s open, transparent and void of any inauthentic polish, focusing on inspiring genuine productivity and a connection to the bigger picture.

Every meeting room, for example, is named after a brave thinker like Edward Wilson, who coined the term ‘Biophilia’.

Every meeting room, for example, is named after a brave thinker like Edward Wilson, who coined the term ‘Biophilia’.

Every meeting room, for example, is named after a brave thinker like Edward Wilson, who coined the term ‘Biophilia’.

Every meeting room, for example, is named after a brave thinker like Edward Wilson, who coined the term ‘Biophilia’.

What’s it like to work from Second Home?

On the stairs, I met a man who was in charge of making sure all members were having fun. The very idea of having a ‘Happiness Champion’ gives away how community-focused Second Home is.

When members join, they receive targeted introductions to potential investors, advisors, clients and partners across the Second Home network. There are also a host of societies you can join, like the Queer and Beer Society, or the Women’s Founding Circle.

For events and networking, the top floor has a bar and a terrace that overlooks the City, which has inside-outside ponds – beautiful even in the rain – and plenty of reeds to complete the landscape.

The workspace actually has over a thousand plants, with in-house gardeners visiting twice a week to make sure they’re always looking fresh. Designed by Selgascano, the office’s curved lines play host to biophilic design, echoing calm, natural scenes amid London’s angular structures.

In keeping with its bold ambition, the office is highly economical in terms of its space; waste is minimal. There is no corner that cannot be used for something; be it working, relaxing or talking in. Some spaces even serve multiple purposes.

The hot-desking space on the bottom floor, for example, doubles as a yoga room once its two-tonne-heavy fly tables are hoisted up to the ceiling, revealing their golden underbellies to the yogis below.

There’s a freedom to use the space as you please – it is, after all, your second home. There is no corporate hum that implicitly tells you how you can and can’t act.

The workspace actually has over a thousand plants, with in-house gardeners visiting twice a week to make sure they’re always looking fresh.

The workspace actually has over a thousand plants, with in-house gardeners visiting twice a week to make sure they’re always looking fresh.

How Second Home is making members feel safe post-lockdown

Second Home has also introduced a range of features to ensure its members feel safe returning to the office, including new social distancing parameters, cleaning regimes and access measures.

On top of this, as a tonic for uncertainty, Second Home has launched a new Flex Studio product, which allows businesses to get their own private office with flexible access – paying only for the team they need in the office that day. Unsurprisingly, it’s proven to be a popular post-lockdown option. 

It has also opened up access across London, so members have unlimited access to work freely from whichever space is closest to them – a perk that is usually limited to five days a month.

If you run a creative go-getter business and want to scale-up in a place that supports your growth, this one’s definitely for you.