"Cheap Office Space For Rent" says the ad in your local paper. "Thank goodness” you say, having been thinking about the physical location of your business, but not wanting to make a significant capital outlay – which could hurt your ability to put cash into business opportunities you can see on the horizon.

But what is the real cost of cheap rental office space? Beyond paying the office space rent itself, there are also the intangible costs of changes to your productivity.

If something is going ‘cheap’ you can usually count on it being something that no one else wants. Is it a dark or old-fashioned space? Is it pokey and shut off from the rest of the working world?

Many studies have been done on the effect of environment on work - in both large and small organisations.

In the International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology*, Matthew Davis, Desmond Leach and Chris Clegg, researchers at Leeds University appraise the value of innovative and open-plan, modern office space and how they support various working styles.

In their research they state “Advocates of the social relations approach [to office design] have proposed that the physical environment is able to affect the frequency and nature of the interactions and communication, that its inhabitants conduct (Festinger, Schachter, & Back, 1950; Oldham &Brass, 1979; Zalesny & Farace, 1987)"

Indeed, studies have found that more open workspace generates greater group sociability (e.g., Brookes & Kaplan, 1972) and an increase in interaction has been typically observed (e.g., Boyce, 1974; Hundert&Greenfield, 1969; Ives & Ferdinands, 1974; Sundstrom & Sundstrom, 1986). Furthermore, open-plan configurations have been found to affect the pattern of interaction, with less time spent in formal meetings and an increase in informal communication (Brennan, Chugh, & Kline, 2002).

If you are someone who needs interaction, collaboration, informal ‘on-the-fly’ knowledge and skill sharing; someone whose work life depends on having answers to hand and being able to develop relationships as well as solutions iteratively, then working in a cheap office space is going to cost you more than the rent in productivity.

Experts recommend considering the following SWOT analysis when thinking about a rental office space;

• Strengths – Location, Connection?
• Weaknesses – Noise, Personal space?
• Opportunities – Social, Growth, Learning?
• Threats – Cost – tangible and intangible?

Now apply this SWOT against Basestation in the heart of Tauranga’s burgeoning biz-ed street.

Its location, Durham Street will be the home to 400 of Trustpower’s best people at their new headquarters and be the location of the new Tertiary Partnership Campus, bringing brilliant young minds together. It is in walking distance of the newly refurbished bars, restaurants and open spaces of the Strand. Immediate access to Elizabeth street and therefore Takitimu Drive and routes to the Mount, Hamilton, Rotorua, Taupo and beyond give it easy connection to the wider Bay.

Basestation has been designed to provide maximum light and open shared space while recognising the need for sound-proofing and personal spaces for quiet work with its use of glass, and flexible walls, private offices and meeting areas.

The Social, Growth and Learning opportunities Basestation provides are core to the philosophy of the co-founders of the space, and its foundation team members. Click here to check out the calendar of activities you, as a resident will be able to take part in.

And the cost? Tangible – see the price list here.  While not the ‘cheapest' space in town, the founders believe that the cost is small given the intangibles – its people, its position, its philosophy and the modern, stylish shared areas and opportunities that all these elements provide.

Experience Basestation for yourself. For little cost it offers you a lot of value.


*Davis, M. C., Leach, D. J., & Clegg, C. W. (2011). The Physical Environment of the Office: Contemporary and Emerging Issues. In G. P. Hodgkinson & J. K. Ford (Eds.), International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Vol. 26, pp. 193 - 235). Chichester, UK: Wiley.