Scotland’s first co-working space The Melting Pot to announce new larger location

An Edinburgh businesswoman who opened Scotland’s first, and one of Europe’s first, co-working spaces is unveiling her business’s new bigger location in response to increasing demand for coworking and hybrid working which is expected post-Covid.
The Melting Pot CEO is set to announce a larger co-working space which is to open in MayThe Melting Pot CEO is set to announce a larger co-working space which is to open in May
The Melting Pot CEO is set to announce a larger co-working space which is to open in May

CEO Claire Carpenter first opened The Melting Pot in 2007 offering a unique co-working space where charities, social businesses and freelancers could come together and was already operating a successful business pre-Covid.

At a unique live event tonight at 5pm The Melting Pot will announce the location of their new city centre coworking hub in Edinburgh in May.

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Organisers are encouraging people to register for the event on their Facebook page so that they can be amongst the first to see their exciting new space.

Claire Carpenter started The Melting Pot in 2007, it was Scotland's first, and one of Europe's first co-working spacesClaire Carpenter started The Melting Pot in 2007, it was Scotland's first, and one of Europe's first co-working spaces
Claire Carpenter started The Melting Pot in 2007, it was Scotland's first, and one of Europe's first co-working spaces

There has already set up a waiting list on their website to manage the growing demand.

Claire said: “Working from home has had a detrimental impact on many people's health and well-being, as well as their work.

“We are both proud and excited to be unveiling our new location tonight. We believe it will be the perfect place for those who are wanting to reap the many health and wellbeing benefits that come from getting out of the house and working safely amongst others.

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"Not only that, but we know that working together in the same space can help increase productivity, improve motivation levels and help to generate new creative ideas.

“I’d encourage anyone who is keen to learn more about coworking spaces to join us at our online event tonight.”

The Melting Pot, funded by Foundation Scotland, has also published a new report - Future of the Office - which presents some predictions for the future of the office and found that the key components of future workspace have been shaped by the pandemic.

The report draws a link between well-being, reduced isolation and the ideal workspace with 93 per cent of the people surveyed said the ideal workspace was important for their well-being.

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They found that informal interactions such as the ‘watercooler moment’, professional development opportunities and access to a wide network were beneficial to workers and led to collaboration.

It looked at The Melting Pot’s community and found the social innovators that use the coworking space had faced 132 different challenges as a result of lockdowns, commonly related to finances, mental health, workload and childcare.

The report showed that affordable, city centre venue hire space will still be needed in Edinburgh, but that it’s likely the landscape of in person events will remain changed until government measures are relaxed.

Claire added: “The Melting Pot has been at the forefront of the coworking movement for nearly two decades, knowing that sooner or later we would all be working remotely.

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"None of us know what the long-term impacts of this COVID response will be. We do know that we will be able to weather them more effectively if we can connect with each other in safe community spaces.

“The Melting Pot’s new strategy is built on what we learnt through this research. We quickly understood that we needed a bigger space to meet the increased demand from people and organisations wanting a new creative and safe space for working. We have already had to introduce a waiting list for people crying out for a new alternative place to work.”

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