Meeting Workspace's (now former) CEO: Lee and the IC

For their latest company interview, Lord Lee and Alex Newman sit down with Lawrence Hutchings, who joined Workspace (investorschronicle.co.uk/content/ae442c30-99b0…) as CEO in November 2024.

That conversation, which was taped on 9 January, was to be one of Hutchings' last in the role. Ten days after the recording, and amid mounting activist pressure (markets.investorschronicle.co.uk/data/equities…) from shareholder Saba Capital (investorschronicle.co.uk/content/db4013ac-71de…), Workspace abruptly announced Hutchings would be replaced as CEO by Charlie Green, co-founder of the Office Group.

Despite this, we are publishing the conversation below, together with some of John's initial thoughts. Commenting on his own appointment, Green said "the strategy in place is clear and provides the right platform to rebuild occupancy and drive income growth over time." Presumably that means a degree of continuity.

Let us know your thoughts on the move, or if you have any questions or any suggestions for future guests, by emailing alex.newman@ft.com
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Timestamps

0:09 Intro
5:52 Background on Workspace
11:45 Short term rental market
16:06 Creative industries
19:54 Occupancy levels
24:07 John's views on Workspace
28:25 Lessons from other property sub-sectors
29:48 Asset disposal programme
39:36 Saba Capital
43:20 The optimism scale
47:14 Update on John's portfolio

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