Space4

Plenty of workspace operators talk about community. This one is owned by a co-operative. SPACE4 is run by Outlandish, a tech worker co-op whose clients have included Greenpeace, the National Education Union and the BBC, and it was set up in 2017 to invest in Islington's local economy, democratic business and social movements rather than to return a yield on a building. It opened focused on the tech-for-good sector and co-operatives and has stayed there, one minute from Finsbury Park station on Fonthill Road.

The commercial model follows from the ownership. Alongside published desk rates, pay-what-you-can and payment-in-kind options are open to local residents, anyone experiencing disadvantage and people working on socially impactful projects. Open Rights Group, Agile Collective, Go Free Range, Yalla Cooperative and the CoTech network all work from the building, with around 150 people using it and three or more events a week bringing over two thousand through the doors each year. Outlandish is a living wage employer on a three-to-one pay ratio, uses sociocracy, holds quarterly members' meetings and reports more than £2.7m in social value delivered to the borough.