Babes in Workland
A family-friendly co-working space is coming to a neighbourhood near you.
short 17,000 childcare spaces, but Madeleine Shaw will tell you this problem runs deeper than daycares. “This isn’t just 17,000 children without care, it’s 17,000 adults who aren’t working to their full potential,” says the Vancouver-based cofounder of Lunapads, who has a daughter of her own. Shaw and her business partner often brought their little ones into the oce and welcomed employees to do the same, but the struggle she saw among her peers working elsewhere led her to wonder: what are other creatives doing when faced with a similar situation?
Enter Nestworks. Though coworking spaces have been popping up in major cities over the last few years, the millennial-focused oces aren’t really designed for the working parent. Shaw’s Nestworks aims to ll a gap in the market with a makerspace, R&D lab and licensed child-care facility all in one—which may be housed in a defunct elementary school. Similar projects exist elsewhere (Juggle Hub in Berlin, Third Door in London), setting a precedent of success as Nestworks’ board of directors recruits allies, researches user needs and scouts locations for this family-friendly co-working space set to open in roughly two years. “How are you supposed to socially innovate if you can’t even nd a place to put your kids?” says Shaw.