When is an office not an office? When it is Zoom’s brand new London ‘engagement hub’

London has found a surprising ally in the fight to keep the office alive in the video-conferencing age.

Zoom, the app that helped transformed working life during pandemic lockdowns opened the doors to its new premises in the capital this week.

The tech firm synonymous with cutting-edge home-working is resting the old-school term. It prefers to call its Holborn building “an engagement hub”.

Covering 15,000 square feet, over 200 staff in the capital will share space designed to “bring Zoom’s new workplace strategy to life, providing optimal working spaces for colleagues who live close to the office to collaborate in-person on designated team days.”

It says the space will  support the changing nature of the employee experience, marking a new era of modern work.

The 75 “work points” will be split into different zones and include “library-style benches, touchdown spaces, agile tables for collaboration” as well as some “traditional desks.” They can all be booked, through Zoom’s “workspace reservation tool”.

According to the company’s head of UK and Ireland, Phil Perry, this new take on the office will capture the trends in part unleashed by the Zoom boom during lockdown, helping with recruitment.

“The world of modern work has changed. Both employers and employees have experienced the benefits of a more flexible approach to work”, he said, adding: “The organisations that best adapt to these changes and optimise the benefits of technology and flexible working, while maximising the times that teams spend face to face, will be those that succeed.”

From early 2024 it will have an “Executive Briefing Centre”, with state-of-the-art demonstration space.