CDL, Distrii open Singapore's single largest and tech-driven co-working facility

REAL estate developer City Developments (CDL) and Chinese co-working operator Distrii have joined forces to soft-open Singapore's single largest and tech-driven co-working facility on Thursday.

This facility, which spans 62,000 square feet across six floors, is about the size of 13 basketball courts. It is located at CDL's Republic Plaza, a prime Grade A office building connected to the Raffles Place MRT Station.

Amenities include more than 900 work stations, private offices and customisable team spaces, as well as a 200-person capacity multi-purpose hall and a German burger chain Hans im Glück cafe.

The key feature of this co-working space is Distrii's proprietary enterprise collaboration and productivity tools. This includes a mobile app backed by a cloud-based system and Internet of Things (IoT) technology, focusing on two fronts: office tools and social circles.

For instance, the app can provide access and booking of meeting rooms, as well as support video conferencing and internal administration management.

Additionally, the co-working space is also Distrii's first forray outside China. The official opening will take place in July, and the co-working space has already secured over 60 per cent in occupancy rate. Members include blockchain incubator BitTemple, which takes up the entire workspace on the fifth floor.

Membership - which covers the space and tools - start from S$550 per month, depending on the type of space utilised. Being a member also gives companies access to Distrii's managed offices in China.

At the soft opening, CDL also announced that it has formed a new joint venture with Distrii to develop smart office and smart building applications for buildings and other developments. These apps can allow services such as intelligent parking systems and mobile facilities booking systems.

These apps are to increase "stickiness of tenants" to buildings, said CDL group chief executive officer Sherman Kwek.

These applications will pilot at Republic Plaza by the first half of 2019, said the real estate developer.

CDL last year invested 102 million yuan (about S$21 million) in Distrii, making it the second largest shareholder after its founder.

Real estate players in Singapore have been looking to tie up with co-working operators, such as CapitaLand with Collective Works and Frasers Property with JustCo.