“I found myself with a building, a smaller building than the one I’m in now, with the bills to pay, and was a bit like, Oh, dear, I’m going to have to do something about this.”

—Teresa Jackson

The journey continues - May 19th

On May 19th at Space4, the Unreasonable Connection Goes Live! The London Coworking Assembly Forum is back for part two.

A one-day working session for the people running London’s most vital neighbourhood spaces and the public sector allies working to help them thrive.

Episode Summary

Teresa Jackson didn’t set out to become a coworking pioneer.

She was working from a flat in Glasgow’s city centre, bouncing between her dining table and a sofa three feet away. You know that feeling—laptop balanced on your knees, no separation between work and life, the walls closing in a bit more each day.

She’d been running a networking organisation called 4 Networking—23 groups across Scotland in the first year—and knew plenty of freelancers and small business owners in the same boat.

So she asked a few of them: what if we rented an office together?

A few people said yes. Then she signed the lease on an attic space on John Street. No lift. Tiny kitchen. A proper commitment.

Then, as often happens when it’s time to actually pay, some of those people vanished into the sunset.

She was left holding the keys to a building she couldn’t afford alone.

That moment—being stuck with the bills and no plan—is where Collabor8te actually began.

Teresa applied the membership model she knew from networking to the space. Monthly subscription. No long-term commitment. Book what you need when you need it. She started with a 32-hour membership, then added a 12-hour “now and then” option when people said they liked the idea but weren’t sure they’d use it that much.

That was 2014. By 2016, they’d moved to 22 Montrose Street—a Victorian sandstone building in the Merchant City with 40 desks, 9 meeting rooms, and room for about 100 people at any one time.

Today, Collabor8te has 350 members. It’s still all subscription. Still no dedicated desks. Still monthly, flexible, all-inclusive.

Bernie and Teresa talk through what it actually means to run a space like this—where members can cancel with a month’s notice, but you’re locked into a long-term lease.

They discuss the difference between networking (transactional, two hours of business development) and coworking (ambient learning from just being in the room).

They get into Teresa’s B Corp journey, which started as a lockdown project and ended with a governance structure that legally prevents the space from being sold to private equity.

And they talk about the 4-day work week Teresa introduced for her staff, and how that works when your business is meant to be open and welcoming all the time.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever signed a lease and then realised they had no idea what they were doing.

Timeline Highlights

[01:18] Teresa on what she’d like to be known for: “Providing the most welcoming coworking space that is possible to... in the world.”

[02:09] The accidental start: “I got into coworking by a complete accident.”

[03:09] When commitment gets real: “I found myself with a building... with the bills to pay, and was a bit like, Oh, dear, I’m going to have to do something about this”

[03:46] The model that never changed: “It’s always been monthly. It’s always been all-inclusive memberships.”

[05:11] Bernie on whether Teresa questions her model: “Do you see other people doing different memberships and go, Oh, my God, am I doing this right?”

[06:00] Teresa on why their model works: “I think where we are based in the city centre, that we’re all subscription, we do buck the trend.”

[06:49] On attracting the right people: “We attract a certain type of person because of what we do here... you have to want to share.”

[07:27] Glasgow’s first: “It was the first coworking space in Glasgow.”

[08:40] How people come for community now: “Now I think people are drawn to, I want to be with other people. I don’t want to be sitting at home on my own all the time.”

[10:19] On the “hijacking” of coworking: “Everyone thinks they can open a coworking space these days. It’s just always nice and easy. But... it’s a big risk.”

[13:15] Teresa on the accidental nature of it: “If I hadn’t found myself in that situation, would I have done it? I don’t know.”

[16:54] Natural networking: “You aren’t just networking with people while you’re making a coffee in the kitchen... you get to know your fellow coworkers and become friends.”

[18:18] The B Corp project: “We wanted a project. We were a bit bored... this would be a good challenge.”

[22:20] What B Corp revealed: “We learned lots of things. One of the main things, I think, was we had to write things down.”

[24:18] The 4-day week and other changes: “We introduced some things... private health care... cycle to work scheme... a four-day working week.”

The Widow-Maker Lease

Let’s be clear about what Teresa signed herself up for.

A commercial lease in Glasgow’s Merchant City on a Victorian sandstone building is likely a 10-year Full Repairing and Insuring lease. That means every crack in the facade, every leak in the roof, every drain that backs up—that’s on her. Not the landlord. Her.

If the Victorian roof at 22 Montrose Street fails, Teresa pays to fix it. If the sandstone needs repointing, Teresa pays. If the boiler dies in January, Teresa pays.

This isn’t a month-to-month WeWork membership. This is a decade-long liability that could bankrupt you if the building turns against you.

And who are her customers? People paying £200 a month who can cancel with 30 days’ notice.

Teresa absorbs 100% of the risk. Her members carry none.

“I found myself with a building... with the bills to pay, and was a bit like, Oh, dear, I’m going to have to do something about this.”

That “Oh, dear” is doing a lot of work. It’s the voice of someone who’s just realised they’re standing on the edge of a financial cliff, and the only way forward is to build a bridge while walking across it.

Most people in that situation would panic and try to lock members into long-term contracts. Annual commitments. Upfront payments. Anything to create certainty.

Teresa did the opposite. She made it easier to leave.

Monthly memberships. Cancel anytime. No questions asked.

Why?

Because she understood something fundamental: you can’t build community by trapping people.

The subscription model works because it builds trust rather than extracting commitment. Members don’t stay because they’re locked in. They stay because they don’t want to leave.

That’s a completely different kind of certainty. And it only works if you’re willing to carry the risk yourself.

The Glasgow Texture

Montrose Street sits in the Merchant City, the heart of old Glasgow money. The buildings here are Victorian sandstone—the kind that turns golden in rare Scottish sunlight and looks like they’re brooding the rest of the time.

This neighbourhood used to belong to the Tobacco Lords, the merchants who built Glasgow’s wealth on transatlantic trade. The warehouses that once stored tobacco now store something else: human capital, ideas, the quiet hum of people working on things that might or might not succeed.

Teresa’s building has weight. Thick walls. High ceilings. The kind of space that m...