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A UK company has found a unique way to entice people back into the office after years of working from home: by implementing the Olympic sport of block climbing.

Spacemade designs and creates flexible offices across the country, operates a 27,000 sq ft centre in Birmingham and aims to get the country back into our offices again.

And in addition to the usual office furniture at 10 Brindley Place, a climbing wall has been installed to help persuade people to ditch WFM post-Covid.

The sport — a form of free climbing using mats — will be featured at the Paris Games for the first time this year, and Jonny Rosenblatt, who co-founded Spacemade in December 2019, says it’s all part of building a positive work environment.

He explained: “We launched the company three months before the world was told never to go to the office again!

“As we come out of Covid, you have to find a reason to bring people back in and it has to be more than just because they are contractually obligated to be. Employers have to work harder to bring their employees back.

“Things like block climbing encourage competitive socializing and physical activity, plus the endorphin rush that comes with it. They pair really well with a positive work environment.

“The wall encourages the team, gives them a reason to come together and improves that time.

“The place where it’s been best utilized is when companies set aside a few hours of the day for a session and then maybe go to lunch.

“Not everyone is in the office every day like they used to be, but you want to make sure those days that everyone is there are as meaningful and successful as possible.”

The move comes as new figures suggest more than half of UK white-collar workers are still spending large parts of their week at home.

Data from real estate brokerage and building management company CBRE suggests employers are looking for smaller, but better, office spaces.

Rosenblatt said: “There’s a lot of positivity in people being in the same place at the same time.

“The days of going to the pub at lunchtime are over – the new generation of workers don’t have the same drinking culture. It’s at odds with the idea of ​​good health, wellbeing and fitness.

“But you still need social interactions, something in common that people are doing. That’s where we try to reposition where the office can be.

“It used to be the tea trolley and we shouldn’t do away with it yet!

“But the shift to wellness activities goes hand in hand with office work – it’s a really good marriage of two positive activities.”

Spacemade, which has centres in Leeds and London as well as the Midlands, offers flexible hot-desking for individuals as well as larger spaces.

Its offices have a range of facilities, including cafes, fully equipped gyms, spinning bikes, Pilates classes and podcast studios. Other ideas in the works include a photography studio and a screening room.

Rosenblatt added: “All of this elevates the space beyond a table and a chair.

“We think of these things so our members don’t have to think of them for their employees. They outsource it to us as a provider.

“We create unique spaces and individual brands for each building rather than having a cookie-cutter approach. Each space is very different.

“We want to provide something that is more than just an office. It’s a destination.

“Our ethos as a company is about building meaningful connections. Offering things like climbing walls, peloton studios and gyms helps enable that vision.”

An instructor comes to Brindley Place weekly or fortnightly to introduce new members to boulder climbing, which requires no ropes or harnesses.

Rosenblatt has climbed the wall himself… but insists he’s not particularly good at it, commenting: “I enjoy it and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a bit of a leveller too – anyone can try it.”