Overview
According to the Office for National Statistics, the number of people working from home in the UK grew by 10% between 2019 – 2020 as the remote revolution spread across the country. However, despite the benefits of WFH, there were challenges, too. Many homes were not set up to promote workplace productivity, and alternative solutions such as coffee shops came with distractions.
Childhood friends Greig and Luke of Space Republic joined forces to tackle these issues head on by transforming the existing co-working space concept into personal, customisable workspaces or pods. The result is the comfortable, soundproof, ventilated, and private, Pluto Pod. 50sq ft enclosed cubicles whose design has been adapted from a phone booth previously developed by these entrepreneurs.
Space Republic was only a very small startup in 2020, when demand for safe, productive workspaces grew instantaneously. However, with help from the
Sustainable Innovation Fund, Greig and Luke were able to double down on technology, creating the ‘Purifi’ air purification system that guarantees a clean and healthy environment inside the pods, free from pathogens and contaminants. The funding also enabled the team to fully test the solution with a pilot scheme amongst the target audience.
