Phone Booths Become Micro-Offices

Phone booths across London, Leeds and Edinburgh will be transformed into micro-offices from summer 2016.

Bar Works, a New York-based company specialising in co-working spaces, plans to turn BT telephone boxes into mini-workstations, called Pod Works. The booths will contain a printer and scanner, 25-inch monitor, wi-fi, power outlets and free coffee and tea.

To keep the spaces open for as many people as possible, users will be asked to leave after one hour. Membership costs £19.99 ($29) a month and gives subscribers access to more than 20 booths.

Demand for co-working communities, luxury hostels and ultra-portable products is spiking as growing numbers of young workers swap the nine-to-five lifestyle for a nomadic freelance career – see Digital Nomads for more.

Our Working Smarter report explores how the rise in flexible working, coupled with millennials' desire for a greater work-life balance, is driving demand for new technologies – from virtual-reality headsets to stress-sensing wearables – that will transform the future of work.