Contact us
Get a quote
Book a tour
Request a callback
Independent workspace grading
By Ben Hutchen, Real Estate Director at Orega. Reviewed 12/10/2026.
FlexGrade is an independent quality grade for flexible workspace, in the way that stars grade hotels. Each location is assessed against eight categories of workspace quality and graded Gold, Silver or Bronze, and the grade is reviewed every year.
The point is who does the grading. Orega does not write FlexGrade's criteria, carry out the assessment or decide the result. So when an Orega centre shows a FlexGrade badge, it is someone else's verdict on our quality, not our own.
Every operator describes its space as premium. The photos are chosen with care, and a viewing shows you the reception on a good day. Neither tells you how a building performs on an ordinary Tuesday, or whether the connectivity, the security and the service will hold up for the length of your agreement.
Hotels solved this problem long ago with star ratings. Flexible workspace had no shared benchmark of its own, so every claim about quality had to be taken on trust.
FlexGrade fills that gap with one framework, applied in the same way to every location it assesses, whoever operates it and wherever it is. Quality can be compared, rather than simply claimed.
“Hotels have stars. Flexible workspace has FlexGrade.”
FlexGrade, flexgrade.io
FlexGrade looks at a workspace the way the people who work there experience it. Each location is checked against the same eight categories using objective, measurable data, and each category earns its own grade alongside the overall grade.
The building itself: its quality, its condition and how well it serves the people inside it.
What is on hand beyond your desk, and the services that keep the working day running smoothly.
How it feels to arrive, to work and to host visitors, and how well the team looks after you.
How well the space is laid out and fitted for focused work, collaboration and a growing team.
The connectivity your team relies on every day, and how securely that network is run.
How the space protects the people in it, and how it supports their wellbeing at work.
Whether the operation meets the standards it should, and holds the accreditations to show it.
How the building and the way it is run manage their impact on the environment.
Category names are FlexGrade's own. The one-line descriptions are our plain-English summary of each.
All three grades are certifications. A location only receives one if it qualifies against the FlexGrade framework, so even a Bronze is an independent confirmation of quality, not a consolation prize.
The highest grade FlexGrade awards. The location meets the framework at its most demanding level.
A strong, certified result against the same framework, one step below Gold.
A certified result: the location has met the FlexGrade standard and earned its place on the scale.
There are three ways to judge a workspace before you move in. Each has its place, but only one is structured, independent and the same for every location.
Reviews still matter, and a viewing is still essential. A FlexGrade adds what neither can: a like-for-like check of the things that are hardest to judge from the outside.
Choosing to be graded is a statement in itself. Any operator can call its space premium. Opening a centre to an independent assessment, against the same benchmark used by operators around the world, and doing it again every year, is a different kind of promise.
It means our quality is something you can check, not something you have to take our word for. Where an Orega centre has been graded, you will find its FlexGrade badge on that centre's page.
Compare locations like for like, on the same eight measures, instead of weighing one brochure against another.
Network security, compliance, and health and safety are hard to judge on a short tour. A FlexGrade covers them.
FlexGrade is built around the questions corporate procurement teams already ask, so an independent grade helps your recommendation stand up.
Because grades are reviewed every year, standards cannot slip once the badge is on the wall.
Four simple checks get the most out of a grade, wherever you are looking.
A grade from this year tells you more than one from several years ago.
An overall grade covers the whole location. A category grade covers one area, such as sustainability.
If you handle sensitive data, look closely at network security. If you report on carbon, look at sustainability.
A grade tells you how a space performs against the standard. A viewing tells you whether it suits your team. Use both.
FlexGrade is an independent quality certification for flexible workspace and coworking. It assesses each location against eight categories of workspace quality and grades it Gold, Silver or Bronze, both overall and for each category. Grades are reviewed every year.
Yes. FlexGrade is a separate company and a member of the Flexible Space Association, the UK industry body for flexible workspace. Orega does not write FlexGrade's criteria, carry out its assessments or decide its grades.
Eight categories: Building Profile; Amenities and Services; Guest Experience; Space Design and Configuration; Network Infrastructure and Security; Health, Safety and Wellbeing; Compliance and Accreditation; and Sustainability and Environmental Impact. FlexGrade assesses them using objective, measurable data.
Gold is the highest grade FlexGrade awards, Silver is the next and Bronze follows. All three are certifications: a location only receives a grade if it qualifies against the FlexGrade framework.
Every year. Each FlexGrade badge shows the year it was awarded, so you can see how current a grade is.
No. A review records one person's experience. A FlexGrade is a structured, independent assessment against the same eight categories for every location, which makes workspaces comparable across operators, cities and countries.
Each graded Orega centre shows its FlexGrade badge on its own centre page, together with the year and the grade awarded.
Workspace operators, brokers and occupiers. FlexGrade is used in the UK, Europe, the US, Australia, Singapore and India, and in February 2026 the property adviser CBRE announced a partnership with FlexGrade for the Indian market.
Written by Ben Hutchen. Last reviewed 12/10/2026.
Find your Orega workspace, look for the FlexGrade badge on the centre page, then come and see it for yourself.
