This is a developer stepping back from running workspace-as-a-service because the flexible office model is increasingly treated as a strategic operating business, not just a leasing add-on.
Skanska has recently announced the exit of business.link (Business Link) in Poland for EUR 20 million, according to deal information provided. The buyer is Skanska.
What Business Link is, and why it mattered inside Skanska
Business Link is widely described as Skanska’s flexible workspace brand in Poland, embedded in Skanska-owned office buildings. That matters: it positions the platform less as a standalone coworking roll-up and more as a developer-led operating layer on top of a traditional office portfolio.
The brand operates across multiple Polish cities and sells a full menu of flexible products, including coworking, serviced offices, and enterprise workspace solutions. This is consistent with the broader shift in occupier demand toward shorter commitments and more variable footprints.
Skanska has also publicly tied Business Link’s expansion to demand signals. In announcing a new location at High5ive, Skanska stated that demand for flexible office space is growing. Business Link has expanded with new sites and larger footprints, including a 2,900 sqm location in Warsaw, alongside other Polish cities.
Strategic read: flex is becoming operationally heavyweight
For developers, running a flex platform delivers clear potential benefits: higher service revenue per sqm, faster lease-up in new buildings, and a product that matches what corporate tenants increasingly ask for. But it also comes with execution realities that are very different from core real estate development.
A flex operator has to manage:
- Utilisation and churn risk, not just occupancy.
- Sales and community operations, not just leasing.
- Fit-out cycles and capex intensity that can rise with product expectations.
That operating complexity is why many property groups either keep flex as a tightly controlled in-house offer, or partner with specialists. An exit suggests Skanska is reassessing where it wants to sit on that spectrum.
What this deal does not prove
The signal in the market data is easy to overstate. Business Link is often described as a leading Polish coworking operator, but the available sourced material emphasises Business Link’s own expansion, not a broader wave of operator consolidation or exits.
Similarly, while the deal facts cite a EUR 20 million price, the gathered sources do not provide direct evidence for a EUR 20 million valuation or specific transaction terms. In other words, this should be treated as a reported deal value rather than a benchmark for the Polish coworking sector.
Outlook: office landlords will keep testing the flex operating model
Even without a clear consolidation narrative, the strategic direction is consistent: landlords and developers are still experimenting with how to package office space amid changing demand. Business Link’s evolution inside Skanska shows how quickly a developer can build a flex product when it controls the underlying real estate.
The key question after an exit is whether the platform continues to scale under its next owner, or is repositioned as a narrower amenity-led offer tied to specific buildings. Either way, the operating model, customer retention, and ability to sell enterprise-grade solutions will determine whether flexible workspace is a durable profit engine or a cyclical add-on.