A shared office in Peckham, built because we couldn't find one that worked for us.
RedDeskCo exists because of a pretty simple problem. We needed somewhere to work, and nothing out there did what we needed it to do. So in 2019, we decided to build our own.
The story
We were running our businesses from home at the time and it just wasn't working. The days would blur into each other. You'd be on Zoom calls all day, eating lunch at your desk, and then still answering emails at nine in the evening because your office was your kitchen table and there was never really a moment where work stopped and the evening started. It was isolating too. Going days without actually speaking to another person face to face does something to you after a while.
We had a couple of friends who were in exactly the same position, all working from home, all finding it difficult. So we actually went and visited the coworking spaces that were already in Peckham to see if any of them would work for us.
Why we built our own
None of them felt right. The bigger spaces were busy and impersonal. We all use large monitors and permanent desk setups rather than just working from laptops, and we didn't feel comfortable leaving thousands of pounds worth of equipment in a space full of strangers. You were tiptoeing around people you didn't know in the kitchen and meeting rooms. It didn't feel like your own space. It felt like you were borrowing someone else's.
So we just decided, why don't we do it ourselves? Find somewhere small, do it up, and build the kind of workspace that we'd actually want to use every day.
"We found a space on Asylum Road that had been an old council office. Suspended ceilings, horrible carpet tiles, the works. We stripped the whole thing out and renovated it from scratch."
It took a few months to get it to where we wanted it. We ripped everything out and started again. New floors, proper lighting, the kind of furniture you'd actually want to sit at for eight hours. We wanted it to feel like a real workspace, not a trendy startup playground, so we focused on the things that actually matter when you're there every day. Comfortable chairs, good desks with enough space to spread out, fast internet, air conditioning, and a proper kitchen where you could make a decent cup of coffee and sit down for lunch away from your screen. We put plants in because it makes the space feel alive, and we put a shower in so people could cycle in or go to the gym before work without it being a problem. We wanted every part of the day to be covered so that you could genuinely treat it like your own office.
Our friends were the first people in alongside us, and we started filling desks from there.
The early days and COVID
Things were going well. We had a small group of people who liked the space and liked each other, and it was working exactly how we'd imagined. Then COVID hit.
The timing couldn't have been worse. We'd just finished getting the space set up and had the first few people settled in, and then the whole country went into lockdown. It was a really difficult period, but we managed to keep it going. And then as things started to open up again, something interesting happened. People who'd been stuck at home for months had started to realise that working from home full time wasn't great for them. The same things that had pushed us to set up RedDeskCo in the first place, the isolation, the lack of routine, the blurred boundaries, were now affecting thousands of other people too. They started looking for a workspace, and what they wanted was exactly the kind of space we'd already built. Somewhere small and personal, where they could set up properly and feel comfortable.
How it works
Your desk, your setup
The whole idea behind RedDeskCo was that we wanted a space we could treat like our own office. So that's how it works for everyone. You get your own dedicated desk and you can set it up however you like. People bring in their own monitors, their own mugs, their favourite coffee and tea. Some people have been at the same desk for years and it really does feel like their own little corner of the office.
No hot-desking
We set it up this way because we didn't want to work around strangers every day and worry about whether our stuff was safe. That's still how we feel about it. Everyone here knows each other and looks out for each other's things. You can leave your desk at the end of the day and know that everything will be exactly where you left it in the morning.
Come and go as you please
Everyone has their own fob key and can let themselves in whenever they need to. We wanted people to be able to treat the space like it was theirs, and that means not having to check in with anyone or work around someone else's schedule. You just come in, sit down, and get on with your day.
"Some of our original coworkers are still at RedDeskCo. That says more about the place than anything we could write."
The community
Some of the people who joined in 2019 are still here, which we think says a lot. People stay because they like the space, they like the people, and it works for how they want to work. It's not something we've had to engineer or force.
We go for drinks together, we have barbecues in the summer and a Christmas party at the end of the year. None of it is organised as some kind of networking event or team building exercise. It just happens naturally because people here actually get along. Sometimes someone will just say "pub?" at five o'clock and half the office goes.
RedDeskCo is independently owner-operated. We work from the space ourselves every day, which means if something needs fixing or you have a question about anything, you can just ask us directly. There's no management company sitting behind the scenes, and you're never going to be put on hold or asked to raise a support ticket. It's a small operation and we like it that way because it means we can actually look after the space and the people in it properly.
Chris M.
Founder
I started RedDeskCo in 2019 after spending years working from home, cafes, and overpriced hot-desking spaces that never quite worked. I wanted a quiet, no-nonsense workspace with a fixed desk I could actually leave my stuff on — and I couldn't find one in Peckham. So I built one. I run the space myself, keep it small on purpose, and make sure it stays the kind of place where you can sit down and get work done without distractions.
If that sounds like what you're looking for, come and have a look around.
Drop us a line at work@reddesk.co or book a tour to come and see the space.
