Choosing a shared office building: what to look for
Buildings that look much alike in an advert can turn out to differ enormously. One is well maintained, efficient and neatly run; the other only shows its hand after six months — when the meeting room is always taken, the heating plays up, or your visitors can’t find a space.
A separate article explains what a shared office building actually is; this one is about the choice itself: what to look at during a viewing, and which questions to ask before you sign. Work through the points below at your own pace — at each one you’ll find how it’s arranged at Rondaire 8.
Accessibility and parking
Accessibility and parking decide how happily you make the trip in, and how easily your visitors arrive. Look further than the address: how do you reach it in rush hour, and where does your car go? You only see the real pressure on parking if you drop by on a weekday morning, not on a quiet Saturday. Ask as well whether there’s room for visitors, whether a space of your own can be rented, and whether you can charge an electric car.
At Rondaire 8 you park free on the street, in practice usually with plenty of room close to the door. If you want to be sure of a space at all times, you rent one on the private grounds, with number-plate recognition so you drive straight in without a pass. For electric driving there are charging points on the grounds.
The condition of the building and the energy label
Ask about the year of construction or the year of delivery, and about the energy label. That label is no paper detail: the energy costs of the building run through the service charges into your monthly bill, so a poorly insulated building is one you end up paying for yourself. Look at the climate too — can you cool in summer, and do you set the temperature in your own unit or is it central for the whole floor? And is there a lift, if you often take goods or visitors upstairs?
Rondaire 8 was newly delivered in 2025 and has an A+++ energy label. A single heat pump handles both the heating and the cooling — you set the temperature in your own unit — and 45 kWp of solar panels covers around 70 to 75% of the building’s own consumption. And there is a lift.
Shared facilities, internet and security
Work out precisely what is shared, and how it is arranged. Is there a meeting room, and how do you book it — freely, on fair use, or at extra cost? Where do you receive clients, and what does that space look like? Is there a pantry or lounge where you can step away from your desk for a moment? Shared facilities that work well save you square metres in your own unit; facilities that are permanently occupied only cost you time.
Internet and security are the two points people skip most often and miss soonest. Ask which connection is in place and whether it’s shared, and look at how access is arranged: can you get in outside office hours, and is there camera surveillance? At Rondaire 8 there is fibre, camera surveillance and 24/7 access. Shared are the lounge, the pantry and a meeting and reception room.
The contract, your neighbours and room to grow
Read the form of the contract carefully. What is the minimum rental term, what is the notice period, and how is the rent indexed? Short terms sound flexible, but in a shared building they also mean a great deal of coming and going: new faces every quarter and little attachment. That is why leases at Rondaire 8 start at one year — a deliberate choice for calm and continuity in the building, for you and for your neighbours.
Finally, look at who else is there. Your neighbours help shape how the building comes across to your clients, and whether there’s anything to be gained between you in advice or in work. Ask, too, whether there’s room to grow: if your team gets bigger, can you move to a roomier unit within the same building, or would you have to relocate after all? At Rondaire 8 the units run from 28 to 60 m², so a growing team can move up within the same building instead of relocating.