Dubai’s first Work from Park opens with free desks on rooftops and around Al Barsha Pond Park

Dubai: Bored of working from your office cubicle or your living room? You can now swap it for a desk in a park, with a pond for a backdrop. Of course, when the weather is in your favour.

Dubai’s first Work from Park facility opened at Al Barsha Pond Park on Monday, November 2.

Dubai Municipality launched it with flexible workspace platform Letswork, which runs day-to-day operations. Indoors, there is a co-working space, meeting rooms and fixed-desk offices. The outdoor workspaces around the buildings, including those on the rooftops, are free to use.

Free outdoor desks

Visitors can work from seating areas around the buildings, including a pergola, or head up to the rooftops. None of it needs a booking.

“Outside is completely free for people to just come, sit and work,” Omar Al Mheiri, co-founder and CTO of Letswork told Gulf News.

Users only have to follow the rules of the space, whether they are using it free or paying. QR codes displaying the rules will soon be put up on site.

Mohannad Al-Omari, business development manager at Group AMANA, which built the facility, said the outdoor areas will be fully connected. “There will be power, internet, everything, with sockets, so people can be connected in and out,” he said.

The summer heat remains a challenge. Al-Omari said Dubai Municipality and the builders are looking at cooling systems and weatherproof furniture to make the rooftops easier to use.

Wi-Fi and indoor zones

Wi-Fi covers the whole space on Letswork’s own network, separate from the park’s. A limited guest network is free. For the high-speed connection indoors, users get the password through the app after checking in with an indoor pass.

The indoor space is open from 8am to 8pm and has three zones. The first is a co-working area for up to 30 people, open to walk-ins at Dh50 a day. The pass covers the whole day and includes a free coffee.

“You can book through our app, website or even WhatsApp,” Al Mheiri said.

Live availability is shown online, so there is no wasted trip. Seating is free, and USB-C charging points are installed throughout.

Booked a spot and want to bring a colleague? Add their name and number, pay for them, and they can walk in too.

Facilities for firms

The second zone has two meeting rooms, each seating nine people. Prices start at Dh200 an hour and go up to Dh1,200, with many people opting for a full day.

Both rooms have audiovisual equipment, and whiteboards or flip charts can be arranged in advance. Guests receive email confirmations and calendar invites automatically. Larger groups can request a full takeover of the block.

The third zone, Workspace Suites, offers fixed desks that can be rented from a month up to a year. Applicants must say who they are and what they do, and the offices come with lockers.

Members can also see who is in the space and “wave” to connect. “We’re trying to pull people from LinkedIn to actually meet at these spaces,” Al Mheiri said.

How to book, use credits

Indoor spaces can be booked through the Letswork website, its app or WhatsApp on 04 581 3652.

“A lot of people are on WhatsApp now, so our team will handle everything for them,” Al Mheiri said. Pre-booking is open for the next six months.

Letswork also offers memberships from Dh120 to Dh1,000, based on credits worth around Dh5 each.

A day in the co-working area costs 10 credits. Credits can be used across about 200 Letswork-listed spaces in Dubai, including cafés, hotels and co-working venues.

Fitness and community

Al Mheiri said Letswork’s community includes fitness trainers, yoga instructors and motivational speakers.

A calendar of events is on its website and on screens in each space.

“If you’re here working for the day, you automatically get access to the events,” he said. Sessions can be sponsored and free.

Ideas for Dubai Fitness Challenges are also being finalised with Dubai Municipality. They include a run club, football games and tennis.

Why a park?

Ahmed Mohammed Al Marzooqi, manager of Dubai Public Parks, said the setting is the main draw.

“It’s the first place in the region with a natural view, in a park, and the prices are very reasonable, less than what’s in the market,” he said.

“You can enjoy a different experience in a green area at a cheap price.”

Parents can bring their children while they work, and the park also has a jogging track, and a mall next to it with restaurants and coffee shops.

The municipality is gathering visitor feedback before choosing the next location, he said.

Al Mheiri sees a lifestyle shift. “You can have a work-life balance instead of that standard 9 to 6, traffic out, going home already tired,” he said.

 “You can come to places like this, have a full day, have your kids also playing or studying in the park.”

Built off site

The facility has five buildings, all built using modular methods. Three, which house the workspaces, use Group AMANA’s DuBox concrete technology, while the café and toilet block use its DuPod light-gauge steel system.

Al-Omari said most of the work, including floors, walls, ceilings and tiles, was completed in a factory. The units were then shipped in boxes and assembled in the park.

The project took less than three months, with about half of that spent on site. He said conventional construction would have meant around five months of continuous work, with park visitors facing restricted access.

He described the project as a pilot that could be repeated in other parks.