Hate new 'co-working' job location. Any tips?

[MaitreKarlsson]

I work in higher education.
We moved in the summer from a lovely area of central London, to an up and coming district.
We don't have our own desks any more, but hot desking and have core days to be in.

The journey takes much longer from home now, but the main problem is lack of company. The new office is a giant 'we work' type space.
It's rare that you manage to book a desk sitting within your team or near your team. People also don't have regular days so it is quite possible to not talk to anyone properly all day apart from a Zoom meeting, unless you've arranged previously to catch up with someone.

I appreciate I am lucky to have a job right now.

Just wondering if others have found ways to make this type of office work better for them?

I hear you! Similar set up here, we have about 100 desks in an open plan office, only a handful of people have their own fixed desks, the rest of us book as required so you could be sitting next to anyone. I don't really have a local team but some days I don't even know the name of the person sitting next to me unless I look them up on the system. On paper it seems like it should be a good way to get to know people and network across teams etc but in reality I find that most stick their headphones in and don't talk to anyone all day! I hate it, it feels really lonely some days and I figure I might as well save myself the commute and ironing of work clothes to stay at home.

Sounds grim, esp if it's in Stratford or suchlike. Tis the way of things though, not much to be done except feed back to your bosses and see if the core system can be tweaked to be better for teambuilding, include some in-person meetings so you connect with key people and don't totally drift. Otherwise another job is the only option but it could happen there too.

We don’t book desks, it’s first come, first served, although we can’t always sit as a team if it’s busy. Mondays and Fridays don’t tend to be so busy so easier to sit together. Try to book meeting rooms so those on site can be face to face with others dialled in on a large screen. Social events, for examples young team members, (more likely to be in a room in a flat share) have regular evenings out or meet for coffee or lunch. Do you have a culture of highlighting days you plan to be in, so someone who wants to have a catch up can identify when you will be around?

That's exactly it. Might as well be at home! Yet they are keen to encourage us to come in an extra day a week. Not super tempting at present.

Good advice. Definitely seems to be the trend. There are some conversations going on with management but I don't think it's high priority.
Also, should say that some of my colleagues seem to like it - for them a nice clean modern office is better than a shabby old one even if less characterful.

We don't have that culture, but it's a good idea. Different teams are supposed to be in on different core days. So there is some method, but it's quite tricky to arrange meetups out of work at present.