IN A deserted ground-floor office in a once bustling, award-winning building, George Boyle had her Jerry Maguire “who’s coming with me?” moment.

About 40 people gathered around her in the sparse office space for a “manifesto meeting” in May 2010 after a round-robin email by Boyle. The manifesto motto sparked the curiosity of those struggling in recessionary times: “Making Work Together”.

The associate director at Murray O’Laoire Architects for 15 years had been made redundant after the practice went into liquidation in April 2010. The impact was all the more acute because her husband also worked there. Only two months earlier, they had had their second child.

The three-month-old soon became the “mascot in the car seat” as Boyle’s new creative quarter, called Fumbally Exchange, took shape from that night in May 2010.

The idea was simple: a deserted open-plan office in the heart of the Liberties in Dublin 8 could be rented from the landlord for a small fee and could in turn become a collaborative community and hive of activity for small businesses, sole traders, start-ups and entrepreneurs. It would be an alternative to working at home alone with no human interaction, no brainstorming, no collaboration, no networking, no new opportunities.

Boyle compares the in-house, one-stop-shop facility to a cocktail bar for those accessing the services and expertise. All of the bottles are open and accessible, all of the flavours can be experimented with, no corkage fee applies and the bill only accounts for units consumed.

Within the warmly lit spacious office there are architects, web designers, joiners, landscapers, 3D model makers, translators, photographers, videographers, product innovators, copy writers, project managers, engineers, writers and interior designers.

Under the licence agreement, each desk comes with a direct contract with the landlord: the weekly all-in rent is €50.

The group has quickly grown from 10 to 60, sprawling into a second office space. Some of the modern high-end office trimmings came courtesy of a liquidation furniture sale.

It is nothing like the dull serviced offices of old but more in tune with international communities such as the Metropolitan Exchange and General Assembly in New York.

In meeting rooms, the recruits regularly hold “Pecha Kuchas” – a Japanese-style presentation of 20 slides with 20 seconds per slide. This way individual experts in different fields float ideas, sharpen messages, show work in progress, and hone pitches for new projects. Together, for example, they are working on an architectural commission for a GAA clubhouse in New York.

Each works independently but also shares expertise on certain projects, while also working collaboratively for joint projects under the name “The Fumbally Exchange”. “You have to find opportunity . . . where there is a need, there is an opportunity. The ground is glistening with coins,” says Boyle, who operates her own business, George Boyle Designs, from the premises.

Sticking with the shiny coins theme, she says: “The coins were thrown away but now need to be picked up and used imaginatively.”

She says many of those who joined Fumbally Exchange were “recession afflicted”.

“But we are the ones swimming around in scuba diving suits,” says Boyle. The Fumbally Exchange recruits have embraced the stubborn tides of the recession.

The project is a template for maximising talents, collaborative opportunities and networking. One of the earliest recruits, designer Patrick McKenna of furniture company Wabi-Sabi, says suppliers are now approaching Fumbally Exchange rather than the other way around because of “critical mass”: the wide range of expertise and services on offer. Sitting close by, 3D visualisation specialist Philip Kelly of Sketchrender says new opportunities have come his way because of contacts made through colleagues in Fumbally Exchange.

It’s a theme around the office. Among the enthusiasts are graphic designer Graham Thew who had worked at home for 15 years before learning of Fumbally Exchange; architect Adam Campbell; and cameraman and editor Matthew Boyd, who had been working out of his spare bedroom for four years and “getting a bit anti-social”.

Doug Sherman of All3D says the Fumbally Exchange is all about networking, without actually having to go to formal breakfast meetings.

As the exchange has grown, so too has the appeal of the larger office block to new companies.

A once vacant building is almost full again. There is new life.

Across town at the intersection of Pearse and Lombard Streets, Junction Studios has embraced a similar co-operative model.

The Koh Creative duo of Aisling Hanby and Gemma Randles founded the “communications collective” in August 2010 after returning from a year travelling abroad.

They gathered experts in the communications industry to get the right mix of specialists around the 20 available desks rented for €70 a week, with all services and costs covered. The goal: a communications centre of excellence. And unlike the traditional agency approach, clients pay only for the services they need, when they need them, according to Hanby.

The duo brought aboard experts in press relations, market research, market consultancy, online and digital marketing, advertising and copyrighting who work within their own fields for their own companies but who come together under the Junction Studios umbrella to collaborate on briefs and pitch together for work. The group has collaborated on projects for tea and coffee company Robert Roberts, Disneyland Paris, and Clerys.

Koh Creative, the business within Junction Studios headed by Hanby and Randles, has seen its business grow by 79 per cent as a result of the Junction Studios concept, according to Randles.

Des Martin, of Local Search Marketing, who specialises in internet marketing training, says he can simply turn to someone sitting beside him or in a nearby office to get help with something in design or PR and have it done in minutes, rather than waiting hours or days for external help.

Jenny Taaffe of iZest says the benefits of being in a co-operative setting are apparent and rewarding every day. “You could have clients who throw a question at you about something technical or something you can’t answer but there probably isn’t a question we can’t answer between all of us here,” she says.

Given the number of ghost commercial estates and the record levels of unemployment, the Occupy Dame Street movement has increasingly asked about devising co-operatives and using vacant office space in an innovative way to help create employment.

They have begun talking about targeting Nama properties. Already in Cork, the Occupy movement planned to use Stapleton House as a Cork City Community Resource Centre, but have now been forced to leave.

A spokesman for Nama declined to speculate on how vacant office buildings could be better utilised around the country, insisting such decisions first rest with the owners and landlords.

But Nama did say that as part of the discussion process between it and debtors, all options are explored, including renting out empty buildings for a smaller fee than would be the norm.

In a testament to the success of the likes of Fumbally Exchange, Boyle has received expressions of interest from more than 50 locations across Ireland, and is expanding into Balbriggan. Landlords who would rather receive some rent than leave a building idle, local businesses benefiting from collaboration and communities with a job creator at their hearts have awoken to the potential of these innovative workplaces. It’s the micro-economy in action.

Fumbally residents: Who they are and what they do

Graham Thew is a freelance designer who has produced logos, posters and book covers for more than 15 years.

Philip Kelly is the principal of Sketchrender, having worked for Murray O’Laoire Architects for 14 years as a technologist.

Patrick McKenna owns Wabi-Sabi. Since 2001, he has assembled a team of professional master joiners and cabinet makers from Ireland, Czechoslovakia, Poland and Slovakia.

Fionnuala O’Connor is an architect and owner of Urban Architecture.