What is the Hub and Spoke Office Model?

The hub and spoke model is an organisational framework where one central point, the hub, connects to a series of surrounding nodes known as spokes. Think of a bicycle wheel: rather than every point connecting directly to every other point, everything flows in and out through the centre. This creates a more efficient, manageable network where the hub handles the heavy lifting and the spokes extend its reach. It has been applied across aviation, logistics, healthcare and, more recently, the way businesses think about hybrid working and their office presence. 

That kind of networked thinking is becoming increasingly relevant for businesses making decisions about their office presence too. Amy Connaughton, COO of Iconic Offices, has observed the shift firsthand: 

"We've noticed a shift in recent company trends regarding office space. Many new clients are now seeking a stronger office presence than what we've typically seen in the past few years. This increased demand reflects a renewed focus on collaboration and in-person connections as companies adapt to new ways of working." 

What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Hub and Spoke Model? 

The hub and spoke office model offers real advantages for businesses rethinking how and where their teams work. But like any approach to office space, it comes with trade-offs worth considering before you commit. The table below breaks down the key advantages and disadvantages to help you decide whether a hub and spoke setup is the right fit for your business. 

Advantages	Disadvantages
A central Dublin office gives your business a professional address and client-facing presence	Over-reliance on one location can create pressure if the hub becomes unavailable
Spoke offices reduce long commutes, making it easier to attract and retain talent outside the city	Spoke locations can feel disconnected from company culture if not actively managed
Flexible serviced offices make it easy to add or remove spokes as your team grows or contracts	Maintaining consistency across multiple locations requires clear communication and management
Teams get the benefits of in-person collaboration without everyone needing to be in one place	Not all roles or teams are suited to a split-location model
Lower overhead than committing to one large permanent office for your entire team	Finding the right balance between hub and spoke capacity takes time to get right
Supports hybrid working by giving employees a professional space close to where they live	Onboarding new staff across multiple locations can be more complex than a single office setup

When global businesses have applied this thinking in practice, the results reflect many of these advantages. When a leading global drinks brand established its Dublin headquarters with Iconic Offices, the brief centred on exactly this balance. A central 11,000 sq ft hub across two floors, built around a hybrid hot-desking model with dedicated collaboration zones, meeting rooms, breakout areas and a wellness room.

The space was designed to give employees the flexibility to work from anywhere within the office while remaining anchored to a well-resourced central base, a real-world example of the hub and spoke model's core strengths in action. 

What are Examples of Hub and Spoke Models? 

The hub and spoke model shows up in business more often than people realise. One of the most practical examples for Irish companies is the relationship between a regional base and a city centre office. 

A growing number of companies based outside Dublin operate on a hub and spoke model without necessarily thinking of it in those terms. A business headquartered in Wicklow, Kildare or Cork might maintain a flexible office in Dublin city centre for client meetings, team collaboration days or access to a wider professional network. The home base is the hub, the Dublin office is the spoke, and together they give the business a presence and reach it could not achieve from one location alone. For businesses like these, a serviced office in Dublin offers a practical, low-commitment way to put that model into action. 

This is also visible at the workspace design level. For the global drinks brand's Dublin headquarters, Iconic Offices created a space that functioned as a true hub. A central point equipped with 80 workstations, 11 meeting rooms, 11 phone booths, collaboration zones, a bar and dining area, and a wellness room. Each zone within the office acted as a spoke in its own right, serving a distinct function while remaining connected to the central workspace. The result was an environment that could support different ways of working simultaneously, without losing coherence or culture. 

FAQs About the Hub and Spoke Office Model 

What is the hub and spoke office model in simple terms? 

The hub and spoke office model is where a business operates from one central location, the hub, supported by a number of smaller satellite offices, the spokes. Rather than having all employees commute to one place or work entirely remotely, the model gives teams a professional workspace closer to where they live while keeping the business connected through a central base. 

Is the hub and spoke model suitable for hybrid teams? 

Yes. The hub and spoke model works particularly well for hybrid teams because it gives employees access to a professional workspace without requiring everyone to be in the same location every day. A central hub office handles client meetings, leadership functions and company-wide collaboration, while spoke offices support the day-to-day needs of teams in different parts of the city or country. The global drinks brand's Dublin headquarters is a strong example of this, designed specifically around a hybrid hot-desking model, with zones built to support both focused individual work and team collaboration. 

What is the difference between a hub and spoke office model and a traditional office setup? 

A traditional office setup assumes everyone works from one fixed location. The hub and spoke model distributes that presence across multiple locations, with a central hub anchoring the network. This gives businesses more flexibility, reduces commute times for employees and makes it easier to scale without committing to one large permanent office. 

What are the main advantages of the hub and spoke office model? 

The key advantages include reduced commuting, lower overhead, greater flexibility and the ability to maintain a professional presence across multiple locations. For growing businesses, it also makes scaling easier since adding a new spoke does not require overhauling the entire office setup. 

What does a hub and spoke model look like for a small business? 

For a small or growing business, the hub and spoke model often looks like a central headquarters or home base supported by one or more flexible city centre offices. A company based in Kildare or Wicklow, for example, might use a serviced office in Dublin as its spoke, giving the team a professional base for client meetings, collaboration days or access to a wider business network without the cost and commitment of a second permanent office. 

Apply the Hub and Spoke Model to Your Office Space Strategy 

The hub and spoke model can shape the way your business thinks about office space too. If your team is growing, expanding across the city or moving toward a more flexible way of working, structuring your workspace around a central hub location with the ability to access additional spokes as needed gives you the scalability and control the model is known for. 

The global drinks brand case study shows what that looks like when it is executed well. A thoughtfully designed central office that serves as the anchor point for a global team, built to support hybrid working, collaboration and brand identity all at once, delivered within a 13-week timeline. You can read the full case study here. 

Iconic Offices' network of premium workspaces across Dublin is designed with exactly that kind of flexibility in mind. Explore the full range of Iconic Offices locations across Dublin.