Technology is no longer tied to the office. But just because you're out of the nine to five, it doesn't mean you won't occasionally go stir-crazy at home. John Hill talks about co-working, and how popping into a space for an hour or two can relieve tension as well as help build links with like-minded people.

AT FIRST, it seemed like a dream come true. You spent years leashed to an office; keeping their time, watching the beige walls, dragging yourself miles down the road to be soaked in the din of other people. And you’d say to yourself: “If I had the freedom to work on my terms, I’d get twice as much done.”

A few years ago, you did it. You left the office, set up on your own, laid out your desk like a Feng Shui expert and brewed a cup of your own, not-from-the-evil-machine tea. Life rocked, and you were free. But soon, the walls started closing in, you lost an hour to the internet again, and you realised you were missing people more than you expected.

There’s a growing number of people who have made their home into their office, and improvements in broadband service, software and equipment mean you can do more from your spare bedroom than ever before. But is there a middle ground between drowning in an office and going stir-crazy at home?

Co-working is an idea that’s becoming increasingly popular amongst freelancers and start-up founders who want a solid link to the world outside.

It springs from the idea that people want a quick dose of the community of an office environment, but don’t want to get hitched to it again. In an ideal world, it’s an open-plan space peppered with desks that can be rented by the hour, with people that can trade ideas and offer support.

“When you start your own business, it doesn’t come with an instruction book”, says Mark Reed of Newcastle Business Village. “You have to muddle through as best you can, and it can be lonely because the buck stops with you. If you’ve got other people around you it can become much less daunting.”

Founders Mark and Helen Reed offer serviced offices and industrial space through the Newcastle Business Village in Wallsend, but also provide short-term facilities for entrepreneurs and freelancers through Newcastle Business Hub, a spot with a lounge, kitchen, coffee and open-plan space which is available at the equivalent of £10 a day. The space launched in May, although some form of hot-desking has been available for over a year.

Mark Reed says: “We get people coming in for an hour or two to hold a meeting and then staying on for a bit to get some work done. It’s not just about the tangible things like the desk, chair and lamps and wi-fi. It’s the companionship, camaraderie and networking.”

The co-working environment has already found a place in the hearts of many Americans, with spaces such as San Francisco’s Citizen Space attracting “residents” such as software engineers, graphic designers, web developers and social media consultants.

Lower Manhattan has Hive at 55, which offers conference rooms and a kitchen as well as workshops and seminars. Back in Britain, the technology start-up community has been served by Shoreditch’s TechHub since summer last year.

Technology start-ups are ideal for the co-working culture. The technology to develop our own dreams on a laptop and spread them around the world is now freely available.

A project can be built by staring down a computer until your eyelids twitch. But a community emerges when there’s a willingness to connect; to share ideas, trade advice and create something bigger and better together.

You see the community develop on Twitter, and at events such as the North East’s Geekest Drink, App North, SuperMondays and Freelance Romance.

You’ll see it at Gallowgate’s Central Bean, the home of Science City’s First Friday networking session and an unofficial base for many one or two- person start-ups with a thirst for coffee and wi-fi. And, for about 13 weeks, you saw it in rooms in Middlesbrough and Sunderland, when a group of promising tech start-up teams gathered for the Difference Engine seed-funding programme.

“When I went on the Difference Engine, it was an amazing atmosphere,” says Tristan Watson, the Love Your Larder founder who took part in the second programme at Sunderland’s BIC. “When you ran into problems, you could just shout across the room and someone would shout back. You could wear headphones when you needed to get on with something, but you’ve got the support base of a company with 30 people despite being a start-up of two or three.”

Watson is now developing his online artisan produce market in Adamson House in Newcastle’s Westgate Road, and will be rubbing shoulders with the teams from Ignite100, an evolution of the Difference Engine concept funded by IP Group, Northstar Ventures and angel investors.

He says: “One of the hardest things about doing something like this is the isolation and loneliness. My first office was reasonably cheap, but when the two of us went in and shut that door, it was like being in a monastic cell. It’s difficult to get input.

“Having a space for a community to work around is important. A space can provide a focus, and a place for people to arrange events. It can fuel the fire.”