Why Northern Beaches Coworking Exists (And Who It's For)

Better Tuition Academy has been running one-on-one tutoring across Sydney's Northern Beaches and North Shore for over 10 years. In that time we've built out spaces in Forestville, Belrose, Gordon, and Mona Vale. Each one is set up the same way: individual desks with dividers, a monitor at every workstation, decent chairs, fast internet, air conditioning. Everything needed for a student and tutor to do serious work together.

Tutoring runs from the afternoon onwards. Which means every weekday morning, across four locations, we've got rooms full of properly equipped desks sitting completely empty.

How this started

It wasn't our idea originally. Over the years, local business owners and parents in the area started asking whether they could use the spaces during the day. They knew the spaces were there, they knew they were quiet and well set up, and they needed somewhere to work that wasn't their kitchen table or a busy cafe.

We said yes a few times informally, and it became obvious pretty quickly that there was a real need for it. People on the Northern Beaches who work remotely don't have many good options locally. The CBD is too far. Purpose-built coworking spaces charge a lot. And working from home permanently isn't for everyone, especially when the kids are around or the house just isn't set up for it.

So we built it properly. Northern Beaches Coworking is the result.

What we built for it

The coworking side is brand new, but we didn't cut corners on the infrastructure. We built a dedicated app that handles the whole process: you sign up, verify your identity through a government ID check powered by Stripe, and from there everything is self-serve. When you check in for the day, the app generates a unique door PIN that works only for that day. It's tied to your account, timestamped, and expires at 3pm. There's no key to collect, no staff to chase, no waiting around.

The door PIN system runs through our smart lock setup across all four locations. It means you can walk in at 5am if you want to, get settled before the rest of the world is awake, and leave whenever your day is done. The security side is handled properly, not as an afterthought.

We reckon that's what a lot of people around here actually want. Not a WeWork. Not a "creative hub" with networking drinks. Just a clean, quiet desk with a monitor, close to the school, with free parking and a setup that doesn't require you to talk to anyone.

The spaces are there. The infrastructure is there. If you're a parent dropping kids at Killarney Heights, Frenchs Forest, or anywhere across the Northern Beaches and North Shore, one of our four locations is close by. Come try it.