What was, at one point, a niche concept with a few desks here and there for entrepreneurs and start-up companies without the budget for their own office has now become a full-scale revolution in how we work.

Across Brisbane and Queensland, shared workspaces and offices are popping up in suburbs and in the city centre, from big spaces run by worldwide companies to dedicated innovation labs fostering business success.

Shared workspaces are typically rented out on a weekly, monthly or casual basis, giving professionals and business owners the resources to operate their business without having to pay huge costs in a bricks-and-mortar office.

While the global giants and Australia-wide companies such as WeWork and Wotso make their mark around the cities — WeWork opened its newest Edward Street space on Wednesday — other communal spaces are offering more specific support.

Little Tokyo Two is a Brisbane-based co-working space with a focus on nurturing businesses from the ground up.

Founded in 2014, Little Tokyo Two has about 450 members across locations in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast, with a small team of about 10 staff.

Little Tokyo Two community manager Maria Maltesen said the co-work space carefully curated the different businesses and professionals they worked with to foster a strong sense of community.

“It’s a very diverse community we have here, so obviously we find that there are many tech businesses, people working within the cloud with IT services, but we also have PR agencies, we have lawyers working from here ... we have people working social enterprise,” she said.

“The workforce is changing a lot; people don’t have to work in a company’s office any more.

“We also find that most people are beginning to become small business owners and entrepreneurs just because it’s easier today — we have all the tools ready for it.”

Little Tokyo Two specialises in providing business support and training, from an accountability session when a business signs up to their workspace to building its “virtual” community with members connected online.

Like other incubators such as River City Labs, Little Tokyo Two has a wide range of people using their facilities.

Ms Maltesen said Queensland’s unique emphasis on entrepreneurship was creating a broad culture of start-up and self-reliance, with many students offered university training and support for their own business.

“You have all these opportunities — instead of going to get your first corporate job, you’re going to start your first small business,” she said.

River City Labs, Entrepreneur Haus, Collaborate, Gravity — an increasing number of co-work spaces and entrepreneur hubs are making their mark around the state.

Another coworking space that only opened in October last year, Hub Australia's Brisbane office in Anzac Square is more than 3000 square metres of specialised design.

Hub Brisbane's general manager Larnie Wood said the company was the largest Australian-owned coworking space, and its Brisbane office already has 250 members out of a capacity for 600.

"We offer both private office options and the options for hotdesks and dedicated desk coworking as well," she said.

"A big part for any Hub Australia location is the amenities that we offer in the space, so we're really creating that office environment where there's very little need to have to leave to go and find something."

Hub offers a cafe, virtual reality rooms, a workshop on the roof with capacity for 120 people standing, small gym spaces, relaxation areas and other perks.

"Brad [Krauskopf] our founder and ceo of Hub Australia, he really thought that there was that need to move with the times and start thinking about what companies and what industries need within a workspace," Ms Wood said.

"I think the biggest one for him with our first hub location, he really noticed the ability for our members to be able to attract and retain quality staff within the workspace when they're able to provide all these extra amenities."

Hub Australia has companies of up to 100 employees using their spaces, while also catering to smaller companies and single-person professionals.

Queensland’s Office of the Chief Entrepreneur keeps a map of the many shared workspaces around the state, from specialised spaces that target refugees and minority groups to spaces designed for freelance artists and graphic designers.

From Toowoomba to the far north, Mackay and Ipswich, the co-working space is increasingly become a specialised hub of support and training, not just a desk, a chair and a PowerPoint.

The latest shared workspace to open in Brisbane is WeWork, at 310 Edward Street in a bright, airy office laid out with desks, tables, comfy chairs, private offices and plenty of room to work.

WeWork is one of the larger co-working companies, with 400 international offices in 26 countries, and Brisbane is its third city in Australia.

The company’s focus is on a mix of operations, from small start-ups to larger companies; a private office at WeWork Brisbane can go from $900 a month, while hotdesking in the common area costs about $450 a month.

General manager of WeWork Australia Balder Tol said on Wednesday that the communal workspace concept was seeing an increase in larger companies joining WeWork to find a more flexible work-life balance for employees.

“Just as smaller companies are focused on growth, large corporations want to remain as innovative and dynamic as a startup,” he said.

“We look forward to welcoming many more member companies of all scales here in Brisbane and connecting them to our global network of 400,000 members.”

For Hub Brisbane, its growth has been steady as the company worked to educate the community on how coworking can change a business.

"Brisbane is growing, it is transforming a lot lately ... it's a big economic growth that we are seeing and I think that's stirred by the employment opportunities we're getting here in Brisbane, and the attractive lifestyle as well," Ms Wood said.

"With more people coming to work in Brisbane we have to grow with that and change what we're offering and be flexible as well.