Coworking Review
A hotel-grade coworking experience in a restored Green Point foundry building, steps from the V&A Waterfront without the tourist premium. Ideas Cartel’s design-forward approach gives this space a finish that stands out in Cape Town’s coworking market.
Why The Old Foundry stands out
The building is an actual historic foundry — a large, high-ceilinged industrial space that Ideas Cartel has converted into one of the better-presented coworking environments in Cape Town. Exposed brick, warm lighting, considered furniture. It doesn’t feel like a refurbished office or a startup café. It feels like a place someone thought carefully about.
The Green Point location puts you within easy walking distance of the V&A Waterfront, with much better access to local coffee shops and restaurants than the Waterfront precinct itself offers. Sea Point is closer than most people assume from the map.
Connectivity and backup power
The wifi connection runs at 20 Mbps uncapped fibre — noticeably lower than premium Cape Town spaces. For a single user doing video calls and cloud work, 20 Mbps is workable. For days involving large uploads or parallel video calls, it’s worth being aware of the constraint before booking.
Load shedding is covered by UPS. The backup handles wifi and workstation power through standard outages. The heritage building construction means climate control is less aggressive than a modern glass office — in Cape Town’s mild climate this rarely matters, but it’s worth noting on hot summer days with a full workspace.
The space and working community
The Old Foundry attracts creative professionals, designers, architects, and remote workers who care about where they work as much as whether the wifi works. The aesthetic choices self-select for people with taste. The community here feels different from the corporate-nomad mix at Workshop17 or the tech-startup density of CBD options.
The café component is genuinely good — coffee and food hold up to the Green Point neighbourhood standards. Hot desks are available on the floor; private offices and dedicated desks serve the membership base.
Day pass pricing and what is included
The day pass is R200 excluding VAT (R230 at the standard rate). That’s competitive for Cape Town, especially given the quality of the space. Monthly memberships scale from hot-desk access to private offices — contact Ideas Cartel directly for current rates. The day pass covers hot desk access, uncapped wifi, UPS backup power, and kitchen facilities.
Trade-offs
The wifi at 20 Mbps is the clearest limitation. If you rely on fast fibre, Ideas Cartel’s CBD location (Inner City on Loop Street) runs faster fibre and might be a better fit. The heritage space is also less optimised for noise management than modern builds — popular days can be louder than the aesthetic suggests.
Who this works for
The Old Foundry is a strong pick for creative professionals, designers, and remote workers who want a beautiful working environment for the cost of a single café lunch. The Green Point location is one of the easiest to reach from Sea Point, De Waterkant, and the CBD. If bandwidth needs are light-to-moderate, this is one of the better environments in the city.
