Social media giants, Facebook, are on the verge of signing up to another vast pre-let deal in the heart of Central London. 

The concept of the ‘working life’ has changed dramatically over the last 40-50 years; historically people left school and found work, in an office, retail or industrial environment, and stayed until they retired. There was no diversion. This had an impact on the type of workplace and indeed office space that was available in the market – long leases for office occupiers who would be staying in the same location, with the same staff for a long time.

As landlord demand more permanent terms and start-up companies have shorter life spans than ever, the need for flexible work space increases. The benefits to having serviced office is you can move in ASAP, it can come with furniture, and there is flexibility in the terms you need to sign up too. The other side of the coin is you are sharing facilities such as kitchens and meeting rooms with other tenants in the building and your actually office area can be very tight per person.

The commercial property market has seen an increase in global investment over the last 6 months. With over $318bn (£203bn) invested already, an increase of 15% of the equivalent period last year. The global increase hides the difference in volume across global regions. Europe and North America are enjoying a steady increase in investment, with key markets such as London, Paris, New York and San Francisco enjoying high levels of investment in respective office markets.

When a businesses lease come up for renewal, if you are based London the realisation you will double your occupational costs by staying put, hits home. What do you do? This is the question over 50% of Morgan Pryce’s client come to us asking.

St James’s Square is the location of the building that might shortly become a record-breaker. Green Property is launching one of London’s most exclusive office buildings this month, with expected rents at a level of £150 per square foot. 

When looking for a new office space, one of the first questions is how much space do we need? This hugely depends on the type of business you are. In some companies the directors will all want their own offices for privacy and quiet, where other companies all work open plan. The typical company will be 95% open plan, one director’s office, one meeting room and space for kitchenette / break out area. If this is you then you can very comfortably operate out of 75 sq. ft. per person. However, this is just a rule of thumb, I have seen traders work out of 45 sq.

The London office market has seen vast increases in rent, with demand for office space eclipsing the supply and availability across the central market. Rental prices have hit record highs in many core areas; £180 per sq. ft. in St. James, £80 per sq. ft. in SE1 and for offices in the City, whilst areas that have historically been used to seeing lower rental figures, such as Shoreditch, have seen increases to £50-£55 per sq. ft. With over 9.6m sq. ft.

The White Collar Factory is one of Derwent London’s most ambitious schemes to date, the redevelopment of a major corner site at Silicon Roundabout in the Heart of London’s Tech City with provide a new 16 – storey 237,000 sq. ft. office tower incorporating the White Collar Factory concept and campus buildings containing office, retail and residential also a new public square.