London Office Space Guide

A guide to serviced offices and office space to rent in London as well as general information that may be useful if you are considering renting office space in the city.

Perhaps the best known and most important city on earth, London is more than a metropolis, it is a social, cultural and economic beacon. The United Kingdom’s capital is located in the southwest of the country on the winding river Thames, the largest river in the country. Greater London covers over 600 square miles and is made up of 32 boroughs surrounded by rolling hills and copses. It has an oceanic climate, with chilly winters and generally hot summers. The city started life almost two millennia ago as Londinium, a Roman settlement. Founded in 47 CE, the settlement lasted less than 20 years before being burnt to the ground during a revolt by Queen Boudicca of the Iceni Tribe. However the town was rebuilt and by 200 CE had a population of over 60,000, most who made their living from fishing or trading. After the departure of the Romans London came under constant attack by the Vikings. This lasted until 886 CE when Alfred the Great defeated a Viking army. With the unification of England in the 10th century, London became the most important city in the country, followed by Winchester. After the Normans successfully invaded the country, William Duke of Normandy built the famous Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. By 1300 the city had a population of approximately 100,000. Gradually London increased in importance until it was the largest and busiest port in northern Europe. However in 1666 the Great Fire of London decimated much of the city, with rebuilding to take the next decade. During the 19th and early 20th centuries London was the largest and wealthiest city in the world. It’s infrastructure expanded, the famous London underground was built and the city continued to prosper. During WWII London was heavily bombed by the German Luftwaffe, inflicting high casualties and widespread damage. During the 1960s the city became a centre of youth culture and was known as swinging London. Later in the 1980s the city acquired its continuing reputation as a financial hub. In 2012 the city successfully hosted the Summer Olympics, cementing its reputation as arguably the greatest city in the world.

London currently has the most expensive office space in the world and an office market generally seen as immune from the vagaries of the local economy. The city boasts a number of areas that bristle with Class A office space and currently there are a glut of projects in the pipeline for more. The health of London’s office market has been better, though high demand from the technology, media and telecoms industry has kept it extremely lucrative. Central London office space is still very popular with investors and this year alone has seen approximately GBP ten billion of investment in commercial space. Central London has an overall vacancy rate of seven percent which is expected to stay about the same, despite demand. This is because many new projects came to fruition at the end of 2012. Of the important sub-markets in central London the West End has seen the most take-up in the last year or so.

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