A guide to serviced and managed offices and office space to rent in Guildford, as well as general information that may be useful if you are thinking of renting office space in the town.
For further offices information or to search office space for rent in Guildford just click. Or contact us for any other query.
History & Geography
Guildford, perhaps one of the most idyllic towns in southern England, is located in the county of Surrey, approximately 27 miles southwest of the capital. The town is set among the North Downs at the point where the River Wey is forded by the ancient trackway of Harrow Way. It is no doubt due to this convenient and strategically important position that the town was founded in the 5th century by Saxon settlers in Britain. The name of the town simply means ‘Gold Ford’ and is thought to be a reference to yellow flowers that grew on the banks of the river.
Shortly after the invasion of England by William the Conqueror in 1066, Guildford Castle was built by the Normans in order to keep order in the local area and to dominate the important east-west trading route on which Guildford lay. In the subsequent centuries, Guildford continued to prosper, especially from the local wool trade. The town was an important commercial hub and also a rest stop for travellers. In 1653, the Wey Navigation, which enabled access to the Thames River at Weybridge by boat, was completed. This boosted the town’s fortunes considerably by increasing trade with London.
When the navigation was extended in the late 18th and 19th centuries, the Basingstoke Canal was built, putting Guildford at the centre of a far-reaching canal system. During WWII, Guildford was spared the heavy bombing which devastated other British towns and cities, though the town did build a series of deep air-raid shelters in the nearby Foxenden chalk quarry. Guildford’s population and infrastructure continued to expand in the latter part of the 20th century, and today the town is a thriving centre of retail and several service industries.
Economy
While Guildford was historically a town sustained by the wool trade, that trade has long since ceased to be a significant part of the town’s economy. Guildford is still a market town, however, with a bustling market being held on Fridays and Saturdays. The town is known as one of the most expensive places to live in the UK outside London, but is also statistically the safest place to live in the country. Retail is a major part of the town’s economy, and the High Street is lined with a wide selection of shops and department stores. According to a retail survey, Guildford is one of the best shopping destinations in the country.
Guildford is also an important commercial town, with major companies having chosen to significant presence there. Vodafone, Mitsubishi and Colgate-Palmolive all chose to occupy large offices in Guildford. Moreover, the town has become something of a hub for the video game industry, with major companies such as Electronic Arts, Media Molecule, Lionhead Studios, and Criterion Games all choosing to base themselves in Guildford. Military vehicle constructors Automotive Technik are based in Guildford, as is fire engine manufacturer Dennis Specialist Vehicles. Surrey Research Park, on the outskirts of the town, is home to many companies at the forefront of technology research.
Culture
Guildford is a popular destination for visitors from across the region, thanks to its retail scene and pleasant surroundings. With its cobbled High Street, Guildford still very much resembles a traditional English market town. Guildford Castle is a popular attraction and has just been completely refurbished, including a new visitors’ centre with panels detailing the castle’s history. The castle sits in an area of gardens renowned for their beautiful flower beds. Guildford Museum is located in the castle gatehouse and features displays of local history and archaeology, as well as a specialist needlework collection. Guildford itself is home to the Guildford House Gallery, Surrey’s most visited art gallery, attracting thousands of visitors each year. During the summer, Stoke Park, a large park near the town centre, hosts the Guilfest music festival as well as the Surrey County Show. The town’s theatrical scene centres on the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, which regularly presents plays from the West End.
Transportation
Guildford is served by two rail stations, Guildford Station and London Road Station. Guildford Station is on the west side of the river and serves the mainline between London Waterloo and Portsmouth. The London Road Station serves the mainline between Waterloo and London Bridge. Guildford itself is served by an extensive bus network operated by Arriva and uses the bus station attached to the Friary shopping centre as a hub. There is also a park-and-ride service with three sites: Artington, Merrow, and Spectrum.
Office space to rent in Guildford
When this report was first published in 2013, demand for office space had begun to rise in the area following the blow of the Great Recession.
The supply of space in the area remained fairly constrained, especially in the town centre.
Moreover, much of the available space in the town centre was not Grade A office space.
Headline rents in the town centre remained at £27 per square foot per year, whereas out-of-town rates were at around £25 per square foot.
Speculative construction of office space in Guildford had fallen off completely from where it was in 2005, and for this reason, it was forecast that headline rents would be at approximately £30 per square foot by 2014.
A decade on, it was reported in 2023 that Guilford had shown resilience during the pandemic and office space take-up was 100,000 square feet in 2020 – the highest it had been in several years.
Much of the take-up was made up of deals of less than 10,000 square feet, with both in-town and out-of-town markets performing well.
Office rental rates hit a new high of £36.50 per square foot for the best floor at 255 High Street, which offered premium office space in central Guildford with amenities including a communal rooftop terrace.
Several other deals reached £36 per square foot in the same year.
Take-up rose in 2021 to 130,557 square feet.
Deals in both years came from the finance, legal, medical, and tech industries; however, the gaming sector remains dominant.
Those in the sector are attracted to Guildford by EA Sports’ presence there. The video game developer responsible for producing F1, FIFA, PGA TOUR, NFL, NHL, and UFC games is based at Onslow House on Onslow Street, Guildford GU1 4TN.
Headline rents reached £37.00 per square foot in 2021, and it was anticipated that prime office rents would reach £40 per square foot in the coming years.
Lambert Smith Hampton reported in 2025 that Guildford’s take-up by was of office lettings was 50,200 square feet in 2024, a decrease compared to the previous year. However, there was more activity with 12 deals compared to 2023’s nine, indicating more demand for smaller spaces with a notable rise in demand for fitted office suites.
It was noted that the first quarter of 2025 saw take-up of 44,415 square feet, which was already approaching 2024’s total annual figure.
This was pushed by larger office deals, including the Highways Agency’s acquisition of 19,906 square feet at 1000 Cathedral Square. Web hosting company Servers also leased 12,500 square feet of office space at 2000 Cathedral Square.
The overall supply of office space was relatively high. However, Grade A stock was limited, and competition for best-in-class office space was high, driven by occupiers’ continued flight to quality across all markets.
The Bottle Works scheme, which is a new development on the site of the former Unigate Dairy, offers 40,000 square feet of Grade A office space. The ESG-considered building in the GU1 postcode district achieved EPC A, BREEAM ‘Excellent’, and Fitwell 2 Star accreditation, and was 60 per cent pre-let at completion in Q4 2024.
Refurbishment projects may be able to satisfy demand for high-quality office space in Guildford, with plans to refurbish the 31,000-square-foot 31 Chertsey Street and the 40,000-square-foot Bridge House being drawn up. The redevelopment of the former Arriva bus depot on Mary Road also had outline consent
The Bottle Works had set the tone for prime office rent levels in Guildford, with £45 per square foot set by the Penningtons Manches Cooper’s pre-let deal in 2024. This was expected to rise as space was under offer at £47.50 per square foot in 2025.
It was forecast that prime office rents would rise to £50 per square foot over the coming years, and this was likely to be achieved at 31 Chertsey Street.
There are a number of office providers and flexible workspace providers in Guildford, including Capsule, Collaborate Workspaces, HQ, Parallel House, Regus, and Spaces that offer agile alternatives to traditional office space for rent.
The flexible office space and workspace solutions provided include private serviced office suites, fitted and managed offices and corporate coworking membership plans.
These offer the flexibility of short-term agreements, with the accounting efficiencies of all-inclusive, fixed-cost pricing.
We carry out a free office space search, and our advisory and acquisition services are also free, always. Our Guildford office space brokers and agents are globally regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), ensuring the highest standards of commercial property advice and service at all times. We look forward to helping you find the best office space for rent for your business.
The Office Providers are Regulated by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)