Data from the property advisor suggests that around 1.3 million square feet of offices were occupied by IT and telecoms firms during the year, including Apple, Google, Groupon, and Nokia.
The figure of 1.3 million sqft amounts to more than twice that rented out to technology groups during 2010, with Knight Frank keen to point out that the influx wasn’t limited to the areas of East London that have established a reputation as hotbeds for tech-based business development.
Shoreditch and Old Street, in particular, have come to be known as districts in which more and more technology companies are opening offices. Still, Covent Garden, Clerkenwell, Farringdon and Fitzrovia all reportedly managed to attract many firms in the same sector during 2011.
“That companies, like Apple, Google, and Facebook want to be in London over other European cities is a great vote of confidence in the capital,” said John Snow, head of central London offices at Knight Frank.
Taking the London office market as a whole, Knight Frank’s report makes clear that there was a squeeze on the uptake in 2011, with the collective scale of letting deals falling by 27 per cent over the year.
However, with supply having fallen considerably in recent years and a growing number of technology giants leasing offices across London, the property firm’s experts were convinced there is plenty of cause for optimism going forward.
“I believe we could see office demand pick up again by the summer,” said James Roberts, head of commercial research for Knight Frank. “If office demand from tech firms doubles during an economic slowdown, it will be interesting to see what happens when growth improves,” he added.
Editor’s notes: In 2022, the total amount of office space in London taken up through lettings in 2022 was 10.1 million square feet.
Of that, the technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sector accounted for just 17 per cent, which was down from a peak of 29% per cent in 2021.
In 2023, office space was taken up by 9.7 million square feet. The TMT sector accounted for 15 per cent of the total. This figure is down compared to the previous year and falls below the long-term average of 21 per cent.