Commercial real estate experts at Knight Frank have been monitoring industry trends in recent months and found that the take-up of offices in the City was 39 per cent stronger among TMT companies in the first nine months of 2012 compared with the same period of the year before. Roughly 930,000 sq ft of office space was newly acquired by TMT firms during the nine months under scrutiny in what has traditionally been an area best known as the home of London’s financial services industry.
“This is part of a global phenomenon, as we are seeing rising TMT demand being reported in Chicago, New York, Dublin, and Berlin, as well as London,” said James Roberts, Knight Frank’s head of commercial research.
“The City of London is emerging as a focus point as it has the transport, telecommunications, and power infrastructure to support this growing sector. It also plugs into the wealth of talented young tech and media workers who live in areas like Islington, Hackney, and Tower Hamlets, which border Tech City, so the workforce is close at hand.”
According to Knight Frank’s latest numbers, demand for office space in the City from the TMT sector has exceeded that of financial service companies. In the first nine months of 2012, reportedly 620,000 sq ft of offices were newly acquired across the so-called Square Mile, down 60,000 sq ft from the same period a year before.
Earlier this month, a study by BNP Paribas Real Estate suggested that more than half (54 per cent) of the TMT businesses currently operating in London intend to expand their workforce over the next three years.
Editor’s notes: In 2023, the TMT sector accounted for 15 per cent of the office space taken up by office lettings in the City of London.