A guide to serviced offices, fitted and managed offices and office space for rent in Swindon that also provides general information that may be useful if you are considering renting office space in the town.
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History & Geography
Swindon is located among the rolling chalk hills of the Wiltshire Downs in South West England, approximately halfway between Reading and Bristol. The town is bordered by the River Ray to the west, along with its tributary, the River Cole, and to the north by the Vale of White Horse. While there is evidence of habitation in the area during the Bronze Age, it was only during the Roman occupation of Britain that Swindon became a permanent settlement. As with many towns in England, Swindon grew up around a Roman military outpost, thriving off trade with the Legionnaires. After the departure of the Romans, the area surrounding Swindon became a battleground between Romano-British forces and the Saxons. Eventually, the Saxons were victorious, and many settled in the area. Swindon continued to grow, and by the time of the Norman invasion in the 11th century, it was a sizable town. In 1259, the town held its first market under the auspices of William de Valence, the Earl of Pembroke. Swindon’s economy during this time relied on agriculture, with many sheep farms and cattle operations in the area.
During the 18th century, quarrying also became a bulwark of the local economy. With the advent of the 19th century and the canals and railroads that came with it, Swindon’s economy boomed, and its population swelled rapidly. The path of the Great Western Railway through Swindon, built by the famous Isambard Kingdom Brunel, transformed Swindon from a quiet market town into a Railway town, bringing more people and new infrastructure. The town continued to grow, and during WWII, it served as a major military staging post. After the war, the town’s population expanded further, and extensive housing estates were built to cope with the boom.
Today, Swindon is one of the most prosperous towns in the region after a concerted regeneration effort. It serves as a transportation hub and a centre of trade and retail.
Economy
Traditionally, the main economies around Swindon have been agriculture, quarrying and the railways. However, the Great Western Railway Works shut down in the late 1980s, and today, the town has a predominantly service and retail-based economy. The Brunel Centre and the Parade are two of the largest shopping centres in the region, and the McArthur Glenn Designer Outlet, for reduced-price clothes, brings visitors from all around the region. Among the major employers in Swindon has been Honda, which had a car manufacturing plant in the area, howver this shut in 2021. BMW Mini has a plant on Bridge End Road, and this carried out 3 million assemblies in 2023.
Mobile phone giant Motorola has been a large employer in Swindon. Dolby Labs continues to operate in Swindon and is based at Interface Business Park in Royal Wootton Bassett.
Halcrow Group Limited, the internationally-renowned engineering firm, had a large presence in Swindon, although this was acquired by Jacobs, who maintains a presence in Swindon. Banking sector companies choosing to locate in Swindon have included HSBC, Lloyds, NatWest, Barclays and Handelsbanken.
The town benefits from excellent transport links to London and the rest of the UK, which is one reason many multinationals have chosen to base themselves there. Swindon is often used by UK market researchers because its residents’ demographics are an almost perfect representative sample of the country’s population as a whole. Swindon also has the honour of being statistically the second-safest place to live in the UK after Guildford, Surrey.
Swindon is also home to the UK headquarters office of the insurance firm Zurich, which opened its new 100,000-square-foot Unity Place office in the Kimmerfields district in 2023.
The new HQ office is the anchor piece of the Swindon Kimmerfields regeneration project, which transformed the underused 20-acre zone between Swindon railway station and the retail core.
The 20-year scheme would provide public realm space, a series of new streets lined with retail and leisure space, a hotel, a new bus interchange, additional office space to rent, and new homes.
Culture
Swindon has a thriving cultural scene for a town of its size. Live music is very popular in Swindon, and several venues, including The Beehive, Riffs, The 12 Bar, the Furnace and the Victoria, regularly host acts. The Oasis Leisure Centre, an entertainment and sports complex, regularly hosts concerts and inspired the name of the Manchester band Oasis. The Wyvern Theatre is home to Swindon’s drama scene and also screens films and comedy acts. Many visitors come to Swindon for the festivals it regularly hosts, such as the Swindon Festival of Literature and the Swindon Mela, a celebration of South Indian arts and culture that attracts an average of 10,000 visitors each year. Since 2010, Swindon has hosted the Big Arts Day, a celebration of the arts that attracted more than 20,000 people in its second year. The event is held at Lydiard County Park, Swindon’s largest green space. Swindon is also home to Swindon Town FC, which plays from the County Ground located near the town centre.
Transportation
Since the town’s birth, at the junction of two Roman roads, transportation has always been an important part of Swindon’s identity. The town has two junctions onto the M4 motorway and is on the ex-GWR main line to the capital. The town itself is served by a comprehensive bus network operated by Stagecoach and Thamesdown. A car-sharing scheme has become very popular in Swindon and currently has several hundred thousand members. The town is well known for its roundabouts, particularly the so-called Magic Roundabout, which is unique in that it is actually five roundabouts in one, featuring a contra-rotational hub.
Office Space for rent in Swindon
Following the financial crisis in 2008, Swindon had a fairly diversified office market, with space in the town centre and in office parks in the surrounding area.
From 2010 to 2013, demand gradually increased and, in 2013, the only Grade A office space in the town centre was in Station Square, which had been freshly refurbished.
There were, however, plans in the pipeline to develop the nearby Union Square. The rest of central Swindon had something of an oversupply of sub-grade space. Renters in Swindon enjoyed strong incentives due to the large number of empty secondary spaces in the town. In 2013, headline rents were £15.75 per square foot in the town centre and £18.50 per square foot per year for out-of-town space.
Insurance firm Zurich opened its £37 million UK headquarters office in April 2013. The building, with space for 1,000 staff, was constructed by Skanska, and the deal involved a sale-and-leaseback with Swindon Council, providing the council with 20 years of rental income.
The office building, named Unity Place, was awarded the BREEAM ‘Excellent’ accreditation.
Features of Unity Place include furniture partly made from recovered ocean plastics and bird boxes in surrounding areas to support local wildlife. A multi-faith room and a nursing room will be available to staff, as will cycling facilities such as storage, a repair station, and showering facilities.
The development is part of a larger 20-year, 20-acre regeneration scheme and will deliver further prime office space in subsequent phases.
Later in 2023, the owners, FI Real Estate Management (FIREM), of Zurich’s former head office, 1 Newbridge Square, started a £7.5 million renovation of the property.
The rejuvenated office building would deliver 100,000 square feet of office space with environmental credentials, including EPC A, BREEAM Excellent, and Net Zero Carbon.
Grade B refurbished office space in 2023 was being quoted at £22 per square foot in the town centre and £16.50 per square foot for the same quality space in out-of-town locations such as Kembrey Park.
In March 2025, Iceni Projects Limited published a report on behalf of Swindon Borough Council examining the Swindon and Wiltshire office market, which comprises three submarkets: Swindon Central, covering much of the town centre from the train station southwards towards the Pipers roundabout, Swindon Fringe, which covers the rest of the town, and Wiltshire, which spans the remainder of the county.
It found that the overall office vacancy rate in Swindon was 14.6 per cent, higher than the regional (11.2 per cent) and national (8.1 per cent) figures.
It also found that office stock rated 1-star and 2-star had the highest vacancy rates, indicating that the poorest-quality office stock is in the lowest demand. It is also likely to reflect the need to replace or redevelop some stock as occupiers were increasingly demanding high-quality office space with good ESG credentials and a high level of amenities.
It found that most leasing activity occurs in smaller units of less than 1,500 square feet, with an average of 14.8 deals per annum.
It stated that average office rents in Swindon were £16 per square foot per annum.
In Q4 2025, it was reported that the Swindon office market was on track to reach its highest level of office lettings in 5 years. There was rental growth for Grade A office space, and an undersupply of prime office space was forecast for the near future. The market had also seen a return of large corporate office space requirements.
In Q1 2026, modern office space at Newbridge Square in Kimmerfields in Swindon town centre was quoted at £21.50 per square foot, and Grade A office space at Whitehill House was being quoted at £21.50 per square foot.
There are 9 flex office space providers and operators in Swindon offering a range of flexible office and workspace solutions as alternatives to traditional office leasing.
These include private serviced offices, managed and fitted offices, and corporate coworking memberships, all available on short-term occupancy agreements with all-inclusive, fixed-cost pricing.
These agile business space solutions are available across 10 office buildings in Swindon, in locations including Great Western Way, Mead Way, Newbridge Square, and Windmill Hill Business Park.
Profiles of all providers operating in Swindon can be seen here.
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