Q1 2024
Flexible Workspace Insights | Workspace Demand by Area
Here at Officio, we work with thousands of business each year to help them secure flexible workspace across the UK and also globally.
We have been busily reviewing the data we have amassed during Q1 2024 to create some useful information to share with the industry and businesses interested in the flex space market. Don’t worry – the reports we create are just as simple, straightfoward and no nonsense as our core workspace search service – so you can get right to the heart of the stats without having to read a 100-page paper to get to the good bit! So, let’s crack on shall we?
Workspace Demand by Location
Let’s start by taking a look at demand by area which we have split into London (Central), UK & Ireland Major Cities and UK & Ireland Towns and Cities. No surprise here to see that in 79% of the new workspace searches we conducted, businesses cited Central London as their location of choice.
Demand by Area
When we dive into that 79% to seek out which areas of London were most in demand, The West End was in the lead as 43% of businesses chose this location as their Number One choice. The City was next as lead location in 22% of searches.
Speaking with Alex Williamson, Client Services Director here at Officio, he wasn’t surprised by the result.
“The West End will always be a popular choice with businesses, it is such a diverse area now with some amazing workspaces available you see it attracting all types of businesses and not just those you would traditionally expect to see in the West End. We are also seeing a real range of prices now, from £400 a desk in Marylebone to over £1200 a desk in Mayfair which means there is an option for almost anyone”
Casting the net wider afield and looking at the Major Cities across UK & Ireland, Dublin is showing as the most in demand city in this segment with 24% of searches being based here. This is a relatively new market to Officio and our Transactional Sales Manager, Jack Embleton, is excited to see how the market for flexspace in Dublin is growing, stating “when I visited Dublin I was struck by how similar the standard of flexspace was to that of the key providers we work with in Central London and with desk rates of €450-€900 it is in line with some London flexspaces – an interesting point in the Dublin market is that sit-stand desks are a standard across the board and this is something we have seen requested a lot in other markets. The Officio Team are really enjoying working the Dublin market and it is fascinating to work and develop a new market for Officio.”
Workspace Demand by Size
As flexspace is typically sold on a ‘per workstation’ / person basis, Officio track all incoming new requirements based on the size of space they need in both sq ft and desk requirements. Overall, for Q1 2024, the average size per new requirement was 8.1 desks.
When we look at this by sub area, London shows an average of 8.6 desks, Major UK & Ireland Cities is 6.5 desks and smaller Towns & Cities 4.7 desks.
Officio specialise in flexspace and so we do get a high percentage of enquiries from businesses seeking regional or satellite offices which are typically smaller than head offices. However, a key trend in the post-COVID era is for larger companies to seek out flex space with a smaller number of desks to allow for hybrid working.
“Managing our larger corporate clients I have certainly seen a shift in how businesses are setting up their spaces” commented Alex when analysing the data. “Now, my clients who would normally have taken 20 – 25 desks are instead asking for a 10 person office with the additional of co-working or flexible day passes. Businesses are now driven by quality and service, so will gladly take less space and pay more for Grade A quality and fit out – and there is plenty of that type of space available.”
Flexspace Demand in Q1 2024
Officio are seeing a higher demand for flexible workspace than ever before and this is shown in the volume of businesses seeking to use our service in the first quarter of 2024.
Volume 2 of our Q1 report will review the take up of flexspace. In the meantime, if you would like a copy of this report in PDF format, please email us on hello@askofficio.com