Empty offices soar as firms cut staff

The amount of empty office space in central London has grown by 36.5 per cent in the last 12 months as recession-hit firms shed staff.

A report today by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield says just over 14 million square feet of office space - or 5.72 per cent - is lying vacant in the West End, the City and Docklands.

The figure is the highest since March 2007, but the report says the commercial property market is well placed to recover when the upturn comes because developers have kept building without pre-agreed tenants to a minimum.

At the height of the 1992 recession, the vacancy rate hit 16.2 per cent.

James Young, head of central London offices at Cushman & Wakefield, said: "The financial downturn has been felt across all of the city's office markets but we won't see a return to the massive vacancy rates of the early 1990s.

"Although there is new development coming through over the next two years, this is not on the same scale as the last recession."