Serviced office owners win big in age of uncertainty

The rise of the latte-sipping hot-deskers and tech start-ups has left temporary office firms such as WeWork dominating the London property scene so far this year, industry figures have shown.

Serviced office and co-working companies accounted for the largest share of space leased in the capital for the first time during the first six months of this year, according to agent Cushman & Wakefield’s figures.

Mega-deals such as WeWork’s leasing of 280,000 square feet of offices at developer Almacantar’s Two Southbank Place scheme mean temporary offices firms have taken 884,000 square feet so far this year, nearly 20% of total leased space.

The burst of activity has also seen Blackstone buying a majority stake in Lloyd Dorfman’s The Office Group and British Land muscling into the sector with the launch of its Storey concept.

Elaine Rossall, Cushman’s head of central London research, said: “At a time when some sectors are wrestling with the impact of technology, Brexit or both, the rapid expansion of serviced office and co-working space has meant that this hasn’t translated into any slack in the market. It also means that the variety of office workspaces on offer to occupiers in London is arguably better than ever before.”