London office interior uptake up 80%

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 03-11-2009

Research recently carried out by Knight Frank has revealed office interior take up in London's City and West End quarters has risen by 80 per cent in the last three months.

Knight Frank's Q3 figures showed 1.6 million sq ft of modern office design space was let in the City of London, while more than 800,000 sq ft of office interior space was let in the West End.

The report noted: "An increase in speculative development since 2006 coincided with the economic downturn and raised availability since early 2008."

It added that approximately 14 million sq ft is available at present, but with annual average office interior uptake at 6.6 million sq ft and just 1.3 million sq ft to be created in 2010, a return to averages in the near future could put a significant dent in supply.

Elsewhere, Alex Thompson, director at the Winkworth Notting Hill office, recently noted that prime London real estate has increased in value in recent months.

He noted the lack of new developments in the pipeline over recent months has meant that existing modern office design space in the city has been at a premium.