St James 'witnessed growth in office demand'

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 08-11-2010

The St James area of London's West End has seen a significant growth in interest for office interior space over the last 12 months, it has been revealed.

In excess of 250,000 sq ft of grade A office interior space has been let in the area so far this year, more than double that seen in the whole of 2009.

Mark Hickmott, director of West End agency at BNP Paribas Real Estate, said: "Much of the demand for offices within the St James area has been from the banking and finance sectors who have accounted for 31 per cent of acquisitions in the last year."

He added that 50 per cent of available space in the area was let during the first six months of 2010.

Elsewhere in the capital, Tony McCurley, partner at GM Real Estate, recently told attendees of the London Live event that London commercial property assets are expected to perform well over the medium term.

He claimed a lack of available stock to fulfil demand means that prices and rents are likely to remain positive for the time being.

Posted by Ian Johnson