UK office prices 'set to grow'

Office design news from Morgan Lovell

Published on 14-06-2011

The UK office sector will hopefully see growing confidence in terms of pricing and demand over the coming months, with areas across the UK all set to benefit, it has been claimed.

Simon Jones, research project manager for officebroker.com, said returns on office interior space could be much better than at present by the end of next year.

He commented: " Our [managing director] Jim Venables recently made a prediction that … central London prices will turn to their 2008 pre-recession peak by the end of this year."

However, Mr Jones added that this recovery will very much depend upon the state of the economy and a sustained upturn taking place over the coming months.

Philip Papenfus, member of the British Council for Offices Urban Group, director of Colliers and head of its south-east offices division, recently said that companies presently operating in expensive central London office space may be inclined to diversify their office portfolio over the coming months in order to reduce costs.

He argued that places outside the capital, such as Manchester or Birmingham, are currently offering similar office interior requirements but at much more competitive rates.

Posted by Adrian Norman