Serviced office usage continues to rise during 2001

Citation

(2002), "Serviced office usage continues to rise during 2001", Facilities, Vol. 20 No. 3/4. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2002.06920cab.002

Serviced office usage continues to rise during 2001

Serviced office usage continues to rise during 2001Keywords: Business centres, Office management, Servicing

By July 2001 there were more people using serviced offices in London than there were at the turn of the year, according to Instant Offices, the leading serviced office broker in the UK and Europe.

There are now some 30,000 occupied workstations in London. The providers have reacted to this ever-growing demand for serviced offices by increasing capacity by 20 per cent in the first six months of 2001. As is to be expected, demand is still catching up with this sustained rise in supply and this has led to some highly competitive pricing by operators, making the serviced office option an even more attractive one for occupiers.

In 2001 there will have been a minimum 75 new business centres opening across the UK. Over half of these sites will be targeting the top end of the serviced office market, while only some 10 per cent are aimed at the lower, budget end of the market.

The UK serviced office market covers over 9 million ft² and has some 90,000 workstations with 40 per cent of them to be found in London. Of the 400 business centre operators in the UK, 110 operate centres in London.

"This growth reflects the changing views of corporate decision makers in seeking greater value from their property solutions," according to Robert Hamilton, the founder and managing director of Instant Offices. "Serviced offices can quite often offer savings of up to 50 per cent, even in central London! These days companies want to outsource their property and concentrate on their core business."

This increase in supply was expected to see the total value of the serviced office market reach the £1 billion mark in 2001, despite slightly lower occupancy rates than were seen in 2000.

For 2000 the total value of workstations sold was some £550 million, a figure which does not include revenue from ancillary services such as meeting rooms and the profits made on telephone charges. The value of these services can add an additional 30 per cent to revenues, so bringing the actual full market value to over £700 million.

Robert Hamilton says: "The fact that the serviced office market is now worth well over £700 million per annum shows that it is maturing from a niche sector and moving into the mainstream for commercial property solutions. This is backed up by the decisions being made by more and more blue chip companies who are making use of the flexibility of serviced offices, in addition to the usual tenants – fast growing businesses and start-ups."

Instant offices

The company was founded in 1998 to amalgamate a fragmented business sector into one online marketplace. Instant Offices is a leading independent provider of on-line serviced office information for the UK and European markets.

For more information about the survey please contact: Philip Wright, Marketing Manager. Tel: +44 (0)20 7376 8080; Fax: +44 (0)20 7376 8008. E-mail: pmjw@instantoffices.co.uk; Web site: www.instantoffices.co.uk