The average cost to office occupiers of accommodating a full-time member of staff for a year rose to £4,638 per year in 2012, according to new research from IPD.
Despite cost and space-saving measures by employers, the price for space per employee went up by 5.9% between 2011 and 2012 as a result of rising rents, rates and maintenance costs.
Reductions in actual office space taken are failing to keep pace with company downsizing. Companies that shrank their workforces did not always manage to reduce their space on the same timeframe, as this is often tied to long-term contracts with the owner of the building.
Actual space per employee has gone up by 2.5% in the UK as a result of this dynamic.
While UK offices are the most space efficient in Europe, rents per square metre rose by 1.9%, rates by 6.1% and maintenance costs by 3.7% last year, according to the IPD Blue Chip Office Index, which measures 382 office buildings throughout the UK.
Victoria Mejevitch, executive director & head of occupiers, IPD, said: “Over the last six years office occupiers have placed an increasing emphasis on cutting unnecessary space and operating costs, with a resulting decrease in cost per FTE.
“Though major attempts were made to curb repair and maintenance costs post financial crisis, few occupiers have been successful in implementing long-term strategy and the costs starting rising significantly in 2012.
“As a result of the second recession and subsequent head count reduction programmes, space-saving measures slowed down and occupiers are seeing rising costs per employee due to increasing rates, maintenance and rental bills – which they need more expertise in managing.”
Sophia.Furber@estatesgazette.com
