The number of companies signing their first London office lease has hit a record high.
According to an analysis by Cushman & Wakefield, 59 businesses made their first foray into central London last year, a record since the company began tracking data in 2013.
A third of those were businesses relocating from outside London and the remainder were start-ups signing their first office lease in the city, according to the agency.
The high figures show a rebound in demand from 2020’s record lows, and are partly explained by the release of pent up demand from tenants that opted to stay put during successive lockdowns in the first year of the pandemic.
One widely held expectation in the early phases of the pandemic was that employers would shrink their city centre headquarters and open a series of satellite offices – or spokes – closer to their staff. But, according to Ben Cullen, head of UK offices at Cushman, the opposite has been happening.
“The reality is that occupiers are establishing themselves in places that are easy to reach but they are not doing the spokes,” he said. Instead businesses are letting staff work remotely for a portion of the week, he said.
