Events in the eurozone will have an impact on those renting office space in London next year, an expert has stated.
Richard Kauntze, chief executive of the British Council for Offices (BCO), has spoken about the nervousness associated with such a time of economic uncertainty.
The West End of London is an area in which there is a lot of development in the office industry and Mr Kauntze remains optimistic that there will be sufficient take up for office spaces.
With two million square feet of office developments being developed at the moment in the area and major schemes taking shape in Victoria, it will be interesting to see what developers do next year.
Since many of the firms who could occupy the spaces may put off a decision to move until more certainty has returned the economy, future projects may be less ambitious.
Mr Kauntze said: “Once we know quite how the eurozone situation is going to pan out, then that will make it easier for developers to know what to do.”
There is a certain amount of diversity among those wishing to become tenants in office space in London with different types of companies requiring diverse specifications.
In Canary Wharf the traditional image of financial industries is still present with large offices specifically designed for bankers, lawyers and accountants.
The West End has a combination of both large and smaller offices with more of them having the latter specifications.
Media organisations, technology companies and telecommunications firms tend to favour this sort of office space on the whole.
Buildings such as Park House on Oxford Street are bucking the trend for office space in the area, however, with its large expanses of room.
The Welsh Government is currently looking for a permanent office in London, due to hostility in the Wales Office, since the Conservative – Liberal Democrat coalition came to power.
Mr Kauntze said: “There will always be fluctuations in the market because if they can’t find the space they are after – [for example], lots of media companies might want to be in Soho because it is a trendy part of London – they will look somewhere else.”
