{"id":8394,"date":"2013-02-06T15:39:21","date_gmt":"2013-02-06T14:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.easyoffices.com\/blog\/?p=8394"},"modified":"2022-01-28T10:51:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-28T10:51:15","slug":"serviced-office-pricing-square-feet-or-per-desk-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.easyoffices.com\/blog\/work-environment\/serviced-office-pricing-square-feet-or-per-desk-2","title":{"rendered":"Serviced Office Pricing – Square Feet or per Desk?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s a lot to think about when it comes to renting an office space, but at the forefront of any business owner\u2019s mind is the price. The cost to <\/span>rent office space<\/span><\/a> varies from city to city and from office to office, but it\u2019s good to have an understanding of how it works before you go ahead and sign on the dotted line for a lease.<\/span><\/p>\n

How much does it cost to rent office space?<\/b><\/h2>\n

So, first things first: how much can you expect an office space to cost? The average cost of rent for a small business is different across the country, so depending on where you\u2019re based in the UK, you may have to factor considerably more into your budget.<\/span><\/p>\n

London is, unsurprisingly, the most expensive place in the UK to rent an office space, but costs can vary dramatically depending on where in the city you set up shop. Office design company Oktra found that, in 2021, <\/span>the most expensive part of the city to rent is St James and Mayfair<\/span><\/a>, where rent costs an average of \u00a3105-\u00a3120 per square foot. Elsewhere in the city, you can expect to pay far less. <\/span>Hackney <\/span><\/a>and <\/span>London Fields<\/span><\/a> is the cheapest area, with rents costing just \u00a335 to \u00a342.50 per square foot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elsewhere in the UK, office rents are more affordable. In Cardiff, the cost per square foot in <\/span>Q4 of 2020 was \u00a325<\/span><\/a>; \u00a326 in Newcastle for the same period; \u00a334 in Leeds, and \u00a334.50 in Glasgow.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So if you\u2019re looking for the answer to the question \u201chow much does it cost to rent a business space?\u201d There is, unfortunately, not one clear answer. It depends on your location as well as the type of business you\u2019re operating.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For context, <\/span>retail premises<\/span><\/a> tend to be far more expensive than office spaces. How much does it cost to rent commercial space? Well, on London\u2019s Bond Street, the cost in Q2 of 2021 was \u00a32,150 per square foot<\/a>. It was \u00a3220 per square foot in Manchester and \u00a395 in Bristol.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pricing by square footage or number of desks?<\/b><\/h2>\n

Getting a handle on how much to rent a building for business is further complicated by the fact that some leases are charged depending on the square footage of the office and others by the number of desks.<\/span><\/p>\n

How to understand pricing for office spaces per square foot<\/b><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s the norm in the rental industry to price office space per square foot which is why the figures given above show the average lease price per square foot for commercial businesses. It\u2019s not much help, however, to know that an office space has 10,000 square feet if you can\u2019t visualise what that actually means.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ideally, offices should be able to accommodate <\/span>100 square feet per employee<\/span><\/a>, giving 50 square feet of desk space and another 50 square feet for the space that person will occupy in communal areas like the kitchen, meeting rooms and breakout spaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have 100 employees, though, allowing for 100 square feet per person could quickly get very expensive, particularly if you\u2019re London-based. Therefore, you may want to consider 75 square feet per person instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as the space for desks, you also need to consider the amount of room that other spaces will take up in the office. For each additional room, you should allocate roughly the following amounts:<\/span><\/p>\n