January 23, 2018
Flexible and coworking offices to account for ten percent of UK property market by 2027
Demand for flexible workspace including coworking space soared across the UK during 2017, according to a report from Cushman & Wakefield. The study of the rapidly growing market also claims that WeWork is already the largest single corporate occupier of office space in London, with only the public sector exceeding its scale. In addition, the report also claims that WeWork has taken up more space in London’s key commercial property districts than any other occupier since 2012. According to the report, WeWork has taken up more than twice as much space as Google, which leased 1.3m sq ft over the five-year period, while Amazon and Deutsche Bank leased just over 1 m sq ft and 0.9 m sq ft.
The increasing dominance of coworking space is not solely down to WeWork however, nor is it restricted to London. According to Cushman & Wakefield, they took up more than a fifth of all office leases across the capital last year, compared to just 8.5 per cent in 2016. Across other UK cities, the take-up of space by flexible office groups jumped to an average of 7.5 per cent of commercial property markets in 2017, up from 2 per cent in 2016.
