London companies heading off to the East

Hello to all this

…East London that is. According to property consultants Cushman & Wakefield we are seeing a net migration of companies away from their West End heartland towards the supposedly more creative and tech-focussed districts of Clerkenwell, Shoreditch and King’s Cross.  The firm reports that the take-up of West End office space fell by around a quarter to 2.5m sq ft in 2012.

In part the shift is a result of firm’s looking to cut costs by migrating away from the high rents of West and Central London. But it is also structural,  driven by the growth of the growth of the capital’s media and technology sectors, which now account for over a third of total demand for office space in London and who see East London as the ideal location for attracting and retaining employees and hot-housing with like-minded businesses.

The Cushman and Wakefield survey also reports that overall demand for office space sought in London increased by 16 percent in 2012 to 8.7m sq ft. The trend will continue for another three years as the expiry of leases is expected to peak during 2015.