Which Part of London is Right for my Business?

Thinking of moving to a new office? Then you need to know which part of London is right for your business.

Historically, London has always had certain areas and roads that are synonymous with certain trades. Saville Row, Fleet Street, Hatton Garden and many other areas of London were all famous for the trades that operated within them – some places, including Harley Street are still closely associated with their professions today.

With reassuring signs in the UK economy and the easing of lockdown, London attracted more investment than Berlin, Paris, and Stockholm combined (according to Dealroom.com). However, despite remaining an Alpha++ rated global city (the only other being New York), London also saw the largest regional decrease in employees in 2020 (down by 2.5%).

Many suggested coworking and flexible working practices will underpin their new property strategies – making it critical for businesses to position their offices as an attractive proposition to employees. When it comes to making the office more appealing, location might be a part of drawing people back. Here’s a look at the areas that businesses gravitate to and which sector they’re in.

Southwark has undergone extensive development in recent years (including a complete £1.5bn renewal at Elephant & Castle), but the ground-breaking construction at The Shard utterly transformed London Bridge’s commercial landscape. Historically, the area was attractive for accountancy and consulting firms (EY, UBM, to name a few). While this sector is still thriving here, there is now a growing creative community with advertising firms Ogilvy, Omnicom and WPP Group taking space in the area. Not to mention the headquarters for media multinationals Aljazeera and News UK.

Furthermore, London Bridge is now the second-largest fintech hub in London with the arrival of Nutmeg, Sapphire Systems and Blippar. As a result, it’s now one of the most coveted locations for offices with levels well above the 10-year average (810,189 sq ft). Two of the largest commercial schemes are due to complete in 2022 – the “Arbor”, formerly known as Bankside Yards (221,000 sq ft) and The Forge (139,000 sq ft).

Casting an eye over London’s skyline, Canary Wharf is undoubtedly the most prominent profile after the Square Mile. With over 120,000 daily workers and 400,000 jobs, it’s one of the epicentres of global commerce, with a Gross Value Added (GVA) for tenants at Canary Wharf of £40.4 billion.

The largest two sectors in Canary Wharf remain finance and technology, but the balance is changing. In 2010, financial companies accounted for 70% of Canary Wharf’s tenants, and this number has decreased to a 55:45 split in recent years. Tech companies such as Revolut, Intel, and Oracle have set up headquarters in the area, and tech hubs such as Level39, an 80k sq ft incubator in One Canada Square, are transforming the occupier landscape.

Orbital Insight, which monitors activity levels through mobile phone data, found that footfall reached 59% of February 2020 levels in October – the highest rate since the start of the pandemic and the highest footfall in any London district.

Other areas hot on the heels of Shoreditch are Whitechapel and Aldgate, which has undergone a 300m redevelopment. Extensive refurbishments to Aldgate Tower (325k sq ft) and the White Chapel Building (273k sq ft) are now complete, and a mountainous 400k sq ft, 15-floor building, was recently granted planning permission on Whitechapel High Street.

While the area was historically a back-office district for large banks and insurance companies, the rise of London’s technology and creative sector, coupled with rent increases in Shoreditch, has resulted in tech and innovative start-up companies favouring the E1 area. Whitechapel is already attracting companies from the media, finance and gaming industries. Since 2015, it’s seen the likes of Unruly, Reddie & Grose, Shipowners’ Club, ComeOn! and Lebara taking space. With the Elizabeth Line expansion (stretching from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East), we can expect more of the creative sector making a move further East.

The West End remains the most expensive area in London to rent office space, namely as it encompasses some of the most distinguished districts (including Mayfair, Soho, Covent Garden, Marylebone and Victoria). West End industries range from the more formal and financial in Mayfair to the creative industries in Soho, where film, video, and ad companies, many of whom are spreading further out (a prime example was Netflix’s 87,000 sq ft expansion into Fitzrovia last year).

In August 2021, Savills reported the area is fast recovering from the pandemic with 1m sq ft of space under offer. The Professional sector accounts for the greatest proportion of requirements (23%), followed by the Tech & Media sector at 21%, and the Insurance & Financial sector with 20%. The largest transaction to complete in October and the largest of the year so far was Facebook’s assignment from Aegis at 1 Triton Square, occupying the whole building (312,000 sq ft) on a 15-year lease.

Towards Vauxhall, Apple’s 6-floor, 500,000 sq ft UK campus at Battersea Power Station is set to complete next year. Joining publishers, Penguin Random House, the new development will employ over 1,400 people and will become a magnet for other tech firms looking to build business clusters.

With working trends shifting towards more remote and home working, having an office in a desirable and relevant location could play a key role in uniting people in the office. Whether that it is in London or elsewhere, with an increasing amount of office space across the UK becoming available, some companies are considering regional offices to support a more distributed workforce.

The best place for your office is a location that is the right community for your business and has good local amenities for your people. Being in the right area for your sector can help to create a positive company identity that resonates with your clients and customers. This will also help companies to attract leading talent as well as laying the foundations to build a destination workplace.