Rise in searches for flexible office space in London’s ‘doughnut’ boroughs and residential hot-spots

The impact of Covid-19 has accelerated the trend of remote working like never before, and as a result many businesses have adjusted their real estate strategy to provide more flexibility to employees. At a time when people are adhering to social distancing guidance and therefore trying to avoid busy inner city areas, we have increasingly seen businesses and individuals seeking a workspace option closer to home.

This is particularly apparent in London, where our research found that demand has increased for flexible offices in boroughs and residential hotspots located in the doughnut area surrounding central London. This indicates a shift towards a more combined approach between a main central office and a location closer to employees’ residence. According to search volumes, we found that Clapham has seen the biggest increase in searches, rising by 669%*. Searches in Harrow are up 413%, followed by 327% in Lewisham, London Fields, Tottenham and Stratford. The below table shows the top 30 locations with an increase in searches.

The results from our October Flexible Office sentiment survey supports these findings, showing that over a quarter of total demand in the UK was for suburban flexible office space. Whilst we are seeing demand increase in areas outside of Central London, supply of flexible offices is quite low. For instance, Clapham only has two existing flexible office spaces currently and Wimbledon just one. Moving forward we expect to see an increase in flexible office options in some of these areas to accommodate the rise in demand.

*Figures based on an index of searches on Workthere website for flexible space pre and post lockdown ( pre lockdown is 1st Jan 2020 until 15th March 2020 and the post-lockdown period is 16th March 2020 until 26th August 2020).