How to Find Cheap Office Space in London

Cheap office space in London? It sounds contradictory, but it’s possible to find office space in London that won’t clear out your bank account. Here are a few tips to help you secure the cheapest office space in London that’s suitable for your business.

Just before we start, it’s worth noting that everything is relative. Office rents are driven by market forces and there’s a reason why office space in parts of London is more expensive than it is elsewhere. ‘Expensive’ offices usually satisfy a larger number of desirable characteristics than ‘cheaper’ and lower rent spaces. To find lower rents, you need to think about where you’re prepared to compromise.

1. Compromise on Location - Look Further from the City Centre

City centres command the highest rent as they’re typically more accessible with a higher concentration of businesses and supporting amenities. But, if you can compromise by looking further out, there are savings to be had.

You can strike an intelligent compromise by looking at where your existing staff live and, if there’s a clear trend, move your office closer to them. Alternatively, you might look at demographic data and find that the talent that you’d like to recruit is clustered in certain suburbs and specific areas, so you could move closer to those locations.

As an example, East London is where lots of London’s brightest young talent chooses to reside — and, as a bonus, you can find some of the cheapest office space in the capital at the moment. Stratford and the London Docklands are good places to start your search, with the massive regeneration of the area following the Olympics creating burgeoning business hubs in many new locations along the DLR.

But Stratford’s certainly not your only option. Whitechapel, which is served by Whitechapel and Aldgate East tube stations, and the up-and-coming creative hub of Bethnal Green and Shoreditch, are both very affordable options. There are even some good deals to be had around the Old Street area if you know where to look — thankfully, our team does know.

Here are some of the most affordable office spaces in East London.

2. Compromise on Space - Explore Hot Desking

Flexible working is all the rage right now, with employees wanting the freedom to work from home and determine their own schedule. Many businesses are adapting to hybrid working strategies which typically include hot desking as a core underlying principle. Rather than have a desk for every member of the organisation, acknowledge that not everyone is in all the time, so you should only have as many desks as you need on average across the week.

This is difficult to judge — we know. One of the ways you can accommodate extra space that may be needed from time to time is to speak to your office provider about renting additional hot desks as overflow space on an ad hoc basis.

If you find you’ve got too many or too few desks on a regular basis, then speak to your office provider about scaling up or down the size of your private office to suit. This is a core benefit of flexible office solutions.

3. Compromise on Quality - What Do You Really Need?

Sure, we all start out wanting an office in a prime, landmark building, with amazing views, the highest quality fit out and the latest technology and furniture. But you pay for what you get, and the highest quality space with a coveted postcode will cost you significantly more.

Consider whether you can compromise on this space. By not paying the most premium office rents, you’ll have more budget to invest in non physical attributes that make a great workplace experience. A great office space is about bringing people together, and the physical quality of the office helps but it isn't the standalone solution. The softer side of what you provide in the workplace plays as key a part in creating a great experience for staff and clients. Look into improving on company benefits or having an entertainment budget, which could balance out working from a less-than-desirable office location.

4. Compromise on Amenities - Look Beyond the Building

Many businesses are striving to get people into the office by creating really positive experiences for staff. One of the things that has come into focus is what spaces are available to foster a happy and healthy lifestyle when you’re not sitting at your desk.

Flexible office providers and landlords have recognised that strong amenities attracts business and retains talent. As a result, they are incorporating ever better quality ‘end of trip’ facilities, such as bike racks and showers, gyms, events suites, cafe’s and restaurants into their buildings, creating a ‘home away from home’ feel to the space.

As you would expect, the better quality and range of amenities available, the more building operators look to charge. Here’s the opportunity — if you want to save money on office space, find buildings that are cheaper due to fewer amenities in the building itself. By looking beyond the building, you’ll be able to find reasonably affordable office spaces throughout London (even in Central London).

5. Review Your Needs and Wants - and Align to Your Budget

As we have discussed above, choosing your office space means defining your requirements, prioritising these and then aligning your needs and wants to your budget.

Much like buying a house, we can all dream about the best and biggest houses on the nicest roads, but we often can’t afford them. We have to then go back through our desires and prioritise them so that we settle on reasonable compromises, and find the best house we can afford.

If a central location is important to you, then you may need to be more efficient on the amount of space you take, or review your wishlist - perhaps compromise on building quality, or number of amenities offered. Or, if you need these benefits from your office space, you’ll likely need to look further away from the city centre, or to up the budget.

Still Not Sure How to Find Cheap Office Space in London?

At Knight Frank, we can help you find office space in London at the best price. Once we’ve discussed what you’re looking for, we’ll start the search to take the weight off your shoulders. We’ll arrange viewings for you, accompany you to appointments and use our market knowledge to make sure you get the best price. And best of all, our expertise won’t cost you a penny.

Get in touch to find the cheapest office space in London for your business.

As the world of work evolves, how can you stay competitive?

Get your monthly dose of workplace insights, productivity hacks and business leadership ideas - delivered straight to your inbox.