More interesting news for London-based businesses, or for those considering opening a London office, as we learn that the city has retained its position as the world’s most international retail market, just keeping out Dubai. Earlier in the month, we learned that London was the world’s second most global city. This week a report on global retail from CB Richard Ellis announced that London was No.1 in the global retailer stakes.

The latest edition of ‘How Global is the Business of Retail?’ surveyed the global footprint of 294 of the top international retailers across 69 countries and reported that 56% of the brands had a presence in London, making it the dominant retail city in the world. Indeed the UK as a whole has also maintained its position as the world’s most international retail market.

Dubai in second place at 55% – is closing in on the leader, however, with Paris and New York in 3rd and 4th place. The rest of the top 10 is – unsurprisingly – dominated by the Far East. The full report is available for download.

Yet more evidence that the city is retaining it’s economic clout, despite the recession and the growing strength of its Asian competitors. Clearly, if you are setting up a business, expanding or looking to globalise, London premises would still appear a smart move, as the city is still very much the place to be.

I find it interesting that both this survey and Global Cities Index, were not mentioned in any of the traditional British media – probably because it’s positive news, and they are only really interested in reporting doom and gloom. If anyone tries to convince me we’re on the way out and all going to hell in a handbasket, I’ve got the statistical evidence to prove otherwise!

If you need help finding office space in London, please give us a call – 08700 555760 or, if you prefer, register here.

If you like this article, please link to it from your website or blog. Here’s the code for you to cut and paste:

<a href="http://www.findalondonoffice.co.uk/blog/2010/08/London-is-no-1-in-the-global-retailer-stakes/">London is No.1 in the global retailer stakes</a>

London offices have been available at staggeringly low rents, over the past two years, but I detect signs that the London office market is changing, as the economy begins to  recover.

A benefit of the recession has been that tenants have been able to lease office space in London at historically low rents and some of the most startling financial deals have been done on short term office lettings.

Conventional wisdom in the West End office market holds that Short Term office space (i.e. fag end leases for 1 or 2 years) are very hard to dispose of and therefore landlords (or tenants needing to sublet their space) will slash their rental terms accordingly.

I know of office space in St James’s St, SW1 which was offered at NIL rent, if a tenant was prepared to accept responsibility for business rates and service charge.

Above mentioned wisdom still holds true, but things are changing as the West End office market rallies:

• Short term office space in London is letting fast and fewer opportunities remain
• We inspected a cracking 3,000 sq ft penthouse office suite in St James’s where the rent was reduced to only £19.50 per sq ft! Unfortunately, we were one of 5 inspections that day
• Rather than allow tenants to sublet for a pittance, landlords are beginning to negotiate to take the office space back themselves, in order to refurbish it and re-offer to the market at a much higher rent.

As the supply of short term office leases dries up and the London economy rebounds from this mother of all recessions, I predict the day will return when landlords get away with letting office space for 5, 10 or even 15 years without break again. This is great for the valuation of their buildings, but a real pain in the toosik for tenants.

Luckily, this is some time off and in the meantime, customers of FindaLondonOffice are still successfully negotiating tenant only break options.

If you need help finding office space in London, please register here, or give us a call on 08700 555760

If you like this article, please link to it from your website or blog. Here’s the code for you to cut and paste:

<a href="http://www.findalondonoffice.co.uk/blog/2010/08/london-office-market-recovery-will-strengthen-landlords-hand/">London Office Market Recovery will Strengthen Landlord's Hand</a>

When leasing office space in London, choosing the right location for your premises is absolutely key. A big part of that decision will be determined by the available transport options, whether that’s mainline rail station, tube stations, bus routes, or the brand new Cycle Hire stations. Fortunately, in London there are plenty of options available, and they are improving all the time.

According to the Evening Standard, the new trains for the Victoria Line are 23 times less reliable than the old ones, but then new equipment so often is.  Yes they’ve tested it, but – hang on – it will settle, and in the end it will be so much better.

Alternatively there’s always the buses, of which I am a big fan.  Compared with the old days, there are now so many and they go almost everywhere – just get the London Bus Guide and the world is your Oyster – pardon the pun.  It certainly is time to get rid of the bendy buses which were never suitable for London in any case, the Double Decker having been principally designed for London’s narrow streets.

Then there’s the new London Cycle Hire scheme, pioneered in Paris and then Brussels, and already a great success in London. Again there have been a few teething troubles with the new system, but it can’t be that bad because I see a huge number of people riding around on them. As a London office agent, I’m used to being asked where the nearest tube station is and similar questions, but yesterday I was asked “where is the nearest bike station?”

At least using those bikes there won’t be the same problem with general bike theft, which is something the MET Police have apparently recently sorted out.  I am told that if you microchip your bike, this helps a good deal, and as I gather you can’t tell whether a bike has been microchipped or not, this must make stealing them a much higher risk activity!  We’ve just “chipped” two dogs, but that’s largely a different matter, but if it works for dogs…

So, lots of transport choice in London, which will help a great deal when you are looking for a London office. Funnily enough, I saw a client yesterday who is seriously considering leasing office space that is very close to a bike station.  I am certain we will soon see “bike station close by” listed on London office property details as an amenity.

Interesting news for London-based businesses, or companies considering opening an office in London:

Earlier this month, London was recognised as the World’s second most global city in the The 2010 Global Cities Index, a report produced by Foreign Policy, AT Kearney and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs

London is second only to New York in the index; Tokyo came third, followed by Paris, Hong Kong, Chicago, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sydney and Seoul, all in the top ten

The index uses specific criteria to judge what makes a global city, and these criteria will fascinate any business considering opening a London Office

The Global Cities Index is not about population size. Some of the world’s largest cities are notably absent from the Top 10. Instead, it aims to measure how much sway a city has over what happens beyond its own borders, specifically its influence on and integration with global markets, culture, and innovation.

Foreign Policy have explained their methodology in creating the index:

“To create this year’s rankings, we analyzed 65 cities with more than 1 million people across every region of the globe, using definitive sources to tally everything from a city’s business activity, human capital, and information exchange to its cultural experience and political engagement. Data ranged from how many Fortune Global 500 company headquarters were in a city to the size of its capital markets and the flow of goods through its airports and ports, as well as factors such as the number of embassies, think tanks, political organizations, and museums. Taken together, a city’s performance on this slate of indicators tells us how worldly — or provincial — it really is.”

from The Global Cities Index 2010 – An FP Special Report

They also note that while the trend is undeniably eastwards – Five of the top ten cities are in Asia – the great capitals of old-school commerce are not only very resilient, but remain remarkably dominant. Of note to those looking to run their business from London Offices, these older cities have a head start over the younger competition, as their colossal influence amplifies their advantages.

I  find this index fascinating. I’ve always considered London to be a truly global city, albeit using a different definition of the term. It’s one of the things I love most about it; the diversity of its population goes a long way to explaining the energy of the place. Every nationality is represented, with over 300 languages are spoken in London, and the “world living in one city” was one of the themes which helped win the 2012 Olympics.

Signs of life in the London office market during the summer lead me to think that there may be renewed confidence amongst the London business community.

It’s August again, and traditionally everything quietens down on the business front, whilst everyone is taking summer holidays. And this is no different in the commercial property business. Generally, businesses are unlikely to start looking for new London office space in the height of summer. However, something odd has happened this year – it hasn’t got quieter this August. There seems to be a manifest increase in the amount of companies who have started to look for new offices in London. Of course, this is very good news, but it’s also very odd, given that this increase should happen when so many people are away from London on holiday, especially so given the economic uncertainty that we have now become accustomed to. So why might this be?

According to the CBI distributive trades survey, high street sales are up compared with a year ago – in fact the highest since early 2007. GDP is up and the FTSE seems to be holding at a reasonable level. All in all things are starting to look rather better, and – if the increased number of enquiries that we have received regarding new office space availability is any indicator – this renewed optimism seems to be spreading into the business community.

It’s a fact that more people and companies have decided to press the “go” button in their search for London offices, so perhaps we are all becoming more confident?

This has all caught us slightly unawares at FindaLondonOffice as half the team are on holiday – so that’s keeping the other half of the team very busy. Still, none of us should complain, if the business community is slowly but surely becoming more confident about the way ahead.

London is a world class city, and for that reason all the top international businesses have office space in London. However I have the feeling that they locate their offices here in spite of the transport infrastructure in the UK, rather than because of it. Wouldn’t it be so much better to be able to champion our transport network rather than have to apologise for it much the time?

My last post about the how the London Olympics could prove vital for the economy, championed the benefits of positive thinking. And I am a big believer in having a positive mental outlook. Having nailed my colours to the mast, I am now going to have a bit of a whinge!

A couple of weeks ago, we travelled back from our family holiday in the Dordogne. The journey from St Jean de Cole to Boulogne takes about 8 hours. Almost all of it is autoroute. We stopped twice to swap drivers, have a bite to eat and let the kids stretch their legs, and go to the toilet. The roads are good, there are service stations and stopping points aplenty. And during this 8 hour drive, we did not encounter a single traffic jam. Not one. Once in Boulogne, we boarded our ferry, and not long after arrived at Dover. We’d been back in England under an hour when we found ourselves queueing on the M26, in order to get on to the M25. Soul destroying.

This weekend we drove down to South Devon, for my Aunt’s 80th birthday party. The A303 is the major road linking London to the South West, and yet it resembles something out of the stone age, which is very appropriate given its proximity to Stone Henge! It’s continually changing from dual to single carriageway and back again, which meant that we were repeatedly caught up in bottlenecks. Our journey was 2 hours longer than our TomTom had predicted. All-in-all, it compared very unfavourably with our French experience.

So why is this? Why should France – our nearest neighbour – have a fantastic road network, whilst we have to struggle on with a third-rate alternative, which seems to be expected to run at or above capacity most of the time. Some will point to population density. France has a similar population to the UK, but its land mass is about 2.5 times greater. So they have a lot more space to build roads. But then look at Japan: higher population density than the UK, and yet has fantastic transport infrastructure. Surely it’s even more important for a densely populated country to have a decent transport network. So it’s more of a challenge for the UK, than for France. But that is not an excuse. I think it’s a lack of vision, a lack of long term planning, and a lack of political will that’s to blame. For as long as I can remember the A303 has been cursed by motorists as one of the most frustrating roads in the country. So why hasn’t anything been done about it?

It’s not just the roads, either. Five years ago in China, there were no high speed railways. Now the Chinese have more high speed railtrack than the rest of the world put together! In Britain, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link – completed in 2007, and linking St. Pancras in central London to the Channel Tunnel complex at Cheriton in Kent – was he first major new railway to be constructed in the UK for over a century! Successive governments – spanning several generations – have failed to plan effectively for the future, when it comes to transport infrastructure.

And yet all is not lost. And this is where my positive mental attitude kicks in! The Tube upgrade continues, and even though it will the best part of a generation to see it through from beginning to end, we will see the benefits eventually. Substantial improvements will be complete in time for the London Olympics in 2012, we are assured. And then there is CrossRail. Ah, CrossRail. This new railway will link will link Heathrow Airport, the West End, the City of London and Canary Wharf, via new twin tunnels under London. Originally planned in the early 1990’s, but not getting the final go-ahead until 2008, preliminary work has started, and yet there are rumours that CrossRail may yet become the victim of central government budget cuts. Let us hope not. We’ve heard a great deal from the new coalition government about spending cuts, and yet – surprisingly – very little about economic growth. Regardless of how much spending is cut, ultimately it will be economic growth that will get us out of debt and out of this downturn. Effective road and rail networks should be the foundations of sustainable economic growth, not casual afterthoughts. It’s estimated that the benefits of CrossRail to the UK economy will be at least £36 billion!

With these improvements in place, more businesses will be looking to lease offices in London, and we will begin talking up London’s transport system, rather than avoid mentioning it!

When I’m asked what’s different about FindaLondonOffice, I’m bound to say that it’s not that we can find you London office space that matches your requirements, but that we’ll be able to negotiate with the landlord on your behalf, and often secure you a much better deal than would otherwise have been possible. An interesting example of the creative negotiation cropped in conversation the other day.

I was invited for a spot of corporate entertainment at Lords the other day, where we went to see Sussex versus Surrey in the first day of a 4 day match. Only one stop from Baker St, I found myself in St John’s Wood, wandering round the vast perimeter of Lords hallowed grounds, looking for the right gate. I ultimately walked so far back towards the West End, that it would have been better getting out at Baker St.

The match went on for so long that we were only partially watching the cricket and our conversation drifted back to the West End Office Market. Looking at the vast open grounds, my host, clearly under the influence of hospitality refreshments, started to get all philosophical and asked why West London office space is offered to tenants in large open plan areas, when as often as not, tenants want lots of partitioned areas. It is indeed a paradox that prior to marketing office space, at great cost, landlords demolish offices, kitchens, meeting rooms and so forth, and as soon as the office is reoccupied, the tenant ends up having to pay for it to be partitioned up again.

I told Jeremy we have a customer right now who is taking office space in Mayfair, just before the landlord was about to demolish all the separate offices. We established the landlord’s demolition and redecorating budget and persuaded them to pay us the the money up front as part of our deal. Our clients do not intend to undertake the landlords works, as they actually love the way they are already divided!

Jeremy said “that doesn’t sound like cricket”, but I replied “Actually everyone gets what they want. Our clients certainly get a good deal, but the landlords also get the letting they are after. And at the end of the lease in 5 years time, my clients will accept the obligation of paying for knocking everything down and delivering back a vast open plan redecorated area to the landlord.”

No doubt an unsuspecting tenant will be seduced into taking the open plan area and will then be saddled with the cost of creating separate offices.

Is your glass half empty of half full?

Will the London 2012 Olympics prove to be  a colossal waste of money, when we can least afford it, or a great opportunity to stimulate a struggling economy, when it needs it most?

The UK economy has had a very bumpy ride over the past couple of years, and there have been plenty of businesses suffering during the recession. Of course, this has had an impact on the London office rental market – you only have to look at our London office rental guide to see how rents have come down since the credit crunch and financial crisis of 2008. When times are tough, businesses are less likely to take risks, to expand into new office space. You’ll find plenty of economists who will tell you were are not over the worst of it, that recovery will likely be more painful than recession, or that the recent round of public spending cuts will lead to – whisper it – a double dip recession.

I am an optimist by nature. I believe in the power of positive thinking. That’s not to say that I’m a grinning idiot – and that by thinking good thoughts I can somehow wish away all the nasty things in the world. Bad things do happen – life is full of ups and downs, and without the downs we wouldn’t appreciate or even recognise the downs. However I am firmly of the belief that it’s how you respond to life’s downs that’s important – a positive mental attitude will see you though most of life’s challenges, and the learning experience will leave you far better placed to meet the next challenge.

Far be it from me to question well-qualified economists, on the prospects for our economy in the next few years. However I believe that positive thinking has a massive part to play. Economic fortunes are undeniably linked to that nebulous concept – confidence. Collective optimism amongst consumers, businesses, investors and government is surely the lynchpin of economic growth. And conversely a gloomy outlook is never good news for the economy.

Which is why I was heartened to hear about the latest BBC/Mori poll indicating increased support amongst Londoners for the Olympic Games compared to four years ago. One in three people felt more positive about London 2012 now than in 2005, while 54% had not changed their views.

My colleague, Bruce Hazelton recently talked about why he felt London 2012 would be success, and urged us all to ignore the the national tendency for pessimism: the naysayers claiming that the Games will be a huge waste of money, especially in these times of austerity. My personal feeling is that the Games have come at a perfect time for London and the UK as a whole. Lord Coe recently told David Bond, the BBC’s sports editor, that without the Games, the British economy would have missed out on a major stimulus at a time when it needed it most, thousands of jobs for local workers would not have been created or contracts won by British businesses, and that there would have been less incentive to deal with the shortage of housing and sporting facilities in east London.

But more than that, it is the collective feelgood factor that a successful London Games will create, so important in these challenging times; a return to a can-do mentality, and crucially a return of confidence that better times lie ahead, providing the catalyst for economic growth.

Disagree with me? Wishful thinking? Cloud cuckoo land? Feel free to comment below…

Location, Location Location!

Choosing the right location for your London office space can be a daunting prospect, particularly if your knowledge of the city is skin deep. Sometimes your initial instincts are spot on, but often a more in depth knowledge of what’s available elsewhere will lead to a change of heart.

Using a London Office agent can help you make better, more informed choices about where to locate – or relocate – your office space.

FindaLondonOffice recently found and secured new office space for Campus Living Villages, an Australian company who provide campus student accommodation in the UK, as well as Australia, New Zealand and the USA, and specialise in ensuring that students have better living conditions. They have existing offices in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. However as many of their clients come from abroad, a London office has become vital. Their new offices are within 5 minutes walk of London Bridge station.

However their first instincts were for offices in Covent Garden – the more fashionable and high profile option.

Of course, with profile and fashion, cost often follows. And offices in Covent Garden are usually expensive! Having taken the brief, FindaLondonOffice began an extensive office search on behalf of Campus Living Villages, including the Covent Garden area. Because of our insider knowledge, we have been able to find them a fantastic 2,000 ft² office in Bermondsey Street, offering unusually high specification offices for this area. These offices – a clever blend between a 19th century warehouse and brand new space – are as good as any they saw in other areas, and of course offices in Waterloo and Southwark have lower rent than their equivalent in Covent Garden and the West End.

Without our help and expertise, Campus Living Villages would have been focussing exclusively on Covent Garden, and wouldn’t have found these great value premises south of the river. So it pays to have an expert on board to handle your office search. And the advantages don’t just stop there:

• Many of their staff live in Tunbridge Wells, near their existing offices. Commuter trains run directly from Tunbridge Wells to London Bridge, so the new location is very convenient.
• These offices were very much in demand. As someone else was interested, FindaLondonOffice had to fight very hard indeed to secure these premises.
• We know the letting agent very well, and this made a big difference to securing these office for Campus Living Villages.

So when it comes to finding the right office space, in the right location, and at the right price, it pays to employ an expert with insider knowledge, experience and connections.

Acquiring a small office space in the West End of London can be a real pain…..

Essentially you have two main options, serviced, or conventional office space:

Serviced Offices in London

If you search for an London office on Google, you are likely to end up deluged with a huge response from serviced office providers and lots of brokers, who will often be giving you the same information. It can get confusing and irritating.

A great way of simplifying a serviced office search would be to use one really good office broker, who has full market information. In one fell swoop they are geared to send you information on everything on the market that meets your brief in terms of location, quality and pricing.

The broker will often provide a great service and will be paid by the serviced office provider.

You can get through to our associated broker on this site and we would be interested to hear whether your search is hugely simplified. I suspect it will be. Simply search for serviced office space here.

Conventional Offices in London

Searching for a small conventional office suite, to accommodate say 1 – 5 people can be a real challenge. Because there are so many landlords in the market, you can’t hope to get a good idea of availability and pricing, without the help of an acquisition agent.

Conventional office leases are much more complex than serviced office leases. The top end office acquisition agent can provide a very valuable service in two ways:

1. finding the suitable office space, matching the searcher’s needs
2. helping the searcher (his / her client) negotiate the best commercial terms of the deal, including:
   • Rent (obviously!)
   • but not forgetting more esoteric areas such as lease length, repairing liabilities, letting incentives, future re-letting clauses etc.

The acquisition agent will of course charge the searcher a success related fee for this work, but true value will pass from the best agents.

The trouble, however, is that acquisition agents are not usually “turned on” to acquire small office suites, as they are far more focused on larger, more lucrative work.

To help fill this vacuum, we refer companies to a hand-picked small group of agents, who are focused on this part of the office market in London.

One of the best operators we know – Lloyd – has been working in the market for a number of years and has just opened his own company. Lloyd is very focused: showing market availability, conducting inspections, helping negotiate the deal for the office you choose and – in short – has been getting some great results.

We’d be interested to hear about your office search experiences, and also if you’d be interested in using Lloyd’s services. Please feel free to comment below.