The London office market has split in two, and the headline vacancy figure hides it. Roughly 70% of take-up goes to Grade A space while secondary buildings sit. There is only about 1.3 years of unlet space under construction nationally, so good space is getting more expensive and poor space is not getting cheaper fast enough to compensate. Which half a building sits in matters more than the asking rent — and so does what the rent excludes.
Offices are quoted on Net Internal Area by convention and on IPMS 3 Office under the current standard, and the two produce different numbers for the same building. Comparing £/sq ft across buildings measured on different bases is comparing nothing. We ask which was used, and we say so.
Rent is typically 60–70% of what you actually pay. Business rates, service charge, insurance and utilities make up the rest, and on a large Central London floor the rates alone can rival a small building’s entire rent. We give you all of it before you shortlist.
Whether the space is shell and core, Cat A or Cat B changes your capital cost by a six-figure sum on a mid-sized floor. It also decides what you hand back and what you strip out at the end. We establish it early, because it moves the deal more than the headline rent does.
Our fee is paid by the landlord or the vendor. No fee to you and no retainer — and no reason for us to push you into a building because the incentive is better on our side.
Headcount now and in three years, the density you want to work at, meeting and collaboration space, the areas your people can realistically commute to, and the date you must be in by. Lease expiry timing drives more of this than budget does.
Measured basis and floor plate, rateable value and multiplier, service charge history rather than the estimate, EPC and floor area, fit-out condition, and whether the lease is contracted out — before you view.
Rent-free and capital contribution, break rights and the conditions attached to them, service charge caps and exclusions, dilapidations and a photographed schedule of condition, and reinstatement obligations on the fit-out.
Central London vacancy came down from a peak of around 10.6% in early 2025 to roughly 7.7%, and take-up has run broadly in line with five-year averages. Read on its own that looks like a balanced market. It is not one.
Around 70% of quarterly take-up is going to Grade A space, against total availability of nearly 28 million square feet. Prime rents have kept rising — the West End reached a record £240 per square foot on a single transaction, and City prime has been running near £100 — while secondary buildings have seen very little pricing momentum. The average of a scarce, expensive half and an abundant, stagnant half describes neither.
Supply is the reason it persists. Across the markets CBRE tracks there is only about 1.3 years of unlet space under construction, held back by planning, build costs and expensive development finance. For an occupier that means the good space you are looking at will not be cheaper next year. For an investor it means the value question is whether a secondary building can be brought up to the standard that is actually letting, and at what cost.
The figure that matters is total occupancy cost: rent, business rates, service charge, buildings insurance and utilities. Offices are not retail, hospitality or leisure, so from 1 April 2026 they fall on the standard multipliers — 43.2p below £51,000 rateable value, 48.0p between £51,000 and £499,999, and 50.8p at £500,000 and above.
Service charge is where the surprises live. Ask for the last three years of actual expenditure, not the current year’s estimate; ask what sits inside the cap and what is expressly excluded; and ask specifically about sinking funds and major works, because a plant replacement scheduled for year three of your term is your problem under most modern leases.
Shell and core is a structural envelope with services brought to the floor and nothing else. Cat A is a lettable but generic finish: raised floors, suspended ceilings, lighting, and mechanical and electrical services to a base standard. Cat B is your actual office — layout, meeting rooms, kitchen, joinery, branding, data.
The distinction sets your capital cost at the start, and it sets your reinstatement obligation at the end. If you take Cat A and fit out to Cat B, most leases require you to strip it back to Cat A on exit. That cost is real, it is rarely modelled at heads of terms, and it is negotiable — you can often agree that specified elements stay. Do it in the lease, not in correspondence.
Where a landlord is offering a Cat B fit-out or a capital contribution instead of rent-free, compare them properly. A contribution is cash now against a rent-free that is worth its value spread over the term, and the tax treatment differs. Both are negotiable and both are usually worth more than a headline rent reduction of the same nominal size.
Serviced and managed space is usually a licence, not a lease. That means no security of tenure under the 1954 Act, no rights of exclusive possession in the strict sense, and a notice period measured in months rather than a term measured in years. It is genuinely the right answer for a business that cannot forecast headcount, and genuinely expensive if you can.
Compare on cost per person per month all-in, including rates, service charge, utilities, cleaning, reception, internet and meeting room usage — not on £/sq ft, which is not what you are buying. Then compare against a conventional lease with the same figures added, plus the fit-out capital amortised over the term. Flexible space frequently wins under three years and frequently loses beyond five.
Since April 2023 an office cannot be let below EPC E without a registered exemption. The proposed EPC C milestone for 2027 was dropped; the confirmed target is EPC B by 2031 and only for buildings over 1,000 square metres, and it still requires secondary legislation. Below that threshold the minimum remains E.
For investors this cuts both ways. A secondary building priced as though it becomes unlettable in 2027 may carry a discount that no longer has a basis. But an F or G rated building is unlettable today without an exemption, and the retrofit cost is precisely the number that decides whether the two-speed market is an opportunity or a trap.
Because they may be measured on different bases. Net Internal Area is the long-standing convention; IPMS 3 Office is the current international standard and treats things like internal walls and perimeter areas differently. The same building can produce different figures under each, which means a £/sq ft comparison across buildings measured differently is not a comparison. We ask which basis was used and state it, so that you are comparing like with like.
Rent is usually around 60–70% of total occupancy cost. The rest is business rates, service charge, buildings insurance and utilities, plus your fit-out capital and, at the end, reinstatement. Rates are calculated by applying the multiplier to the rateable value — 43.2p, 48.0p or 50.8p from April 2026 depending on size — so on a building at or above £500,000 rateable value you are paying just over half that figure annually in rates alone. Always model the total, never the rent.
It depends almost entirely on how confidently you can forecast headcount. Serviced space is a licence: no security of tenure, notice in months, everything bundled, and a premium for that flexibility. A conventional lease is cheaper per person over time but commits you and requires fit-out capital. Compare them on all-in cost per person per month over the same period, including the fit-out amortised. Flexible tends to win under three years and lose beyond five.
Cat A is a generic lettable finish — raised floors, ceilings, lighting, base building services. Cat B is your actual office: layout, meeting rooms, kitchen, joinery, data. The landlord normally delivers Cat A and you fund Cat B, sometimes with a capital contribution or extended rent-free in support. The point most tenants miss is the exit: if you fit out to Cat B you will usually be required to strip back to Cat A when you leave. Negotiate what can stay, and put it in the lease.
No. That milestone was dropped. The minimum for letting remains EPC E, as it has been since April 2023, and the confirmed future target is EPC B by 2031 for buildings over 1,000 square metres only, subject to secondary legislation. An F or G rated building, however, cannot lawfully be let today without a registered exemption — so the question to ask about a secondary building is not what happens in 2027 but what its rating is now.
