Activity in the London office space market is set to improve in the second half of next year, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield. The commercial property company has discovered that while the great majority of businesses have this year adopted a kind of "wait and see" approach, this is expected to be replaced by a more progressive attitude in 2012. Over the course of the last few years, many companies have been avoiding any kind of expansion in their workspaces due to the poor economic climate, preferring to wait and see if things will improve.
Approximately 50 per cent of the London based companies that participated in the survey have described their strategy for next year as being one based on opportunistic growth, with around a fifth claiming that they will be aggressively pushing forward in terms of growth. The study has also drawn attention to the fact that many firms are intending to try to use their current office space more effectively than may have been the case in the past.
"2011 has been characterised by generally low levels of take-up across London," says the head of the London group of Cushman & Wakefield, James Young. "Next year, despite the troubling economic conditions, we expect things to pick up for landlords, investors and developers. There will be hot spots of office activity, and these will involve traditionally West End business moving further afield."
