Damburger

According to London contractors and developers, new refurbishing projects are being undertaken in the city, as employers are refurbishing existing spaces to accommodate more employees instead of taking bigger office spaces on rent.

Savillis PLC, after interviewing 200 developers and contractors, has concluded that many refurbishment projects have been undertaken in the last 3 months after a long hiatus in such projects for 21 months.

International director of Jones Lang LaSalle Richard Norton is of the opinion that companies are gearing up to refurbish their existing deskspace in order to save the expense of renting new office space or changing addresses.

The refurbishment projects either include a complete overhaul of the interior, or improving upon the existing layout, or changing the layout completely in order to make the interiors more spacious.

The refurbishment of office space is a cost-effective alternative for both tenants and landlords, as tenants do not have to invest in new desk space, and landlords do not have to incur the expenditure of building new complexes for tenants.

According to British Land Co, any new development would not be a profitable venture unless there is an increase in rents in the real estate market. Thus new building projects have not been undertaken much and those that will be completed within the next two years will be so less in number that the total number of completions will be the lowest in three decades.

Some businesses are not even going for office refurbishment, but are trying to accommodate their new staff within the existing desk space. This trend in seen in the banking sector where new employees are being hired recently. New recruitments in this sector are happening due to the economy recovering after the worst period of recession.