Average cost per square meter for building offices in UK 2016 and 2018

In 2018, London was still the most expensive UK region to build an office building in. This was true not only for prestige offices within the central business district, but also A-Grade offices. Both were more expensive than a prestige property in the UK South, with business park offices in London following at an average of 2,519 British pounds per square meter of internal are. The capital city continuously ranked first in public building construction costs.

 Office rents also high in London

  Not only did London prove to have high building costs, rents for prime offices were equally high, with Mayfair & St. James outranking other central areas. The area to the North of Buckingham Palace is known for its exclusive townhouses largely owned by the foreign elite and upscale hotels and restaurants. North of Oxford Street followed Mayfair & St. James with rents amounting to 92.5 British pounds per square foot as of the first quarter of 2018.

 Office investments in Central London growing

  In the past two years, the value of office investments in Central London had seen a net increase, with areas including Shoreditch/Clerkenwell, Aldgate/Whitechapel, Southbank and midtown consecutively accumulating the largest amounts. In the fourth quarter of 2018, total investments across Central London were worth 4.35 billion British pounds.