How much office space do I need?

A short guide to calculating what space you need and applying that to a search

The usual quick search online soon introduces you to the usual commercial estate agent mindset as represented in “square feet” or “square meters” as opposed to the easier residential estate agent search where they appreciate that what you really want to start with is how many bedrooms or how many bathrooms… so let’s see if we can help and at the same time save you hours of useless searches or the standard 10 minute viewings (and quickly onto the next one) with very little actual information included.

So it’s thinking time again when calculating how much size your office or similar workspace needs, you should consider how efficient or generous you want to be with allocating space and that varies and can change eg with your specific business sector norms or even those dreaded H&S guidelines.

We can’t give a definitive “typical” or “recommended” size of workspace per person; instead this has to be left to what your business needs and if you’re an employer then following Government, local, or sector guidelines as they are at the time and as they evolve so treat this as a rough guide to choosing what premises to view.

As a working example an allocation of 75 sqft / 7 sqm per person allows 50 sqft / 5 sqm purely for desk/chair space and another 25 sqft / 2 sqm to accommodate circulation space around it but this assumes little additional space for other items like cupboards, filing units or extra seating. Of course if you’ve hybrid or other “part time” people you can amend the space accordingly, so five desks could be shared with more people assuming you can control diaries!

In theory then a very small office for one person (or desk) could be 75 sqft or 7 sqm but that is likely impossible in the city centre where typically small rooms in a business centre environment will be around 200 sqft though occasionally smaller ones can be found in a older building so it is worth checking; also note that you will be relying on shared facilities for example for toilets and tea/coffee areas or a mini kitchen.

For a typical mid-sized private room suitable for 4-6 people you’ll be looking at rooms in the range of 300 sqft or 28 sqm and likely still using shared facilities such as the toilet, tea/coffee amenities and a shared entrance or reception area; a totally private area with your own facilities or at least space for it will likely mean you’ll be looking at larger spaces, say 900 sqft plus and still maybe in a larger shared building but your individual preferences will matter too.

There is still more to consider because as well as people your new workspace may need to accommodate extra facilities such as meeting rooms, breakout spaces, storage areas and utility areas such as server rooms. You should allow extra space for this, some sample amenities for example are:

A very small meeting area may need another 100 sqft / 9 sqm say for two people, you can multiply that very roughly for how many actual people you need to accommodate in one meeting; alternatively of course you could search for an office option in a bigger building that has meeting rooms available, even if that’s at an hourly cost which is usually preferable and cheaper than having your own meeting area that is empty most of the time.

On top of which in calculating how much extra space you need is the issue of storage if you still have banks of cupboards or filing cabinets (I know…) or need space for such as a server cabinet or photocopying facilities, then there is the entrance area and that old school reception desk and or tea and coffee facilities.

A combination of these can easily add 500 sqft to your 500 sqft of compact desk space for ten people and the base rent costs have just doubled!

Then the costs, whether the rental of a space and what a base rent includes or not, adds to the complications; but that’s one for another article.

Top tips? Ask an agent (preferably me) who will do a factfind with you before wasting your time showing you round anything but a local independent agent will know the marketplace, and there are some lovely places out there but expect to pay around £200 to £250 per month per desk at that end and don’t forget your 20% VAT on top, however there are some bargains out there too where you’ll get decent workspace at lower prices but always remember there are no 5 star premises at 2 star prices even if it sometimes appears so if you focus only on the headline rate or “£ per square foot” if you still like old fashioned agents…