Get Your Office Move Wrong and It Can Cost You Millions
Tags: office design
I have been working in this field for 25 years, and I am constantly surprised by the naiveté of companies in the way they go about moving office, and the costs they are ultimately willing to commit over 10-15 years without having any idea of what they’ll need in terms of office design and build, and how critical that decision will ultimately be in the development of the business.
Office space is expensive! Get it wrong, and you will literally be paying for it for years. Your staff will be unhappy, demotivated by their surroundings, and in the long run, your business cannot reach its potential.
Consider the long-term costs to the business of acquiring a building with too much – or even too little – space. If you were to consider current rental costs in London’s West End, they’re in excess of £100, £115, £120 per square foot, and the cost of getting it wrong over 15 years could be £800 or even £1500. Multiply that by 10,000 sq ft, and you’re talking about massive overpayments of £16m before office design costs..
Let’s stick with smaller 15-year terms and suggest that £50 a square foot is a middle income rent. If you took £50 per square foot for a 5000 sq ft building and get it wrong by say, 10%, the cost overrun will be £5m over a ten year term, or £7.5m over a 15-year term.