Workspace braces for more large firms to ditch London office spaces
Workspace said it was focused on rebuilding occupancy and taking a 'pragmatic' approach to pricing.
The London-listed company said it was still seeing larger customers vacating over the latest quarter, after previously warning investors over the retreat.
This is set to continue over the coming months with the company expecting more businesses to ditch its buildings in Camden.
Occupancy dipped by 0.3% between April and June to total 82.2%, Workspace said.
The business has previously flagged that confidence among some of its customers has been weakened by wider economic uncertainty.
It comes despite signs that midweek office work has rebounded – with property giant British Land recently saying occupancy across its estate had returned to pre-Covid levels in central London.
Nevertheless, recent official data showed that 28% of the UK workforce remained in hybrid work, meaning spending some days at the office or at home.
Workspace owns a portfolio of about 65 properties across London and the south-east of England, providing units to some 4,000 businesses.
At the end of the latest quarter, rents totalled £138.6 million, down slightly on the previous quarter.
'As expected, occupancy declined slightly in the quarter and we have more large vacations to come in Q2 (the second quarter),' Lawrence Hutchings, Workspace's chief executive said.
'Our immediate focus remains on stabilising and, over time, rebuilding occupancy.'
Mr Hutchings said it was taking action to 'retain and attract more customers', including refurbishments at some of its sites and targeting marketing efforts for local offices with fewer occupants.
He added that the group had sold lower-performing sites, most recently in the Brentford and Ladbroke Grove areas, for a combined £15 million.
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