Shoreditch is changing. No longer can the hipsters and beatniks relax in the forgotten streets of a bygone  industrial landscape, safe in the knowledge that City folk don’t even know that they exist. The City is watching as Technology companies and the money men which follow them observe.

The debate continues as to whether City developers are building by building moving north towards the fortresses patrolled by trend setters and creatives. The new threat to creative industries is the emergence of the Tech community and their ability to out bid designers and old media. The City of London are selling an Important site just north of Spitalfields, it could provide about 275000 sq ft of office space. It will be interesting to see who buys it, strongly rumored to be a nearby American land owner.

Looking towards Silicon Roundabout and the Heart of Tech City

The offices to let south of Great Eastern Street are now dubbed South Shoreditch, a name thought up by commercial estate agents. In fact the same bunch which came up with tag “The Shoreditch Triangle”.  It’s this area where the Tenant mix has really changed, and with it rents as well.

Offices to let on roads like Bonhill Street, Wilson Street or Worship Street have become popular with tech companies such as Google, Gravity, 7Digital and Mind Candy. Chosen mainly for the large floor plates originally built with cost conscious City Fringe companies in mind.

Today the landscape is changing, but the future is even more uncertain with developers dusting off their plans to redevelop vacant sites. The reason being that the Tech crowd and corporate media tenants see Shoreditch as a cheap location compared to places like Soho or Covent Garden. So demand is greater than ever before.

Shoreditch Office Space have already seen rents in Clerkenwell go above £40.00 per sq ft during 2012, and the question is now what happens in 2013. Is £50.00 per sq ft possible and who would pay it?

If you’re  worried about finding office space in Tech City then please get in touch with Shoreditch Office Space.

Sean@shoreditchofficespace.com will be able to help 020 3102 4127

Shoreditch Office Space remember the days when the only Tech companies in Shoreditch, were those who couldn’t afford to be elsewhere. Old Street offices were sometimes occupied by IT companies (as they used to be known) doing things with servers and computers.  The area was also popular with Telecom service providers looking to be close to a City client base at a fraction of the cost.  Well times have changed and the Tech City Map seems to growing day by day driven by Technology  Start Ups and people relocating from the West End and other places in the World.

Tech City Office Space

So has Shoreditch always been a Tech City or has the influx of Start ups looking to be the next Apple changed things fundamentally? The first thing to consider is why Shoreditch. Well the simple answer is found by looking back a few years to when Shoreditch Offices to rent were the cheapest in London taking account of service charge, rates and rent. Average rents two  years ago were £20.00 per sq ft, and rates and service charge would normally account for another £10.00 per sq ft. So leasing an office at about £30.00 per sq ft meant being in Central London and not falling out with your bank manager.   A compelling reason to rent an office in Shoreditch.

The second factor in our view is that Science often follows Art. Everyone knows that East London is home to more creative types than anywhere else in Europe. Or at least anyone who’s interested in Art. There are more Artists living in Hackney than anywhere else in Central Europe says a recent survey. Artists often see beauty and potential in places and buildings that others don’t. This happened in Shoreditch with former factories such as Lipton Tea warehouse rebranded as The Tea Building on Bethnal Green Road, and forward thinking creative companies moved in.

A few years after the artistic companies were happy hiding in Shoreditch,  technology companies started rebuilding ideas hatched in the original dot.com boom of 2001. Shoreditch Office Space started to watch as companies that had been simmering started to build momentum. Entrepreneurs began to take risks, and great companies such as Google and Microsoft started to become relevant to a new generation.

The Credit Crunch cleared out some broken companies and those which had run out of ideas. For instances Red Communications going bust, lead The Estate Office to react. They refurbished about 40,000 sq ft on Great Eastern Street,  and watched rents double to just under £40.00 per sq ft. Yammer moved in, and it was a happy coincidence that Mircosoft entered Shoreditch through their take over.

The powerplay was no doubt when Google accelerated everything Tech in the area with the motto “lets fill this town with start ups” as the Government beamed with hope  and the Bonhill Street Campus became the centre of the Tech Universe in London.  We had a bandwagon, and many others were ready on jump on.

However not everyone in Shoreditch thinks Tech City is a welcome thing to Shoreditch, and it’s often the subject of office space that divides opinion. There are plenty of architects, designers, thinkers and poets who are now thinking that places like Brockley, New Cross, Haggerson, Dalston and E14 are viable alternative locations. The problem is that Old Street and Liverpool Street are pretty well connected, and modern business is as much about face to face as it is Facetime.

So in Summary Tech City is great for Shoreditch, as it’s bringing a whole new energy to the area. Creative companies are going to have to adapt to survive if they don’t want to be priced out, but then with a Tory government, capitalism was always going to appear, even in Shoreditch.

So if you want to move to Tech City, Shoreditch Office Space is the only company based in the area who represent tenants and tenants only. We help secure offices for Tech City companies as well as look after the needs of the Shoreditch old faithful .

Email sean@shoreditchofficespace.com to chat through this, or any other office based topic.

Resolution have decided to do a great job on a comprehensive refurbishment at the old Triton Court. With Letting agents appointed to find large Prelets, Shoreditch Office Space were given a sneak Preview, and we loved it.

Tech City Office Space – Alpha Beta

This scheme will be ready in 2014 and can accommodate Technology Companies looking for 20,000 sq ft upwards.

This is an important building as it provides a rare opportunity to acquire a large office space in Shoreditch.

Recently we’ve been talking to a lot of Tech Start ups who have a very clear vision of the type of offices they want to find.

Its normal for people to focus their office search in Shoreditch for a character warehouse style working environment, and after all the fact that these buildings exist in Shoreditch has meant people have focused in on this location.

However check out this start up’s first office, suspended ceilings and blue carpets…..it worked for them, just ask Mark Zuckerberg, whether it stopped Facebook from taking off. So if you are on a tight budget and want economic office space in Shoreditch, we have an idea of where to find the best deals.

contact sean@shoreditchofficespace.com for more info, or to discuss how we can help.

Tech City Start Up

Shoreditch is changing. No longer can the hipsters and beatniks relax in the forgotten streets of a bygone  industrial landscape, safe in the knowledge that City folk don’t even know that they exist.

The debate continues as to whether City developers are building by building moving north towards the fortresses patrolled by trend setters and creatives. The new threat to creative industries is the emergence of the Tech community and their ability to out bid designers and old media. The City of London are selling an Important site just north of Spitalfields, it currently provides about 275000 sq ft of office space. It will be imteresting to see who buys it

The offices to let south of Great Eastern Street are now dubbed South Shoreditch, a name thought up by commercial estate agents. In fact the same bunch which came up with tag “The Shoreditch Triangle”.

Offices to let on roads like Bonhill Street, Wilson Street or Worship Street have become popular with tech companies such as Google, Gravity and Mind Candy. Chosen mainly for the large floor plates originally built with cost conscious City Fringe companies in mind.

Today the landscape is changing, but the future is even more uncertain with developers dusting off their plans to redevelop vacant sites. The reason being that the Tech crowd and corporate media tenants see Shoreditch as a cheap location compared to places like Soho or Covent Garden.

Shoreditch Office Space have already seen rents in Clerkenwell go above £40.00per sq ft during 2012, and the question is now what happens in 2013. Is £50.00 per sq ft possible and who would pay it?

Ewa@shoreditchofficespace.com