West End office space goes residential

H2SO has published new research that shows the extent at which office space in London’s West End has been converted to residential property.

The consultancy’s report,  The ‘Lost’ Offices of London’s West End, identifies more than 4m sq ft of offices within the boundaries of Westminster planning authority that were converted to other uses between 2001 and 2009. Some 3m sq ft of this was converted to residential while at least a further 1m sq ft was converted to hotel, leisure and other non-office uses.

About another 1.8m sq ft of further planning permissions are lodged with Westminster for schemes that will also involve the conversion of offices to another use. The report says it is clear that the trend is unlikely to disappear in the medium-term.

The report also describes how a potential loss of central London office supply was offset by new development. Between 2004 and 2009, Westminster Council estimates that more than 3.2m sq ft of new office space was created within its boundaries but it is estimated in the core West End locations there was a net loss of more than 320,000 sq ft B1 space during this time.