Turn the office search into a requirements-led shortlist
A useful London leased-office shortlist starts with your organisation’s operating needs, not a collection of attractive addresses. Define the essentials, search for offices that could meet them, then check each candidate against the same criteria before it advances.
That sequence gives you a practical way to separate a possible fit from an option that still needs answers. Begin with four decisions: how much space your team needs, which areas fit its work, what the budget can support and which property or lease details must be resolved. Keep must-haves separate from preferences. A candidate that misses a must-have should not move forward simply because it performs well on a preference.
Use the brief in three passes:
- Set the filters: describe headcount, attendance, budget, location and operational needs.
- Search and screen: look for leased offices that meet the essentials, then record how each candidate performs against them.
- Verify before advancing: confirm the property details and flag lease points that need further review.
The result is a shortlist you can explain: why each option remains under consideration, what is still uncertain and what you need to check next.
Set the requirements that will shape the search
Start with current headcount and expected hires, then estimate how many people need to work in the office on the busiest likely day. For a hybrid team, identifying peak attendance days helps you plan desk and space requirements; a cited office-planning checklist notes that hybrid teams rarely attend simultaneously. Avoid treating total headcount as an automatic desk count. Write down the attendance pattern you are planning around, including any known peak days.
Turn daily work into a space brief rather than relying on a general label such as “open plan”. List the operational needs that affect how the office must function:
- Privacy: note where you need phone booths, private offices or quiet space. Phone booths, private offices and small meeting rooms often become essential once open-plan space is in use.
- Meetings: review the sizes of meetings you typically hold and use that pattern to plan a mix of smaller, mid-sized and larger rooms.
- Shared and open areas: match the size of open areas to your organisation’s working style. Identify what those areas need to support in practice.
- Storage and wall space: plan for equipment cupboards, shelving, screens and whiteboards early; these needs compete for wall space.
These details help you describe what an office has to accommodate. They also make it easier to distinguish an essential operational requirement from a preference that can be traded off.
Set a realistic budget before you shortlist. For London office options, the recommended starting point is to base it on headcount, the space required and the planned rental duration. Record the budget assumptions alongside the brief so you can assess candidates on a consistent basis; do not treat an unverified asking figure as a confirmed cost.
Now divide the brief into two groups. Must-haves are conditions a candidate needs to meet to remain in the search, such as the intended capacity or a particular operational need. Preferences are useful qualities that can help you order otherwise suitable options. Be specific: replace “good location” with the areas you want to investigate, and replace “enough meeting space” with the rooms and patterns your team needs to support.
If different stakeholders have competing requirements, record whose work each criterion supports and whether it is essential. That makes a later trade-off explicit instead of allowing a preference to quietly become a pass-or-fail rule.
Use London area priorities to narrow the search
Choose areas to investigate by weighing the people and clients your office needs to serve, the buildings that could suit the brief, cost and connectivity. Oktra describes Holborn, King’s Cross, London Bridge, Paddington, Soho and Victoria as key London office markets, each with its own balance of these factors. Treat those names as possible search filters, not as a verdict on whether an individual office will fit.
For each area you are considering, write down why it belongs on the search list. You might prioritise a particular part of London because it works for your staff, clients or the way your organisation operates. Then decide which criteria matter most across all the areas, such as whether the location meets your organisation’s needs and whether the available options could fit the budget.
Keep the area filter narrow enough to be useful, but do not let a neighbourhood name stand in for a property check. A suitable search area only tells you where to look next; the individual office still needs to meet the capacity, operational and budget requirements in your brief.
If you are weighing several areas, capture the reason for including each one in a short note: the relevant people or clients, the location priority it addresses and any question you still need to answer. That record gives you a consistent basis for adjusting the search if the first set of candidates does not meet the essentials.
Search for leased offices that meet the essential criteria
Turn each must-have into a search filter or a question you can ask about a listing. Keep the search focused on leased offices: name the areas you are investigating, the capacity you need, the operational requirements that cannot be compromised and the budget boundary. Use preferences to refine the search, not to hide a mismatch with an essential requirement.
Where a listing does not make a key detail clear, record that as an open question rather than assuming the property meets the brief. This is especially useful when you are screening several options at once: the same unanswered question should be visible for each candidate, rather than buried in separate notes.
Apply a simple first screen to each possible office:
- Does the location fit one of your stated area priorities?
- Could the space accommodate the planned attendance and operational needs?
- Is there enough information to assess it against the budget and rental duration?
- Are any essential details missing or unclear?
If an option clearly fails a must-have, remove it from the active shortlist. If it could fit but a material detail is unknown, keep it in a separate “needs an answer” group. That distinction prevents an incomplete listing from appearing equivalent to a candidate that has already met the brief.
Keep your criteria stable while you search. If you change an essential requirement, update the brief and reassess every candidate against the revised version rather than applying the new rule only to later results.
Compare each candidate against the same requirements
Use one screening record for every candidate. Give each requirement its own line, then record the candidate’s relevant detail, whether it meets the requirement and what remains unanswered. A short, repeatable record is more useful than an overall impression because it shows exactly why an office passed, failed or needs another check.
Keep the record focused on decisions:
- Requirement: what your brief asks for.
- Candidate detail: the property-specific information you have.
- Status: meets, does not meet or not yet confirmed.
- Next question: the precise information needed to resolve an unknown.
Do not mark an unconfirmed detail as a pass. If the answer could change whether the option meets an essential criterion, keep it open until you have checked it.
Test capacity against current headcount, expected hires and the peak attendance pattern you identified. For hybrid teams, peak attendance days help determine desk and space requirements, so assess a candidate against that working pattern rather than relying only on the organisation’s total headcount. Keep the assumptions visible in the record; that way you can see whether a candidate’s apparent fit depends on an attendance pattern your organisation has not actually planned for.
Use the same status rules each time:
- Essential requirement not met: remove the candidate from the active shortlist.
- Essential requirement unclear: keep the candidate pending and write the question that would settle it.
- Essentials met: retain the candidate and compare its preferences against the same agreed priorities.
Then review the whole shortlist together. If several options have the same unresolved issue, make that question a priority for the next round of checks. If none meets the essentials, revisit the brief deliberately: decide whether a requirement can change, then screen the candidates again using the updated criteria.
Keep preference scores separate from essential pass-or-fail checks. You can note which option better matches a preferred area or room arrangement, for example, but that should not compensate for a missed must-have. If stakeholders disagree about a preference, record the trade-off and who needs to resolve it before the candidate moves forward.
Confirm property details before advancing a candidate
Before you move an option from “possible” to “ready for the next check”, confirm the property-specific details that could affect its fit. For each candidate, ask for current information on:
- whether the office is available and the date that information applies to;
- the space being offered, including the specific area or suite under consideration;
- the asking rent and the basis on which it is quoted;
- what is included in the offer and what remains to be clarified.
Keep the answer beside the candidate, not only in an email thread or a general market note. The purpose is to understand what this particular option consists of and whether it still fits your requirements.
Label each item confirmed, indicative or unanswered. Include the date of the information and who supplied it, so you can tell whether a figure or property detail is current for the decision you are making. If you only have an indicative figure, do not enter it as confirmed budget fit. If the available information does not specify the space or what it includes, keep that gap open and ask for clarification.
A candidate can remain under consideration while a question is open, but its status should make that clear. Record the next check against the relevant requirement, then update the record when you receive a specific answer. If availability, asking rent or the space being offered changes, assess the candidate again against the brief rather than carrying forward the old status.
Identify lease and occupancy points for professional review
Add the service-charge wording to the questions you want resolved before progressing a lease. Atalaw Solicitors’ commercial-property guidance says that where a lease incorporates the RICS code, you have a stronger basis to request transparency on service charges and challenge unreasonable costs. Where the lease does not incorporate the code, the guidance says your options depend on the wording of the service-charge clause. Record whether the code is incorporated and flag the clause wording for review; do not treat a general reference to service charges as an answer to either question.
For a London property in England and Wales, include repair and end-of-lease obligations among the points to check. RICS guidance effective from 1 December 2016 described a Schedule of Dilapidations as identifying relevant lease or tenancy obligations and alleged breaches. In certain circumstances, it also identifies remedial work completed or proposed and the estimated or actual costs. The guidance said that such a schedule is usually prepared by a building surveyor.
Use these subjects to form questions about the proposed lease, rather than drawing a conclusion from a listing or summary:
- What does the service-charge clause say, and does the lease incorporate the RICS code?
- Which repair and yield-up obligations apply to the space?
- What should you understand about any alleged breach, proposed remedial work or associated cost?
Keep each question attached to the relevant candidate and clause or obligation. That gives you a defined point to take into the appropriate review before you decide whether the option should progress.
Keep the shortlist focused on options with a clear next check
Advance candidates that meet the essential requirements, or keep them pending only when you have a specific question that could change the decision. Your final shortlist should show the reason each option remains, which property details are confirmed and what lease points still need review. For legal or financial advice on a particular lease, ask a suitably qualified professional to assess your organisation’s circumstances.
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Further questions about office sizing, requirements and lease checks
Can I use serviced-office space-per-person figures to size a leased office?
Treat them as route-specific reference points, not a rule for leased space: the cited figures apply to serviced and managed offices. For a leased office, base the brief on current and projected headcount, peak attendance and the operational spaces your team needs.
What should I do if stakeholders disagree about an office requirement?
Record which work or business need each requirement supports, and agree whether it is essential or a preference before screening further. If the brief changes, assess every candidate against the revised criteria so earlier options are judged consistently.
What should I check if a proposed service-charge clause does not mention the RICS code?
Read the clause itself and have it reviewed before progressing. The options available depend on its wording when the lease does not incorporate the code; seek suitably qualified professional advice on the particular lease.
