How Much Office Space Do You Actually Need Per Person?

Take too much space and you pay for empty desks every month. Take too little and you are renegotiating within a year. Getting the sizing right is the single biggest cost decision in an office search.

The standard UK benchmarks

As a working rule, allow roughly 70 to 100 sq ft per person for a conventional layout with meeting rooms and a breakout area. Dense open plan setups can work at 50 to 70 sq ft per person, while professional firms with private offices often need 120 sq ft or more.

British Council for Offices guidance sits around 8 to 10 sq m per workstation, which lines up with the same range. Serviced offices usually quote per desk instead, which hides the underlying density, so ask for the room's square footage as well.

Desk ratios for hybrid teams

Very few UK teams are in five days a week now. If your average attendance is three days, a ratio of around 0.7 desks per employee usually works without anyone hunting for a seat.

Look at your actual badge or booking data rather than a policy document. Attendance also clusters on Tuesday to Thursday, so size for your busiest day, not your weekly average.

Do not forget the shared space

Meeting rooms, a kitchen, quiet booths for calls and storage all take floor area. In a serviced building most of that is shared and included, which is one reason a serviced deal often works out smaller and simpler than a private lease for the same headcount.

Build in headroom

Size for your expected headcount in twelve to eighteen months, then negotiate the flexibility to expand within the same building. Most operators will agree a right of first refusal on adjacent space if you ask at the point of signing.

Run your team size through our free cost calculator to get a realistic monthly range, then let us search the market for spaces that fit.