London Mayor offers companies one year free rent

[Marc]

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, today launched a campaign to tempt foreign businesses to the capital by offering companies up to a year’s free rent.

Speaking at Mipim, the European property industry’s annual conference in Cannes, Mr Johnson attempted to lure new businesses to London with a range of incentives, including up to 12 months of free office space and the use of a dedicated adviser to help companies to establish an operation in the capital.

The plans, known as Touchdown London, are announced at a difficult time for London’s office market.

An estimated 13 per cent of offices in the City are vacant, pushing down rental rates while new jobs in the financial services industry, which has driven the capital's economic growth this decade, dropped 64 per cent in January.

However, the cost of living in London has fallen as the value of sterling has declined.

It is now cheaper to live in London than in New York for the first time since 2002, according to a report issued last week by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Mr Johnson said: “My message to overseas businesses is loud and clear.

“You will not only receive the warmest of welcomes, but we will do all we can to ensure you get off to a flying start.”

Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle5887447.ece

Cheers

Marc

[Marc]

The City of London: it's a ghost town

Additional news...

by Rebecca Burn-Callander - Tuesday, 10th February 2009

After all the job cuts, downsizing, budget slashing and bonus crunching, the City's survivors are digging in for a long cold winter.

For many, this means craming their remaining staff into increasingly smaller and more economically-arranged offices. Firms that previously operated on six floors will now jostle side-by-side over four. The face of corporate business is changing. And it could be advantageous for some.

For firms whose leases have come to an end, it's a great time to move. Robert Leigh, founder of £1.8m-turnover property firm Devono, has the inside scoop: "Landlords are extremely keen to do deals at the moment," he says. "They are offering bargain basement prices and lengthy rent-free periods."

If you're slap-bang in the middle of your lease, however. Stay put. "It costs around £30 per square foot to relocate," says Leigh. "This isn't the time for opportunistic moves."

Furniture companies that are rolling out clever, more economical workstations will also see a boost. Steelcase, a US-based firm that manufactures office furniture, has just launched its Smart Space range.

Mark Spragg, MD of Steelcase UK, says: “Smart Space addresses the challenges that many companies in the UK are facing in a difficult economic climate. We are helping dealers and customers focus on maximising and optimising their office space."

Source: http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/554286...ost-town.thtml

[donna]

I guess the lease for office space is around 5 years - still getting one year free is fantastic especially in London - magic!

Cheers,

Donna

[Davo36]

This is quite amazing really, for a number of reasons:

1) Why should the people of London pay tenant's rent? This is effectively a bailout of the office sector by the ratepayers of London. Did they agree to that? Are they happy their money is bein spent in this way?
2) It's a spend-to-keep-things-going idea like the many similar ideas we're seeing from governments all over the developed world. Will this work? Can we spend/inflate our way out of this? Or is this approach actually making things worse?

It seems to me we just need to let events unfold naturally. This may be painful, but it's the best solution in the long term IMHO.

David

[hazel20]

sounds good to me, free rent for a year can save a lot of money but on the second thought, is the economy doing good now?

[eri]

london was the financial center of the world

the GFC will have seriously starved london of tax creits