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What features do you get with a serviced office? From event space to breakout space, we look at what’s on offer when you choose a fully serviced office…
What is a serviced office?
If you’ve ever moved offices and have been frustrated by the sheer volume of ‘stuff’ that’s part and parcel of a move – from arranging broadband to buying furniture to finding someone to clean the place – a serviced office will feel like a very welcome alternative.
Fully serviced is the all-in option. Everything is provided which means moving is easier and takes up far less of your time and headspace. Budgeting is easier too because there are no nasty hidden costs to make a mess of your cash flow.
It’s not just at the initial search stage that this type of office makes life easier. Throughout your contract, whenever there’s a problem – a door that won’t lock, a heater that won’t heat or a desk with an annoying wobble – one call will sort it out. That can save you valuable hours in terms of sourcing maintenance people.
What features do you get with a serviced office?
Let’s split the features into two camps: the basic essentials and the luxury additions.
In the former category, you’ll find most serviced offices offer:
- Furniture
- High-speed internet
- Mail services
- Printers and photocopiers
- Audio-visual equipment
- Kitchen facilities
- Cleaning services
- Security staff
We’re sure all the above will be gratefully received. They’re the essentials, after all – the nuts and bolts of running a business. Yet whilst you may appreciate the fact that your contract leaves someone else to sort out the broadband, you’re not likely to invite friends round and get them to admire the router.
It’s a different story with the more luxurious features of some of London’s serviced office spaces…
Search for your next office by luxury feature
It often seems that, just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone comes up with another office feature to make you say, “well, I’ve never seen that before”. But before you dismiss the many extras available as frivolous, it’s important to take a closer look. Often, a luxury feature can feel just as essential as the desks and photocopier.
These are features that enhance employee wellbeing, features that boost collaboration and productivity, or features that simply make work a more fulfilling and enriching place to be. And there’s nothing frivolous about that.
To find London office space with features that matter to you, just select your preferences in our facilities finder. There, you’ll be able to refine your search to include all the following and more:
Breakout space
A space to escape. A space to relax. A space to work together in an environment that doesn’t involve desks. Breakout areas offer plenty of versatility, but their underlying value is in wellbeing because it’s one thing to say you support your people’s right to take a break from their desks; it’s quite another to provide a space for it to happen.
Search serviced offices with breakout space now
Meeting rooms
At the last count, we had almost 700 all-inclusive London offices with their own meeting room(s), but it’s worth taking the time to check each property’s image gallery to discover just what that meeting room entails. In some of our spaces, it’s a glass-panelled boardroom. In smaller offices, it may be a bookable area for a roundtable pow-wow. And many of our larger spaces have a selection of meeting rooms that range from the perfectly practical to the client-wowing inspirational.
Search serviced offices with meeting rooms now
Event space
Without an event space, you’ll need to head out in search of a networking venue, a gallery, a presentation space or a place for your people to meet, mingle and occasionally let their hair down. With an event space, you get to do it all on site, all in one space, and with the added bonus that often, it’s included in the rental price.
Search serviced offices with event space now
And how about these options, if you’re looking for a London office with really impressive event space?
Phone booths
Open plan has many advantages. It’s more connected, more collaborative. It feels more informal and it’s certainly a more flexible space. But when there’s a high stakes call to make, it’s probably not ideal to try and make it from a desk where the person opposite is banging on about the latest Love Island eviction.
Choose an office with a phone booth or two, and important or delicate calls can be made in a way that protects personal information, which retains the right level of professionalism, and which simply makes calls easier to hear.
Search serviced offices with phone booths now
Pets allowed
The research shows pet-friendly workplaces reduce stress, improve worker satisfaction and morale and make everyone feel more relaxed. All of which is good to know, but ultimately pointless if your office doesn’t allow pets. Increasingly, however, pet-friendly London offices are easy to find, with almost 300 of them currently on our platform.
Search pet-friendly serviced offices now
Roof terrace
When you’ve got an office in a city with a skyline like London’s, it’s a shame not to enjoy it. For well over a 100 of our serviced spaces, that’s not a problem, because there’s a roof terrace on which you can unwind, hold al fresco meetings, run the weekly yoga class or just enjoy the view.
Search serviced offices with roof terraces now
Do serviced offices include business rates?
If you’ve been running a London business for a while now you’ll know the, er, interesting experience of discovering the impact of business rates on your company. Even with rate relief factored in (should you be lucky enough to qualify), business rates are a pain you could definitely live without.
Fortunately, when you choose a serviced office in London, you get to do just that. There are occasional exceptions – so be sure to check the details of the office you’re looking at – but you will usually find that serviced offices include business rates and bills and all the other hidden rates that can really ruin your day when they drop on your desk.
Look for the ‘all inclusive’ badge in the top left corner of the offices in your search results.
Where can I find the best serviced offices in London?
If you know exactly what you want from your office, start your search now.
If you’d prefer a little inspiration, then can we point you in the direction of 17 of the best serviced offices in London, our carefully curated list of spaces to suit every scale and type of business.
Or if you’d prefer to have a chat about your options, our workspace wizards are experts at turning near-impossible requirements lists into smart suggestions. Chat to one of them now:
