UK Hub-and-Spoke Offices: How to Structure a London Anchor with Regional Hubs

Key Insights

• A UK hub-and-spoke office strategy combines a reduced London anchor with regional hubs aligned to where employees actually live, not a loose collection of flexible memberships.
• The model is typically driven by London cost pressure, regional talent access and practical limits on commuting expectations.
• Spoke procurement varies by size and purpose, from serviced offices and managed space to coworking and on-demand access.
• Cost comparisons must include technology duplication, inter-site travel, management overhead and underutilisation risk, not just rent.
• Hub-and-spoke does not reduce complexity, it redistributes it. Operational success depends on hybrid policy clarity, meeting equity and active management.

Quick Definitions

• Hub-and-spoke model: A central office (hub) supported by smaller regional offices serving local employee clusters.
• London anchor: The primary office, typically reduced but retained for collaboration, leadership and client-facing activity.
• Spoke / satellite office: A smaller office in a regional city or town used by employees outside London.
• Serviced office: Fully managed workspace with bundled services under a licence agreement.
• Managed office: Customised, operator-run space offering more control than serviced offices without a traditional lease.
• On-demand workspace: Pay-as-you-go access to desks or meeting space.

What “hub-and-spoke” actually means in a UK office context

In a UK context, a hub-and-spoke model centres on a London headquarters that is smaller but more purposeful than before, supported by a network of regional offices in cities or commuter towns where employees are based.

It sits between two extremes. Unlike a fully centralised model, it does not require the majority of employees to commute into London regularly. Unlike a remote-first approach, it retains physical space as a core part of how the organisation operates.

The defining characteristic is intentionality. Each spoke exists to serve a clearly defined employee catchment or operational need. Without that, what is labelled “hub-and-spoke” is often just reactive downsizing, reducing London space without building a coherent regional network.

Why UK businesses are moving toward this model

London cost premium, talent access and commute expectations

For many UK businesses, the starting point is cost. London office space continues to command a significant premium, and in many organisations that cost is no longer aligned with how space is actually used. Large footprints designed for five-day attendance are often underutilised.

At the same time, the UK workforce is geographically dispersed. Talent pools in cities such as Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh and Cardiff have deepened, particularly in technology and professional services. Requiring regular London attendance for employees based outside the South East increasingly limits hiring flexibility.

Commute expectations have also shifted. For employees living beyond the traditional commuter belt, travelling into London multiple times per week is often impractical. Mandating it can create friction and reduce retention.

However, centralisation remains the better choice in some cases. Organisations with highly London-centric client bases, or where teams rely heavily on in-person collaboration, may find that a single location is still more efficient. The decision to distribute should be grounded in workforce geography and operational need, not trend adoption.

Right-sizing the London anchor

Moving to a hub-and-spoke model does not remove the need for a London office. It redefines it.

In most cases, the anchor London office space becomes focused on activities that benefit from centralisation: client-facing work, leadership alignment, large-format collaboration and brand presence. It is less about accommodating daily desk-based work for the entire organisation.

This requires a practical reassessment of space requirements. Once regional spokes absorb a portion of day-to-day desk demand, the London footprint can be recalibrated based on peak collaboration usage rather than total headcount. Desk ratios, meeting room capacity and utilisation patterns all need to be reconsidered.

A useful way to approach this is to separate functions that must remain centralised from those that can operate effectively from regional locations. In practice, most organisations retain a strong London presence, but one that is designed for how it is actually used, rather than how it was historically occupied.

How to choose spoke locations and the right workspace model for each

Criteria for selecting spoke cities and towns

Most hub-and-spoke strategies succeed or fail at the postcode-mapping stage. If spoke locations do not reflect where employees actually live, utilisation drops quickly.

The starting point is employee location data; identifying clusters of staff who would benefit from a local office. From there, transport connectivity becomes critical, particularly for occasional travel into London or between spokes.

Local talent availability may also influence location decisions, particularly if spokes are intended to support hiring as well as existing employees. At the same time, commercial property supply varies significantly across the UK. Larger regional cities such as Manchester or Birmingham have more mature flexible workspace markets, while smaller towns may offer limited options.

Cost differentials, including business rates and service charge structures, also vary. However, cost alone is rarely a sufficient driver. A lower-cost location that employees do not use is ultimately more expensive.

In practice, most organisations benefit from a small number of well-used spokes rather than a wide network of lightly used locations.

Serviced offices, managed space, coworking and on-demand access as spoke solutions

The appropriate workspace model for each spoke depends on its size, permanence and role within the network.

Smaller spokes are often best served by coworking or serviced offices, where flexibility and minimal setup are priorities. Larger spokes, particularly those supporting specific teams, may justify managed space, offering greater control over layout and branding.

However, flexibility comes with trade-offs. Shorter commitments typically carry a premium and may limit customisation. Market maturity also varies; what is readily available in a city like Manchester may not be replicable in a smaller town.

Selecting the right model requires aligning space type with actual usage, rather than defaulting to the most flexible option.

Building a total occupancy cost comparison

Single London HQ vs reduced anchor plus regional spokes

A common mistake is to compare London rent with regional rent and assume a distributed model will be cheaper. In practice, the comparison is more complex.

A like-for-like assessment needs to consider total occupancy cost across the portfolio. For a London-only model, costs are relatively concentrated: rent, service charge, business rates and operating expenses.

A hub-and-spoke model introduces additional layers. Technology infrastructure often needs to be duplicated across locations. Inter-office travel, particularly to London, can increase. Managing a distributed portfolio adds operational overhead.

There is also a risk of underutilisation at spokes if demand is overestimated or hybrid policies are unclear. At the same time, flexible workspace arrangements often include a premium for shorter commitments compared to longer-term London leases.

In practice, hub-and-spoke is not always a cost-saving exercise. The benefit is often better alignment between cost and usage, rather than a simple reduction in total spend. Organisations that model only rent are likely to overestimate savings and underestimate complexity.

Operational and cultural risks to plan for

Meeting equity, technology parity and keeping spokes active

Hub-and-spoke redistributes complexity in areas that may be easier to manage rather than directly reducing it.

Meeting equity is a common issue. Without deliberate design, London becomes the “default” office and spoke-based employees risk being treated as remote participants, creating a two-tier experience.

Technology parity is essential to address this. Consistent audio-visual quality across locations is a requirement for effective collaboration.

There is also a risk that spokes become underused over time. Without clear expectations and active management, they can drift into being occasional drop-in spaces rather than integral parts of the workplace strategy.

Maintaining engagement requires discipline, ensuring that teams use spokes regularly and that they are incorporated into how the organisation operates.

Hybrid policy alignment and built-in flexibility

A hub-and-spoke model only works if it is supported by a clearly defined hybrid working policy.

Employees need to understand where they are expected to work and when. This may involve defined patterns, using a local spoke for day-to-day work and travelling to London for collaboration or client activity. Without this clarity, spokes risk sitting empty.

At the same time, one of the advantages of the model is flexibility. As workforce distribution changes, organisations may need to open, resize or close spokes. Flexible workspace agreements, such as short-term licences or rolling contracts, can support this adaptability.

Planning for flexibility and exit

Flexibility should be designed, not assumed. Understanding notice periods, break options and the ability to scale space up or down is critical.

Planning exit routes from the outset helps avoid being locked into locations that no longer serve the business.

Used deliberately, hub-and-spoke provides portfolio flexibility. Used loosely, it can lead to fragmentation and inefficiency.

Find your perfect workspace solution with Hubble

Designing a hub-and-spoke office strategy requires more than reducing a London footprint. It involves aligning your workspace with where your people are and how they work.

If you’re evaluating a shift toward regional hubs, we at Hubble can help you explore workspace options across London and key UK cities, compare flexible setups and build a model that fits your organisation in practice.