Is Creative Office Space in Central London Essential for TMT Companies?

As the BBC has recently revamped two floors of its Broadcasting House to make it more creative; what should TMT office space in Central London be like?

After all, the TMT sector is leading the style stakes when it comes to office space. The less conventional needs of this relatively new sector have even prompted developers to devise new concepts for office space in Central London which boast everything from cycle parks to co-working space.

There is no doubt that this is a hugely influential sector for the office space industry. Indeed, a recent report by DTZ and JLL revealed that TMT businesses accounted for the largest proportion of space taken up across office space in Central London last year. In total, the sector took 1m sq ft of space within the City – or 23% of all space taken, compared with 18% for tenants in the financial sector.

Themed Office Space in Central London Inspires Creativity

But what about the interiors of these offices? What should TMT space look like? Is it really that different from other types of office space in Central London?

Employees at the BBC seem to think so, if recent revampings of the Broadcasting House are anything to go by. The decision has been taken to refurbish two floors of the building as creative staff didn’t feel that they were provided with an inspiring enough working environment.

The refreshed space is to be based on an EastEnders theme, with features expected to include an Albert Square-styled hot-desking space, wall graphics in a street art style depicting EastEnders landmarks, and even a meeting room themed around the Queen Vic pub.

BBC bosses believe that the changes will provide a more effective working environment for employees, thereby enabling them to create high quality television programmes.

A Growing Trend

There will be plenty of sceptics questioning whether such heavily themed space is essential to employees’ ability to produce creative work – especially as the refurbishment of Broadcasting House was completed not too long ago.

However, quirky, feature-filled offices have fast become the norm across the TMT sector, with many believing that such creatively designed space is a key factor for retaining staff. Themed office space in Central London is becomingly increasingly common – from Google’s London-themed HQ, to Innocent’s outdoorsy offices. The serviced office industry too has picked up on the trend, as these Alice-in-Wonderland-inspired offices in Waterloo demonstrate.

In fact, it could be said that slides, games rooms and highly styled space have become so common in the TMT sector that they’re expected among employees – whether they’re really necessary to boost their creativity or not. And as the BBC has discovered, insufficiently creative space leads to disgruntled staff.

Staff retention alone makes a strong business case for furnishing offices with colourful interiors, Lego sculptures and whatever else it takes to make a space appeal to TMT workers. As an added benefit, the column inches – and online news articles – dedicated to these unusual spaces makes them a powerful way to generate PR too – as well as making companies an even more attractive prospective for potential new recruits.

One thing is certain: as with the growth of the TMT sector itself, the trend for creative, unusual office space in Central London is showing no signs of slowing down just yet.

Share your views: how how you theme your office space in Central London?

(Image: Alice in Wonderland themed business centre brings creativity to serviced office space.)