Kylie Davies, Avanta’s direct sales team leader, said: “We’ve seen a steady increase in office space enquiries since the new team was put in place in March but the real achievement is converting so many business centre enquiries into actual viewings”.

She continued: “One of the keys to our success is that since setting up the new sales team we’ve focussed on what the client actually needs in their office space rather than just offering a cost per workstation deal”.

Avanta was commended for its managed office services for two years in a row in the Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list. The firm has 19 business centres across the UK and gains most business from the London area. Davies said: “London City is still proving the most popular location, closely followed by London Victoria and then Hammersmith. Also, there is currently strong demand for serviced office space in Manchester”.

Established in 2004, the company also has a business centre in New Delhi, India.

The extra 23,300 square metres of space has risen the firm’s holdings, in the West End districts to the north of Oxford Street and close to Fitzrovia, to 1.5 million square feet.

Chief Executive John Burns said: “This acquisition provides strong income at economic rental levels, together with opportunities for active management, future refurbishment and improvement of the office space which Derwent specialises in”.

He added: “We will also be looking to enhance the retail units fronting Tottenham Court Road, which will benefit substantially from nearby infrastructure improvements including Crossrail”.

The freehold property is made up of 216,000 square feet of offices, 24,000 square feet of retail space and an 11,000 square foot cinema. It generates a yearly rental income of £8.1 million and has ten tenants.

The average lease at the W1 office and retail space lasts for six years and the rent stands at £34 per square foot.

Communities Secretary Eric Pickles said: “[the offices] are not voices of the regions in Whitehall. They are agents of Whitehall to interfere in localities.”

The regional offices were created to provide localised government services to specific areas but Pickles said they were no longer needed due to the birth of the internet age where communication has excelled.

The scrapping of the London office will be followed by the closure of offices in the Midlands, West Midlands, Yorkshire and the Humber, the north-east, south-west and east of England.

About 1700 staff are employed within the offices.

Shadow communities secretary John Denham said: “The decision leaves English regions without any way of co-ordinating economic development, major infrastructure projects and the effective co-ordination of public services for local people”.

He continued: “In government we laid out proposals in our budget in March for making significant savings in regional government but retaining the crucial role of effective co-ordination of programmes which supports growth and jobs. What we now see with the abolishing of the government offices along with regional development agencies is the abandonment of much of England to Whitehall power”.

The move to abolish RDAs will save the government £125 million.

About a hundred people will be recruited in the coming three years in sales, account management and support roles.

Martin Hellawell, managing director of the firm, said: “London is one of the best places to recruit. So we have decided it is time to build a presence there”.

He continued: “We are growing quickly because we attract the best people. And because we look after them well, they enjoy their work and help us to achieve high levels of customer satisfaction. Having a presence in the capital, where thousands of bright graduates choose to live, will help to ensure this pattern continues”.

Some of the staff working in the Marlow and Manchester offices will be moving to the Moorgate offices.

Recruitment manager at SoftCat Shelley Ferrigno said: “Our new recruits in London will enjoy all the same benefits as our current staff in Marlow and Manchester. We feel that our special ‘work hard, play hard’ ethos will make them want to stay and build a long-term career with us”.

The software specialist won the ‘Sunday Times 100 Best Small Companies to Work For’ list in March this year. It was the only IT solution firm in the final top ten.

Arab Investments, the development manager of the space owned by a Middle-Eastern consortium, is currently in talks with the banking giant.

If successful, HSBC would be responsible for arranging capital from other banks to finance the project, which could reach up to £1 billion in development costs.

The huge construction fees and expenditure plans mean a number of banks will be needed to provide the capital – this will spread the cost into smaller manageable loan agreements across more lenders.

The group of owners include Pramerica Real Estate Investors and the Saudi Arabian firm Sedco. Bought in 2008 for £200 million a further £200 million was invested into the building to pay for running costs.

The glass structure, which will be the tallest in the city when completed, has been under development since 2002 and is nick-named the Helter Skelter. It’s spiral design will reach a height of 288 metres and will be situated close to the Gherkin in the City.

Designed by architect Kohn Pederson Fox, the Bishopsgate office space will be able to house 800 workers and is due to be completed in 2013.

Office rents have risen by 12 per cent over the previous quarter due to a lack of suitable construction projects and the resulting customer bidding war.

Stephen Down of Gresham Down Capital Partners investment consultancy said: “Five weeks ago the fear was that there was too much stock on the market but the appetite of buyers has been voracious”.

“US opportunity fund Carlyle has just bought six London office buildings, comprising the White Tower portfolio, from receivers for over £670 million. Gresham Down itself has been advising a private Eastern European investor who has just acquired Mitsubishi Estate Company’s Bow Bells House, a trophy City asset for £140m”.

Down is also advising investors selling River Court. He said: “This is a good example of the type of trophy stock that appeals to the overseas market”.

He continued: “It has been owned by the same group since it was developed in 2000 and is let to Goldman Sachs for another 15 years. It is a modern Grade A building secured to an international tenant on a long lease and the rent is low at only £36.00 per sq ft overall compared with recent lettings on similar space at over £50.00per sq ft. It offers the investor access to the growth in rents over the next three to four years”.

The firms will be collaborating with the committee managing the assets of Kaupthing Bank, which own the site.

It was planned that the space, in London’s Fitzrovia, was to be incorporated into an upmarket scheme, according to The Independent. However, plans were aborted after the collapse of Kaupthing Bank.

The University College London Hospital had applied for permission to build on a nearby site, where the last remaining edifice is an old Georgian work house. Houses, shops and Euston office space may be constructed.

A spokesman said: “The site has been identified for redevelopment for a long time now, to provide affordable housing as required through the Trust’s Section 106 obligations. Affordable housing south of the Euston Road is very scarce, and the Trust has focused on the long-term, designing a high-quality mixed-use scheme which delivers over 50 per cent by area as affordable housing”.

Hiring a cleaning service is an clever option because it produces excellent results despite the extra cost to your firm.

Daily cleaners will pick up used coffee mugs and wipe staff workstations so that when employees return to work, they are met with a fresh smelling space, signalling the new start to the new working day.

However, do implement office rules to ensure staff play some part in keeping their areas clean. Put up polite notices or draw up friendly rotas that put specific people in charge of specific areas.

Ensure that employees are aware of picking up items that have dropped on the floor, which could cause trips and falls. Any incident of injury within the workplace will inevitably fall on the shoulders of the boss so be wary of cleaning up spills and disposing of fallen paper.

Make sure that employees who eat lunch at their desk are aware that they must throw away their empty food wrappers, bottles and packets so rodents have no reason to be attracted to the office building.

Take notice of the office environment and become familiar with the surroundings – that way your space will be clean, hygienic and organised.

Rental rates increased to £85 per square foot in the second quarter, up from £75 per square foot in the first quarter. The real estate firm expects rents to hit £87.50 per square foot by the end of 2010.

Jonathan Evans, Head of West End agency and development at JLL, said: “We have witnessed a real sea change in the West End over the past couple of months as prime office rents continued to strengthen in the second quarter”.

He continued: “This has been driven by several deals in the limited amount of prime space, and given this is the first rental growth we have seen in the West End since 2007, is a positive development for landlords and investors”.

He added: “Looking forward, we expect modest growth over the remainder of the year”.

The West End is the world’s most expensive place to lease an office space. Mayfair office space and St. James office space garner the highest rents and are taken up by hedge funds and financial firms, which benefit from the close proximity to nearby banking clients.

Charles Darwin House met the green standards after a refurbishment effort by office design specialist Morgan Lovell.

Toilet and sink facilities in the building have been adapted to use less water and car parking has been replaced with a covered bike rack area.

Managing director of Morgan Lovell David Henderson said: “The process is very rewarding. Creating a green office not only creates a lower carbon environment, it also supports an organisation’s corporate social responsibility policy and delivers significant savings on energy bills that makes the process cost-effective in the longer term”.

The building at 12 Roger Street is home to the British Ecological Society (BES), the Biochemical Society and the Society for Experimental Biology.

Executive Director of the BES Dr Hazel Norman said: “We are delighted that BREEAM Excellent has been achieved. It was not an easy objective as it involved transforming a 1950s office which needed a significant amount of refurbishment”.

She continued: “When we first came to view the building it was a bit of a black hole with little natural light. The transformation now means that all 70 staff across five floors enjoy access to natural light and the stunning ground floor reception and conference suite now benefit from full length windows”.