Choosing The Right Size Office For A Business

Offices come in all shapes and sizes in London and the United Kingdom but what would be the recommended size to choose for your company or business. This guide will explain how much room to allow for each person within and how much room should be allocated to meeting rooms or internal director suites.

Normally finding an office is quite straight forward as we only need to decide how many members of staff will be in the space. However, with a lot of companies, sometimes we need to consider future expansions or added necessities such as boardrooms or executive suites etc.

Office Sizes

When searching for an office space, a good place to start is to work out how many people will be in the office. Once that number is established, a good rule of thumb is to allow a certain amount of square footage for each person. In the office rental industry, the average size that is normally allocated to each person is about 50/60 square foot. This will allow a comfortable and adequate space for all equipment such as desks, chairs, filing cabinets, and staff. The size amount allocated can differ from one location to another with some office providers allowing up to 90 square foot per person.

Companies and businesses can however have different requirements when it comes down to the size they need. For example, if a company was growing rapidly then extra room should be considered for the future. An alternative to this would be upgrading to a larger office in the building when needed. Serviced offices are ideal for this kind of scenario as they normally have a selection of various sizes available to rent at one time.

Additional Work Space

In many cases, companies may require additional workspace so a more bespoke office design will have to be considered to suit their needs. In these types of situations, further calculations must be made in order to allow enough room to fit everything. For example, an organization may need internal facilities or separate areas such as a personal reception, meeting rooms, different departments, and director’s offices. Larger offices may also be necessary for specialised equipment. In all these cases, it is thoroughly recommended to talk to an office professional like ourselves to establish what is needed. It is also a good idea to actually set up a few viewings in order to see similar office spaces that fit the office layout criteria. This way a company can see at first hand if the layout works for them and make adjustments to their criteria if necessary.

Meeting Room Sizes

Space for meeting rooms can vary depending on the capacity required. These can range from a small meeting room for 3 people up to a 12+ person boardroom. A small meeting room can start from 60 square foot if you have a small coffee table but it does depend what is required in the room. Larger meeting rooms will obviously require more space so it is recommended to work out the minimum and maximum amount of people that will be using the room. In addition, table sizes and equipment must also be taken into consideration.

Reception Area Sizes

Receptions can either be a simple desk and chair in part of a large office space or a completely separate enclosed area. Again, it does depend on what is required so it is worth making a note of all that is required. For example, a reception may need a large reception desk with two staff members or a waiting area with seating for clients. Physically measuring out an open area is advisable in order to see how much room is actually needed.

Executive Office Sizes

Executive offices can depend on various factors but generally the average size for just one person would be about 80 square foot to be on the comfortable side. There is no fixed amount so these types of suites can be as little as 55 square foot or as big as required. If additional people, furniture, storage, or equipment is required in the same space then this should be further calculated to allow enough room for it to fit.


We can normally have a good idea of what will be required for an office for our company or business but there is nothing more beneficial than talking to an office agent like ourselves to advise on suitable options. Touring similar offices for let has also proved to be a thoroughly valuable experience as our opinions on what we need notoriously change when inside an actual office rental.