London is the most expensive location for office fit outs in the EMEA region, according to a new report from Cushman & Wakefield.
The firm’s EMEA Office Fit Out Cost Guide, which covers 43 key cities across the region and sets out average costs across a range of fit out standards, found the cost of an average office fit out in London was €2,629/sq m.
Hamburg, which came second on the overall list, was the most expensive city in the Northern Europe region at €2,463/sq m, Prague (€1,252/sq m) was top within Central and Eastern Europe and Paris led the way in Southern Europe (€1,190/sq m).
Cairo (€1,759/sq m) and Riyadh (€1,650/sq m) were the most expensive of the key African and Middle Eastern cities respectively.
The report found that fit out costs across EMEA rose by an average of 4% (in euro currency) over the last year.
Nic Wilkinson, chair of project and development services EMEA at Cushman & Wakefield, said: “The office sector is undergoing significant structural change while the global economy is encountering cyclical headwinds resulting in scrutiny of capital expenditure budgets. Add in the need to factor in underlying market cycles and it is easy to appreciate why many believe the current environment has never been more complex.
“Without diminishing the scale of these issues, they can be summarised as cost, carbon, and culture. The office fit out plays an important role in each of these areas by creating an environment in which employees can be productive, innovate and connect with colleagues, while simultaneously creating value and helping achieve corporate sustainability and inclusiveness goals.”
