Fewer offices built as flexible working from home increases

THE number of new offices being built has plummeted as the trend for working from home means there is less need for buildings.

Around 2,300 applications for new office buildings were approved last year. This figure has fallen by more than half since the financial crisis in 2008, when 5,200 new offices were built, according to research by Lendy, the lending platform.

Flexible arrangements, such as working from home, shared workspaces and the increasing use of technology have reduced the need for employees to have their own dedicated workspace in a central base.

Liam Brooke, co-founder of Lendy, said: “Modern ways of working mean that offices are no longer as essential as they may have been in the past.

“Formerly, rising employment figures may have signalled a need for more offices. However, employees can, in many cases, work just as effectively from home or shared workspaces.”

Last year, the largest ever review of Britain’s workforce found that nine in 10 people currently work flexibly or would like to do so.

Timewise, the flexible working expert, polled 3,000 UK adults on how they work, how important flexible working is as a benefit and why they want working patterns that do not fit the 9-to-5 mould.

It found that 84 per cent of the men surveyed already worked flexibly or wished to do so compared with 91 per cent of women.