The move towards remote working has been underway for years now but was significantly accelerated by the events of 2020. After many months of working from home, the post-pandemic return to work gives businesses the opportunity to test a new approach to workspace.
In the past, the majority of companies would be headquartered in city centres, but this trend is gradually giving way to a “hub and spoke” model, where businesses will have smaller offices in suburban areas closer to where their employees live.
This model is designed to reduce the reliance on central city locations, in favour of more dispersed “work-near-home” offices. As a result, there is a rapidly growing demand for workspace in secondary cities and suburbs.
Key Benefits of a Hub and Spoke Approach
Businesses and employees alike enjoy time-saving and cost-saving benefits when working closer to home in decentralised offices.
Companies could save around one-quarter of their rental rates, while employees could save more than 90 minutes a day in commuting time. For Londoners, this means a possible saving of £2,200 a year in commuting costs.
Top Up-and-Coming Hub and Spoke Locations in the UK
The home counties, like Surrey and Kent, are seeing a surge in workspace rental interest. A few key suburbs have been identified as the most likely regional locations for businesses considering the hub and spoke model. These rising stars are Aldershot, Twickenham and Redhill.
Aldershot: The suburban town of Aldershot is based in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, and is famed as a hub of military history. Business in Rushmoor has been on an upward trend, with the number of active enterprises in the area rising from 3260 to 3945 between 2013 and 2019. The biggest industries in the area are IT and communication, followed by professional, scientific and technical occupations.
Twickenham: Twickenham is the largest town in Richmond upon Thames, which has a reputation as one of the UK’s most competitive business locations. More than one-fifth of workers in the region are self-employed, and 93.7% of new Richmond businesses survive their first year. Key sectors in Richmond include business services, retail, creative industries and tourism.
Redhill: This suburb is situated in the county of Surrey, where key industries include information and communication, electricity and gas, and arts and entertainment.
Aldershot, Twickenham and Redhill have all been identified as suburbs that offer some of the best support for finance and pharma businesses looking to set up regional offices.
Other suburban locations offering strong support for hub and spoke models include:
Maidstone: Known as a hub of innovation in Kent, Maidstone is home to more than 7000 businesses, and local overhead costs can be up to 60% lower than those in London.
Woking: This Surrey town has a strong economy and good support for startups. Woking is a short distance from London by train, and many international companies choose to have their headquarters in the town.
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Pros and Cons of Working from Home
With 73% of Londoners living outside the central city, working at home instead of in a central office has plenty of advantages:
• Lower expenses
• More work flexibility
• No office distractions
• Improved collaboration across multiple locations
• Lower rates of absenteeism and ‘presenteeism’
• Improved job satisfaction
However, some WFH disadvantages to watch out for are:
• Isolation
• Less face-time
• Distractions at home
• Risk of overworking
• Risk of disproportionate work-life balance
Working closer to home in a spoke satellite office can help employees to enjoy the benefits of a WFH setup without the potential disadvantages. The hub and spoke model also helps employers to attract and retain top talent.
As growth in the suburbs begins to outstrip demand in central business districts, Instant predicts that corporate headquarters in city locations will shrink by as much as 40% in the next few years. Read our full report here for more insight.
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