AI office space leases in London rise tenfold in a year

Although office vacancy rates in the capital are still higher than pre-Covid levels, the rate for “really good quality buildings with appropriately large floor plates is quite low”, Scanlon says.

In April 2025, less than 50,000 sq ft of office space was being leased by AI companies. By March 2026, that had risen to 250,000 sq ft.

The so-called Knowledge Quarter in King’s Cross is home to Alphabet’s AI division DeepMind, alongside Google, Meta and Microsoft.

Microsoft recently agreed to lease the eight-storey Film House in Soho, external, which is 100,000 sq ft.