Earlier this week The Lawyer’s UK 200: Workspace Trends 2016 report (in association with JLL) revealed that Fladgate was paying the highest cost per square foot of any UK 200 firm. But which firm is generating the most revenue out of its office space?
A comparison of the top 20 firms ranked by their total square footage is illuminating. Eversheds tops the list with 572,892sq ft in the UK at a cost of £42 per sq ft. But the firm is generating just £593 per sq ft.
Contrast that with Macfarlanes. The London firm has a total space of 127,911sq ft. Each of those square feet generated more than double that of Eversheds, at £1,259per sq ft.
Indeed of the top 20 firms ranked by total square footage only two firms, Macfarlanes and Charles Russell Speechlys, generated in excess of £1,000per sq ft (the latter firm managed £1,004per sq ft).
Berwin Leighton Paisner, CMS, RPC and Taylor Wessing are the next most productive among the top 20, generating £891, £884, and £815per sq ft respectively.
At the other end of the scale Scottish firm Thorntons is by some distance the lowest in the revenue per sq ft ranking among the top 20, generating just £221per sq ft.
| Top 20 firms ranked by UK sq ft (among sample) | |||||
| Firm name | UK sq ft | Cost | Cost per sq ft |
Revenue per sq ft |
Sq ft per staff member |
| Eversheds | 572,892 | 24,271,115 | 42 | 593 | 238 |
| DAC Beachcroft | 318,685 | 14,882,028 | 47 | 601 | 155 |
| Weightmans | 284,708 | 7,087,322 | 25 | 334 | 215 |
| CMS | 248,463 | 14,672,069 | 59 | 884 | 229 |
| Berwin Leighton Paisner | 233,400 | N/D | N/D | 891 | 215 |
| Nabarro | 194,330 | N/D | N/D | 671 | N/D |
| Mishcon de Reya | 166,358 | 8,143,454 | 49 | 769 | 231 |
| Blake Morgan | 165,890 | N/D | N/D | 452 | 178 |
| Taylor Wessing | 155,280 | 10,261,000 | 66 | 815 | 236 |
| Osborne Clarke | 144,943 | 6,824,000 | 47 | 780 | 189 |
| Mills & Reeve | 141,713 | 4,815,000 | 34 | 615 | 154 |
| Freeths | 141,067 | 3,871,731 | 27 | 453 | 213 |
| Kennedys | 138,001 | 7,953,000 | 58 | 740 | 141 |
| Clarke Willmott | 132,000 | 4,424,000 | 34 | 333 | 274 |
| Charles Russell Speechlys | 128,464 | 9,297,885 | 72 | 1,004 | 156 |
| Macfarlanes | 127,911 | 6,361,457 | 50 | 1,259 | 201 |
| Trowers & Hamlins | 123,758 | 6,393,800 | 52 | 569 | 218 |
| Olswang | 118,657 | 9,800,000 | 83 | 775 | 235 |
| RPC | 110,515 | N/D | N/D | 815 | N/D |
| Thorntons | 105,000 | 2,040,000 | 19 | 221 | 275 |
As Fladgate’s senior partner Charles Wander pointed out earlier this week, the cost per square foot metric is only part of the picture when analysing a firm’s real estate costs. The way a firm’s offices are used along with revenue per square foot are arguably better measures, at least of firms’ productivity and efficiency.
Certainly Fladgate has been on a roll financially over the past few years, with both turnover and profit on a rapid upward trajectory that continued in 2015/16.
“Our offices have been a big contributor to our continuing success and the doubling of our turnover,” said Wander. “And, as our profitability demonstrates, we use our space efficiently and effectively.”
The full UK 200: Workspace Trends 2016 report includes benchmarking data from 105 firms with a combined fee income of £4.4bn that are spending over £258m on 7 million square feet of offices in the UK.
To purchase the UK 200: Workspace Trends 2016 report contact Richard Edwards on 0207 970 4672 or at richard.edwards@centaurmedia.com
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