How to Choose Office Space for Your Company?

Set the start date by working backwards from the planned move, not from the expiry date of the current lease. Allow time for selection, negotiations, design, approvals, construction and the move itself. For a medium-sized office, that usually means more time than the first programme assumes.

Notice deadline and handback date for the current office

The office programme should answer specific business needs: the number of workstations, offices and meeting rooms, the number of places for calls and focused work, kitchen size and the required support areas. Useful inputs include attendance data, meeting-room utilisation, hiring plans and the problems reported by teams in the current office.

1. Attendance data

   Actual office entries from access-control data or desk-booking systems over the last six to twelve months, broken down by day of the week.

2. How meeting rooms are used

   How many meetings take place, in what group sizes and how many are remote calls that require a separate room.

3. Conversations with teams

   Which teams need to sit together, who is affected by noise, who needs confidentiality and what the current office prevents people from doing effectively.

4. Headcount plan

   Forecast for the lease term, not just the next year. Three scenarios rather than one number.

How the work model affects the floor area

Benefit: well-calculated requirements protect the company both from paying for unnecessary floor area and from moving into an office that becomes too small after a year.

For a company employing 75 people, the complete reference programme is approximately 723 m², or 9.6 m² per person. It includes workstations, offices and team rooms, 22 meeting seats of different sizes, 8 quiet-work seats, a kitchen and dining area, technical support space and circulation.

You can estimate the required area using the office test-fit and workplace capacity calculator.

The criteria should be agreed in a workshop with the people responsible for the decision and recorded together with their weights. Weighting forces a useful discussion about what genuinely matters — the total has to add up and everything cannot be treated as the highest priority.

A tenant representative is usually remunerated by the landlord of the building ultimately leased. That is not a problem in itself, but it is worth understanding and asking directly how the fee is structured. It is also worth confirming whether the adviser has an exclusivity agreement and what role it will play after the lease is signed.

For an initial analysis, employee postcodes and a few potential search areas are enough. What matters is the distribution of changes in travel time: how many people improve, how many get worse and by how much. An average can hide a situation in which most people save a few minutes while a significant group suddenly faces a much longer commute.

Benefit: commute analysis at the area-selection stage can eliminate whole districts before anyone spends time on viewings. It saves weeks and protects against a decision driven by one attractive building.

Amenities in the building itself

When comparing costs, remember that serviced offices and coworking include elements that are separate line items in a traditional lease: furniture, cleaning, utilities, reception and meeting rooms. Comparing only the rate per square metre or per workstation is therefore misleading.

A Class A building is usually expected to combine a strong location, modern individually controllable MEP systems, sufficient clear height for a comfortable fit-out, backup power, security and access control, environmental certification and effective management. During office selection, however, two questions matter particularly: when the building was completed and when its systems were last modernised.

For more on approvals, MEP systems and construction constraints, see office renovation and landlord approval requirements.

With space left by a previous tenant, it is easy to overvalue the existing fit-out. The fact that partitions, glazing or a kitchen already exist is not what matters. What matters is how much of it fits the new programme and remains suitable for further use. If half of the usable scope can be retained, the saving for a space of around 723 m² can reach approximately PLN 330,000. If the fit is poor, demolition creates additional cost instead of savings.

More: what is worth keeping in an office after the previous tenant.

For each offer, add all costs over the full lease term, deduct the value of incentives, add one-off costs on the tenant side and divide the result by the number of months. Only then can you see which office is genuinely cheaper.

The lease should clearly define the index, the date of the first adjustment and any annual cap. For a longer lease, the method of setting rent after exercising a renewal option also matters.

A landlord may be more willing to offer one-off incentives than to permanently reduce the base rent. That is why negotiations should cover the complete package rather than one number on the first page of the offer.

The service charge covers common-area operation, building utilities, security, cleaning, MEP maintenance, insurance, management and taxes. It is normally paid on account and reconciled annually against actual expenditure. That is why it should be assessed using historical costs, not only the next-year forecast.

1. Cost history for the last two years

   Budgets and reconciliations from previous periods show the pace of increases and one-off items much better than the forecast rate alone.

2. Which costs are passed through to tenants

   Check the scope of repair and replacement costs transferred to tenants and the way they are allocated.

3. Cap on service-charge growth

   An annual cap can improve cost predictability across the lease term.

4. Separate utility settlement

   Clarify metering, allocation and how operation of systems outside standard hours is charged.

Conclusion: the less predictable headcount and work model are, the more valuable break, sublease and area-change options become. With a stable team, the stronger commercial terms available under a longer commitment may be more valuable.

Location, type of space and commercial terms can initially be assessed from offers and viewings. Before negotiations are closed, however, you need to confirm that the premises can actually support the company. That requires a separate set of questions and technical competence.

The differences can be substantial. For a space of around 723 m², a requirement for fire-rated glazing can add about PLN 494,000 to the preparation budget, an expanded server room about PLN 263,000, and carrying out most works at night about PLN 118,000. Identified before signing, each of these items can support a negotiation. Discovered afterwards, it becomes a cost.

Related technical guidance: building-manager approvals and technical constraints before office works.

The strongest approach is to ask the team about needs and barriers at the beginning, then communicate progress regularly. Consultation does not mean holding a vote on the location. It means collecting useful data and explaining why decisions are being made in a particular way.

1. Needs assessment

   Survey and team discussions before the search begins. Ask about commute, barriers and working patterns.

2. Communicate the direction

   Explain the areas and criteria being considered before the final decision so the change does not arrive as a surprise.

3. Decision and rationale

   Announce the selection together with answers to the most common concerns, especially those related to travel time.

4. Implementation

   Agree rules for the new workplace, booking, quiet zones and hybrid work before the move.

If the company reports environmental data, access to consumption information stops being an optional extra and becomes a potential exclusion criterion. Some buildings cannot provide this data at tenant level. It is better to establish that during shortlisting than after the lease has been signed.

Most important: most of these problems can be avoided if the company defines its needs, required area, budget and move deadline before the first office presentations.

Leasable area

The area charged under the lease: the area of the premises plus the tenant’s share of the building’s common areas.

Add-on factor

A ratio showing how much the charged lease area exceeds the area of the premises itself.

Workplace capacity

The number of workstations and rooms that can realistically fit into the space while maintaining the required standards.

Test fit

A preliminary functional layout prepared on the floor plan of a specific unit to verify whether the company’s programme fits.

Base rent

The rate per square metre of leasable area, usually quoted in euro and paid in PLN after conversion.

Indexation

The annual adjustment of the rent according to an agreed index.

Service charge

A charge covering the operating costs of the building, normally paid on account and reconciled annually against actual costs.

Rent-free period

A period during which base rent is waived, most commonly used while the space is being prepared.

Landlord fit-out contribution

An amount provided by the landlord towards preparing the premises for the tenant.

Fit-out

The full set of design and construction works required to bring the premises into usable condition.

Shell and core

A building with its structure, façade and core complete, with services brought to the boundary of the premises.

Cat A

Open-plan finished space with floor, ceiling, lighting, ventilation and air conditioning, but without internal room divisions.

Cat A+

A ready-made layout prepared by the landlord, often furnished, available to lease without the tenant carrying out its own fit-out.

Reinstatement / make good

The tenant’s obligation to return the premises to an agreed condition at the end of the lease.

Term sheet / LOI

A document setting out agreed commercial terms before the full lease is drafted.

Renewal option

The tenant’s right to continue the lease on agreed terms after the initial term.

Right of first refusal

Priority to lease neighbouring space when it becomes available.

Sublease

Letting part or all of the premises to another party, usually subject to the landlord’s consent.

Bank guarantee

A form of lease security under which a bank undertakes to pay the landlord a defined amount on demand.

Handover protocol

A document confirming the condition of the premises on the handover date and forming the basis for later settlements.

Tenant representative

A company representing the tenant in office search and negotiations.

Serviced office

Ready-to-use furnished space leased with services, usually for a shorter period and with utilities and support included in the price.