Great Portland Street Office Space

The office space on Great Portland Street is as eclectic as its architecture, representing its uniquely diverse mix of occupiers along the thoroughfare.

Great Portland Street is a road in the West End that divides Fitzrovia to the east from Marylebone to the west. It links Oxford Street to the south with Marylebone Road to the north.

Named John Street in 1726, it was developed by the Dukes of Portland in the 18th and 19th centuries, with different owners and interests over the years influencing the layout and character.

The strongest contrasts were between the grandiose developments of Portland Place and Harley Street and the more bohemian and artistic developments of Fitzrovia.

Architecturally, due to the timing of developments, it is noted that buildings to the north of Great Portland Street are predominantly of the Edwardian era, while those to the south, closer to Oxford Street, are predominantly of the Victorian era.

Close by in Portland Place and Langham Place is Broadcasting House, which was built in 1928 as the headquarters of the BBC. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932.

The Grade II* listed building is in the Art Deco style, with a Portland stone facing over a steel frame, and remains the broadcaster’s headquarters.

Several branches of the BBC have chosen office space on and around Great Portland Street, including BBC Radio 1 at Yalding House and Radio 2 and 6 Music at Wogan House at 99 Great Portland Street.

Other broadcasters that have chosen the locale to base themselves include Discovery Channel Europe and Virgin Media.

Great Portland Street is also strongly associated with the motor industry, to the extent that it earned the moniker Motor Row in the 1930s. Its central location and width made it perfect for car showrooms and manufacturers. Austin, Benz Motor Company, Jaguar, and several others had showrooms on the street. At one point, over 30 brands were represented on the thoroughfare.

At No. 179, Speedometer House was occupied by Smiths, who made speedometers, gauges and other instruments for the car industry.

Great Portland Street has equally strong links with the arts, and the German composers Felix Mendelssohn and Carl Maria von Weber both lived and worked at No. 103

Other notable creatives who lived on the street include biographer James Boswell, who resided at No. 122; essayist and poet Leigh Hunt, who lived at No. 98; and the artist David Wilkie, who made No. 117 his home.

As one might expect, companies seeking office space to rent on Great Portland Street and nearby are offered a wide range of building styles.

They can choose from a range of uniquely prestigious period buildings that have been impeccably retrofitted to provide enhanced contemporary workspaces and modern Grade A office buildings.

With all forms offering premium office space with state-of-the-art business technologies and 5-star amenities.

Along with leased office space, Great Portland Street offers a growing number of flexible office space options, including luxury serviced private offices, managed offices, self-contained floors and buildings, and co-working spaces.

In contrast to their leased counterparts, these are held on short-term licences yet offer the option to extend at the end of the term. The flexible contacts also allow a business to expand within a building as needed, with many buildings offering space for 250 or more desks.

The flexible contracts also allow a business to contract into a smaller space as needed.

The added advantage of flexible workspaces is that they are priced all-inclusively, meaning the monthly fee includes rent, utilities, security, service charge, cleaning, enterprise-grade and secure IT systems, and other items. The rental fee also covers items such as ad hoc boardroom use and services provided by the reception, secretarial, and concierge teams.

Managed office spaces are Cat A ready-fitted spaces, and the client leads the furnishing and fit-out process. Custom offices can include private reception areas, meeting rooms, executive suites, open-plan working areas, hot-desking zones, kitchens, and bathrooms, and clients can choose a bespoke service level pack.

The private serviced offices are fully furnished, fitted, and equipped with state-of-the-art business technologies. Clients enjoy premium communal amenities, including bookable meeting and boardrooms, breakout spaces, quiet zones, kitchen areas, fitness facilities, cafes, and outdoor spaces.

The high-end office buildings on and near Great Portland Street are managed sustainably to achieve ESG credentials and offer modern end-of-journey facilities such as bicycle storage, showers, and changing rooms for self-powered commuters.

However, clients enjoy excellent public transport links with services from Euston and Great Portland Street, Regent’s Park and Warren Street stations at the thoroughfare’s northern end, and Oxford Circus station at its southern end.

Incidentally, the Grade II-listed Great Portland Street station opened in 1863 as Portland Road. It underwent various redevelopments and name changes, becoming Great Portland Street station in 1933. It had a car showroom above the ticket hall at that time, reflecting the area’s strong links with the motoring industry.