There's plenty of room to save on office space for workers

Companies are wasting a whopping £42 million a year on office space they don't need.

According to a new report by DeVono Property, a property specialist that advises business including Eon, Red Bull, Toshiba and Autonomy, firms need much less space as the industry measure usually used is wrong and out of date.

Adam Landau, director of DeVono Property, said: "The industry accepted standard of 100 sq ft per person when measuring office space is an overcalculation by between 10 and 15 per cent.

"For far too long, it has become widely practised and accepted that office space measurements should be based on this. But having consulted with architects, building designers and our experience from acting for office occupiers, office space should be calculated at no more than between 85 and 90 square feet per person."

Home working, hot desking and flexible hours have also meant less space is needed than traditionally thought.

Landau added: "Telecoms, media and technology companies are largely leading the way for the future of how our offices will look, with breakout and brainstorming areas of increased social gathering leading to more collaborative work places – often with recreational spaces."