How Much Does Office Space Cost in Dundee? A 2026 Guide

A office space in Northwood House 1880

Search for office space in Dundee and you'll see prices quoted in three or four different ways: per square foot per year, per month, per desk, or simply "on application". None of them tell you what you'll actually pay. This guide sets out the real cost of an office in Dundee in 2026, from a conventional lease to a serviced licence, so you can compare like with like.

Leased Office Space costs in Dundee

Dundee is one of the more affordable cities in Scotland for office space. Current asking rents average around £9 per square foot, with available space ranging from roughly £3 to £16 per square foot depending on quality and location. At the top end, 2 Greenmarket, completed in May 2024 beside the railway station, offers 85,000 square feet of Grade A space with a BREEAM Excellent rating and panoramic city views, and sets the benchmark for prime rents. At the other end, older city-centre buildings and business park units can be had for a fraction of that.

For a small business, that translates roughly as follows. A 1,000 square foot office, enough for ten to fifteen desks comfortable with communal kitchens/reception and WCs, might have a headline rent of £9,000 to £16,000 a year in the city centre. That sounds manageable. It's also only the beginning.

What the headline rent leaves out

A traditional lease is priced on the space alone. Everything that makes the space usable is extra, and it adds up.

Business rates. In Scotland, non-domestic rates are charged on the property's rateable value at a poundage of around 50p in the pound. The Small Business Bonus Scheme gives full relief on properties with a rateable value up to £12,000, tapering above that, so very small offices may pay nothing, but a 1,000 square foot city-centre office can easily exceed the threshold and cost several thousand pounds a year. Check out this business rates guide for more information via Dundee City Council

Service charge. Multi-let buildings charge for common areas, lifts, cleaning and building management, typically a few pounds per square foot on top of the rent.

Utilities. Heating, lighting, water and broadband are the tenant's responsibility. For an older building, heating alone can be a significant sum through a Dundee winter.

Fit-out. An office let "as seen" needs desks, chairs, storage, meeting furniture, cabling, Wi-Fi and often decoration. A modest fit-out runs to tens of pounds per square foot; a good one, considerably more. That's capital spent before you've done a day's work.

Dilapidations. At the end of the lease, most agreements require you to return the space to its original condition, which means paying to strip out the fit-out you paid to install.

Term. Conventional leases in Dundee typically run five years or more, sometimes with a break at year three. If your business grows or shrinks, the office doesn't.

Put together, a "£12,000 a year" office can comfortably cost £25,000 to £30,000 in the first year and £18,000 to £22,000 a year thereafter, before you've counted the time spent managing it. Soon your affordable lease space becomes costly.

The serviced office alternative

A serviced office (sometimes known as a flexible workspace or Business Centre) replaces all of that with a single monthly fee. Serviced offices tend to target remote workers, freelancers , therapy businesses , charities and SMEs. The office footprint is generally small to mid sized office space and Coworking small office space (2-5 desk) , medium (6-19 desks) and occasionally large (20+ desks). Dundee offers a range of flexible workspaces with Northwood House being a prime example of a premium offering that is still a smart cost-effective choice for businesses.

At Northwood House 1880 in Broughty Ferry, private offices are priced per desk: £250 + VAT per month on the ground and second floors, £275 on the first floor. A two-person office starts at £550 + VAT per month; a four-person office is £1,000 to £1,100; a six-person office £1,650. Utilities and connectivity are included, the building is maintained, reception welcomes your visitors, and the gardens, kitchen and Grand Hall lounge come with the room.

The comparison for a team of six looks like this. A conventional 700 square foot office at £12 per square foot is £8,400 a year in rent, plus rates, service charge, utilities and a fit-out that could match the first year's rent again.

A six-person office at Northwood is £19,800 + VAT a year, with nothing else to pay and no capital outlay. The serviced option is rarely cheaper on paper in year one, but once fit-out, rates and utilities are counted, it's often close, and it comes with a 6 to 24 month licence instead of a five-year lease, a two-month deposit rather than a personal guarantee, and the ability to move to a bigger room when you need to.

Why is it more affordable to rent space at a flexible workspace that take a leased office space? Two factors: Things like kitchens , breakout , meeting rooms etc are shared and secondly, all services are included , so occupants benefit from shared all inclusive costs. So in a nutshell for small and medium sized businesses in Dundee a serviced office may be the better option.

Smaller still: rent a fixed desk rather than an private office in Broughty Ferry

If you're a sole trader or a business of one or two, an office of any kind may be more than you need - coworking may be the solution. A dedicated desk in a shared space gives you a permanent, lockable base without the overhead. At Northwood, a Dedicated Desk in the Morning Room is £250 + VAT per month on a three-month minimum, with 24/7 access. A Day Pass is £25. For many home workers in the Ferry, that's the whole office question answered.

How to compare properly

Whatever you're looking at, ask for the full annual cost, not the rent: rent, rates after relief, service charge, estimated utilities, fit-out amortised over the term, and exit costs. Then divide by the number of people who'll use the space. A cost per desk per month is the only figure that lets you compare a lease, a business park unit and a serviced office side by side.

And factor in what the numbers can't capture: how the space feels to clients, how long the commute is for the people who work there, and whether you'd rather spend your time running an office or running a business.

If you'd like to see how Northwood House compares for your team, book a viewing or check current availability.