Choosing Commercial Property To Lease In Aberdeen

Aberdeen's commercial property market is in a genuinely strong position right now. Office take-up in the city reached 289,695 sq ft in the first half of 2026, a 78% increase on the same period the previous year, and the strongest H1 performance against both the five-year average (up 115%) and the ten-year average (up 89%). The out-of-town market is particularly strong.

That demand isn't limited to one type of deal, either: Grade A space accounted for 63% of H1 2026 take-up, and the average deal size more than doubled during the period to 4,232 sq ft, showing the scale of commitment businesses are prepared to make to the right space in the right location.

Whether you're taking your first office, relocating, or expanding into a second site, choosing the right commercial space is one of the biggest decisions a business will make, so it's worth taking the time to get it right.

Why Most Businesses Lease Rather Than Buy

For most businesses, leasing is a more practical starting point than buying outright. It involves a much lower initial capital outlay than purchasing a commercial unit, and maintenance and repairs are typically bundled into the rent rather than being a separate cost you have to plan for.

It also gives you room to move. A shorter lease lets you adjust your space as your business grows or changes direction, which matters most for young or fast-changing companies who can't always predict what they'll need in a year's time.

Basing yourself within a larger business park or hub adds another advantage that's easy to overlook: proximity to other businesses creates real opportunities for cross-referrals and informal collaboration, on top of the practical benefits of shared security and having property management take care of the day-to-day issues.

Why Businesses Choose Aberdeen

Aberdeen's underlying economic fundamentals help explain that confidence. As of 2024, the city has an employment rate of 75.9%, ranking it 23rd out of 62 comparable UK cities. 61.0% of the working-age population holds the equivalent of NVQ4-level qualifications or above (the 5th highest proportion of any UK city), and average weekly earnings sit at £766, the 10th highest nationally.

For businesses weighing up where to base a team, that combination of a skilled workforce and strong average pay is a meaningful part of the case for Aberdeen.

Picking The Right Location

When choosing a commercial property, the location matters just as much as it does when looking for a home. For footfall-dependent businesses (retail, hospitality, anything relying on passing trade), an accessible, high-visibility location is essential. For other businesses, an out-of-town business park can offer better value, easier parking, and a more flexible working environment.

Around Aberdeen, the main options for office occupiers include the city centre, Westhill, Dyce, and Bridge of Don, each with a different character and commute profile, so it's worth thinking about which suits your team and your clients best.

Wherever you choose, transport and accessibility deserve real weight in the decision. Look for close links to main roads and, where possible, good public transport connections. Car parking can genuinely make or break a recruitment decision, and increasingly, so can EV charging points and secure bike storage, both worth asking about before you commit. If your business relies on staff or visitors with accessibility needs, check the building has step-free access, ramps or lifts to reach all areas.

What Type Of Space Does Your Business Need

Not every business needs a traditional office. Depending on what you do, you might be looking at an industrial workshop, a retail unit, or studio space instead, each with different requirements for layout, power and access. It's worth being clear on this from the outset so you're only viewing space that could actually work for you.

Serviced Office: increasingly popular, a serviced office offers a fully furnished space with services like electricity, broadband and telephone rolled into a single monthly fee. Also known as a managed office, it's often the most convenient option regardless of business size: you can take a single room or a whole floor, and because the building is managed for you, you can focus on running the business rather than the property. Agreements tend to be flexible, which suits businesses who want to keep their options open as they grow.

Take a look at our serviced offices in Aberdeen, or read our serviced office FAQs for more detail.

Leased (Traditional) Office Space: a more traditional lease, usually priced per square metre or square foot, hands you a building, floor or wing to fit out yourself, supplying your own furniture and equipment, and arranging your own utilities and services. The trade-off for that extra responsibility is flexibility: you can arrange and decorate the office space to match your brand and working style. Many landlords will design a bespoke lease package with you, or offer a fit-out package to help you get up and running (worth asking about when you first speak to them).

Browse our current availability to see what's on offer.

It's worth booking a viewing before you decide: at AEIP you can tour serviced offices and leased office space, as well as industrial units and lab space, in one visit to see what suits you best. Once you've got a shortlist, take the time to explore the surrounding area and see who your neighbouring businesses would be too, it tells you a lot about whether a location is the right fit.

Whichever route you take, make sure you're allowing enough space for your team. The legal minimum in the UK is 11 cubic metres per person, though most businesses will want more, depending on the nature of the work and how the space needs to adapt during a normal week.

Facilities And Local Amenities

Beyond the four walls, look closely at what's included. Fast, reliable fibre broadband is close to non-negotiable for most businesses today, so check what connectivity is included in the lease rather than assuming it. Check the kitchen and toilet facilities, showers if you need them, and any communal breakout spaces or meeting rooms, and factor in what's nearby too.

Don't overlook the basics either: heating and ventilation, a staffed or unstaffed reception area, telephone lines, and audiovisual capability for meeting rooms are all worth confirming before you commit, especially if any of them are essential to how your team works.

Cafés, shops and gyms within easy reach can make a real difference to staff wellbeing, and to how attractive the role is to prospective hires.

Planning For The Future

Don't choose office space based only on where your business is today. Think about where it'll be in the next two to five years. If you're growing, look for a property that either has room to expand, or gives you the option to add space later without starting your search from scratch. A business park such as AEIP is well suited to this: you can move to a different building within the same campus as your needs change, rather than relocating across the city.

The same logic applies in reverse. Economic conditions shift, and it's worth having the flexibility to reduce your footprint if you need to, without being tied into space you no longer need.

Hybrid working has changed this calculation for most businesses. It's not just about headcount: it's about how many people are actually in the office on a given day. Use a realistic number, not your total team size, to work out how much space you need, so you're not paying for desks that sit empty three days a week.

Negotiating Your Lease

Before signing anything, look past the headline rent and understand the full scope of what you're committing to. The following are all worth checking carefully.

Total cost of occupancy: Rent is rarely the only cost. Budget for business rates, service charges for the upkeep of common areas and grounds, building insurance, and VAT. If you're considering a serviced office, scrutinise exactly what “all-inclusive” covers: check whether high-speed internet, cleaning and meeting room access are included, or billed as extras.

Business rates: In Scotland, non-domestic (business) rates are based on your property's rateable value, an estimate of its annual open-market rent set by the local assessor. Following the 2026 revaluation, effective 1 April 2026 and based on rental values as at 1 April 2025, the Basic Property Rate is 48.1p for every pound of rateable value on properties up to £51,000, rising to 53.5p and 54.8p on higher-value properties. In practice, that means your rates bill will typically run to roughly half your property's estimated annual rent. Revaluations happen every few years, so it's worth checking your rateable value is current rather than assuming it hasn't changed.

You can get an estimate for a specific property using the Scottish Government's business rates calculator.

Lease duration and flexibility: Make sure the length of the lease matches your business plan. Understand the start and end dates, and how much flexibility you have to upsize, downsize, or leave early if your circumstances change. Check for a break clause (a fixed point during the lease when either party can end it early) and understand your options for renewal once the term ends, so you're not caught out either way. It's also worth asking whether the landlord offers portability within their wider portfolio: the ability to move to a larger unit if your team grows, without facing exit fees for breaking the original lease.

Rent reviews: Most leases include a rent review clause, allowing the landlord to increase the rent at set points during the term, often linked to inflation or the open market rate. Find out how often reviews happen and how the new rent will be calculated, so a future increase doesn't catch you off guard.

Maintenance and dilapidations: Clarify who's responsible for repairs and ongoing maintenance, and budget accordingly. Check whether the lease is “Full Repairing and Insuring” (you cover everything, including the building's roof and structure) or “Internal Repairing” (you're only responsible for your own office). Ask about dilapidations (your obligation to return the space to its original condition when you leave), and agree a Schedule of Condition before you move in, so you're not held liable for damage that was already there.

Use classification and restrictions: Commercial space is classified by what it can legally be used for, so check the building's use class covers what you actually plan to do there, particularly if you might diversify later. Some leases also include non-competition restrictions, limiting what type of business can operate elsewhere in the same building or development. It is something to look into early in the process, if you think it could affect you.

Subleasing (alienation rights): Check the alienation clause, which determines whether you're allowed to sublet all or part of your space to another business. If your working model shifts (say, to hybrid, or you need to downsize), the ability to sublet can turn unused desks into income rather than a sunk cost.

Getting It Right

Choosing commercial property in Aberdeen means balancing today's needs against where your business is headed, and understanding exactly what you're signing up to before you commit. Our management team at AEIP works with occupiers to tailor leases as closely as possible to what their business actually needs, so it's well worth getting in touch before you finalise your shortlist.