ISG InteriorExterior and Overbury continue to dominate the London fit-out market, according to the latest tables from Metropolis Property Research.

ISG won 29% of London office fit-out work in the three years to 31 December 2006, compared with 30% in the two years to the end of 2005. It maintained its lead over rival Overbury, which gained 22% of new projects in the three years to the end of 2006, compared with 23% in the 24 months to 31 December 2005.

There was more movement at the lower end of the list, where Bovis Lend Lease made its first appearance on the table, with a 4% share of the London office market. Watesincreased its share to 6% from 5%. Como, Mace鈥檚 specialist project contracting subsidiary, moved into third place from fifth with a market share of 10%, after winning over 170,000ft2 of new work in 2006.

Andy King, the managing director of Metropolis Property Research, who wrote the report, said: 鈥淚t will be interesting to see if ISG can maintain that lead, but the question is, who is the next contender?鈥

He added that the nature of the market for fit-out contractors has changed. The increase in the amount of pre-let means that there can be more than 12 months between the appointment of an architect and the appointment of a contractor.

King said: 鈥淭he past six months have seen a increase in pre-let activity. This means architects and fit-out contractors have to start building relationships with clients earlier.鈥

Large pre-lets include KPMG at 15 Canada Square, Canary Wharf and the Man Group at Riverbank House, London.

Among the architects, Swanke Hayden Connell took the number one spot with a 17% share. In the previous table it was in seventh place, with an 8% share. MCM moves down one position to second place with a market share of 15%. Meanwhile Woods Bagot, with a 3% market share, and TTSP, with 2%, made their first appearances in the table.

The survey analysed all office lettings in central London of more than 20,000ft2 over the three year period.

鈥 ISG posted a 17% rise in pre-tax profit to 拢4.2m for the six months to 31 December. It lost 拢500,000 on the reorganisation of recent acquisition ISG Totty.

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