Key Note estimates the value of the apparent UK market for office furniture and accessories at £1.36bn in 2001 — an increase of 13.7 percent over the figure of £1.19bn recorded in 1997. This is similar to the rate of growth in UK gross domestic product (GDP) over the period. As the economy is now essentially service driven, there has been a big growth in demand for office staff, which in turn has generated greater demand for new offices and office refurbishments.

Businesses and other organisations with small or large bureaucracies have been profoundly affected by the changes in office equipment that have gradually been introduced over the past 15 to 20 years — changes that have necessitated new thinking in terms of the office furniture and the office layouts that are needed. The development of information technology has acted as the principal stimulus for the buying of new, purpose-built furniture — in particular, furniture made for open-plan offices, which have now become almost universal. Desks have become more compact, and more staff are sitting at workstations, which occupy less space than cellular desks. Seating has become more comfortable, while the storage of files has been made more concentrated, with easier and faster access than is possible with conventional filing cabinets. Trailing electrical wires have been virtually eliminated through the use of neat cable-management systems incorporated in desks or screens, and through the installation of a large number of concealed electrical sockets, which provide power to the growing volume of electronic equipment installed in offices.

The latter half of the 1990s saw sustained economic growth, and the major customers in the service industries took the optimistic view that high growth rates would prevail far into the future. The larger corporations and richer organisations invested in new office space or expensive refurbishments, with positive results for the office-furniture industry. Many of these organisations, however, are now retrenching because of changing economic circumstances, compounded by the terrorist attacks on the US in September 2001, and several well-known international enterprises have recently announced that they are reducing their staff levels and moving into smaller premises.

The UK market for office furniture is not buoyant at present, and it is anticipated that sales will fall in 2002. Ultimately, however, there will be a recovery from the present low point in the economic cycle. Governments in the developed countries — particularly the US — will stimulate their economies by various means, and this should result in increased demand for office furniture in the medium and longer term as business confidence returns. Meanwhile, there are proposals for massive increases in expenditure on public-sector infrastructures in the UK. Even if these increases are implemented only in part, it is very likely that they will be accompanied by a need for more offices to control and administer this expenditure.