Outgrowing Your Office Mid-Term: How to Upsize in Cardiff Without Moving Building
You hired two people and the room stopped working. Here is the short answer: in a multi-suite business centre you can usually move up a size part-way through your agreement, and you do it by transferring suites inside the same building rather than relocating. Same address. Same broadband. Same phone number. Same post, same parking space, same drive to work for everyone on the team.
That distinction is worth real money. Moving building costs you your address, your Google listing, your headed paper and a week of lost work. Moving room costs you a Saturday with a trolley. Most teams that outgrow a small suite here step straight into a six-person office in Cardiff or the room next door, and carry on as normal on the Monday. If the office already feels wrong, ring us on 029 2089 4700 and we will tell you honestly whether you need more floor or a better-planned room.
Five rungs, one address, one Saturday between them
- 01 Two person
- 02 Three person
- 03 Six person
- 04 Large bright
- 05 Thirty person
Tell us your headcount now and your headcount in six months. We will say whether the suite you are in can be re-planned, or whether you have genuinely run out of floor and need the next rung up.
More floor, or a better-planned room? Two numbers and we will give you a straight answer.
How do I know I have actually outgrown my office?
You have outgrown it when the room starts changing how you work rather than supporting it. Clutter is a tidying problem. Behaviour change is a space problem.
Someone takes client calls in the car park. Someone else works from home on Thursdays not because they want to, but because there is no seat. A candidate comes in for an interview and you hold it in the cafe, because the office would feel like an ambush.
Signals you have outgrown your office
Headcount went up, floor area did not
NowNo acoustic separation left in the room
NowYou cannot host, so you meet elsewhere and pay for it
NowA fire-safety problem as well as a space problem
NowSpace is now capping revenue
ImmediatelyFurniture ran out before the space did
Within a quarterHot-desking by accident rather than by design
Within a quarterYou are already paying for space you do not have
Within a quarterOne signal, re-plan the room. Three or more, you need more floor. There is no third option.
What is the real square footage per person?
Allow roughly 60 to 100 sq ft per desk once you have accounted for real life. Not the desk footprint. The desk, the chair pushed back, the walkway behind it, a pedestal drawer, a coat, a bag, and enough clearance for the door to open without hitting anyone.
People get this wrong because they measure furniture and forget the human. The lower end of the range, around 60 sq ft a head, works for a lean team on laptops with almost no paper. The upper end, closer to 100 sq ft, is where you land if people keep files, sample boxes, second monitors, or if half the room is on the phone all day.
Rough working numbers:
- 3 people: roughly 180 to 300 sq ft
- 4 people: roughly 240 to 400 sq ft
- 6 people: roughly 360 to 600 sq ft
- 8 people: roughly 480 to 800 sq ft
Our suites run from around 80 sq ft to about 1,200 sq ft, covering teams of one to thirty. A genuine ladder, rather than two sizes and a waiting list. For how those numbers translate into meeting and event capacity, see our companion piece on room capacity for up to 25 people.
One caution. Teams size the room for the headcount they have today, sign, then hire two more within four months. If your pipeline says seven by spring, size for seven.
Can you change office size mid-contract in Cardiff?
In a serviced building, usually yes. Most tenants assume they are stuck because they are thinking like a leaseholder.
A lease ties you to one fixed area for a fixed term, and getting out early means break clauses, dilapidations and a solicitor. A licence is a different animal. You are licensed to occupy space within a building, and the operator has an obvious interest in keeping a growing tenant inside it rather than watching them walk down the road. We set the two models side by side in our look at a flexible licence versus a traditional office contract.
We are independent and owner-run, we have let offices on Ffordd Pengam since 2005, and our terms are flexible, monthly or longer. No regional approvals chain sits between you and a decision. If a bigger suite is free and you need it, you are talking to the person who can say yes.
What an internal move involves:
- Tell us the number. Not “we need more space” but “we are six now, probably eight by November.”
- Look at what is free. Departures are usually known well in advance, so we can show you what is empty and what is coming up.
- Rebase the agreement onto the new suite. New room, new rate, new licence. Notice on the old room handled internally, not by solicitors.
- We prep the room. Every suite is furnished, so desks, chairs and storage are already there. IT re-patches the broadband and moves your extension.
- You move. Laptops, monitors, files and the kettle, down a corridor. Most teams do it on a Saturday.
The one honest caveat is availability. We cannot conjure a suite that is occupied. Which is exactly why it pays to tell us you are growing before it becomes an emergency. Even a rough forecast means we can watch the board for you.
“Assisting us with office moves on 3 occasions to accommodate the growth of our business.”Original CAD Solutions, tenant since 2012
Three moves, one address, no relocation. That is the whole argument on this page, made by somebody who has actually done it rather than by us.
The ladder of suites at Alexandra Gate
Most teams climb this ladder rather than move across town.
Where teams usually go next
Swipe to compare → tap any card
You can climb every rung of that without once telling a client your address has changed.
Next rung
Stand in the next size up before you decide you cannot afford it
Floor plans do not tell you whether four people can push their chairs back at once. An empty suite does, in about ten minutes, and you will know immediately whether it is the right rung.
- Furnished before you walk in
- Fibre already serving the room
- Free parking for the whole team
- Independent and owner-run since 2005
What does an in-building upsize cost versus relocating?
Moving suites inside the building costs you a weekend and a change to your monthly fee. Relocating costs you thousands, and most of it never appears in the quote you are comparing.
Eleven of the thirteen cost you nothing. Two cost you a Saturday.
- No cost at all, 11 of 13
- Costs you a weekend, 2 of 13
Scroll the table → hover any row to focus it
| Cost or task | Upsize inside Alexandra Gate | Relocate to a new building |
|---|---|---|
| Broadband installCosts nothing | None: the building’s fibre already serves the room, so it is a re-patch | New line install, engineer visits, lead times often measured in weeks |
| Phone numbersCosts nothing | Keep them | Port or replace, then update everything that shows them |
| FurnitureCosts nothing | Included, already in the new suite | Buy or hire, plus delivery and build |
| Fit-out and decorationCosts nothing | None | Partitioning, flooring, power, data, paint |
| Dilapidations on the old spaceCosts nothing | None | Reinstatement to original condition, often a nasty final bill |
| DowntimeCosts a Saturday | Typically one weekend | Days at minimum, sometimes a fortnight of half-productivity |
| Address changesCosts nothing | None | Companies House, HMRC, bank, insurers, invoices, contracts, website |
| Google Business ProfileCosts nothing | Unchanged | Address edit, re-verification, a hit to local visibility |
| Signage and stationeryCosts nothing | None | New signage, reprinted cards and letterheads |
| ParkingCosts nothing | Same free on-site spaces | Renegotiate, or pay per space |
| Staff commuteCosts nothing | Unchanged | Everyone re-plans, and some people resent it |
| RemovalsCosts a Saturday | A trolley and a lift | Removals firm, van, packing, a day gone |
| Agent, solicitor, surveyCosts nothing | None | Legal fees, agency fees, schedule of condition |
The line that catches people out is the address change. It is not one job. It is Companies House, your bank, your insurers, your invoice templates, every contract with a notice clause, your Google Business Profile, your website footer and your directory listings, and then six months of post arriving at a door you no longer occupy. Staying put deletes the whole list.
If you want to sanity-check the monthly step-up against everything a relocation would add, our breakdown of what actually changes a Cardiff serviced office price shows what belongs in a fair comparison.
Should you take the bigger office before you need it?
Often, yes, if the gap is small and the growth is real. Paying a bit more for three months beats losing the suite you needed.
Take the next suite up early. Five people heading to seven? Moving into a six-to-eight person suite now means you hire into space rather than hiring and then scrambling. The extra monthly cost is usually a few hundred pounds. One delayed hire, or one candidate who takes the other offer because your office looked cramped at interview, costs more than that.
Absorb the peak with rooms you do not pay for daily. If the pressure is occasional, a monthly all-hands, quarterly client presentations, a two-week project sprint, book a meeting room or the boardroom instead of renting square footage you use four days a month. The boardroom seats up to 25. The training room covers onboarding weeks. Buy floor for people. Rent floor for events.
By the day
Rent the room for the day, not the square footage for the year
A quarterly all-hands does not justify a permanently bigger suite. Book the room for the morning it happens and put the rest of your budget into desks people sit at every day. The rooms are in the same building, so nobody drives anywhere.
- Meeting room, seats up to 8
- Training room, seats up to 12
- Boardroom, seats up to 25, private floor with lift access
- Free visitor parking
What does upsizing cost per month at Alexandra Gate?
Guide bands, all excluding VAT. They move with availability, suite and term, so confirm current pricing with the centre before you plan around them.
- 1 to 2 people: roughly £250 to £450
- 2 to 3 people: roughly £400 to £700
- 3 to 4 people: roughly £550 to £800
- 4 to 6 people: roughly £800 to £1,250
- 6 to 8 people: roughly £800 to £950, with larger 7 to 8 person suites running to roughly £1,400 to £1,600
- 8 to 12 people: roughly £1,500 to £1,800
IT and telecoms sit on a separate line, roughly £30 to £75 + VAT a month. Meeting and training room hire starts from around £60 + VAT per day; the boardroom from around £100 to £200 + VAT per day. Introductory offers are available, subject to the terms taken and the length of agreement.
Read the jump properly before you flinch at it. A three-person suite at the top of its band and a six-person suite at the bottom of its band are not far apart, and the six-person room gives you somewhere to put the next two hires. The step from one building to another runs into thousands.
Inside the monthly figure sits a furnished suite, daily cleaning, 24/7 fob access, CCTV, manned reception Monday to Friday from roughly 8:30am to 4:45pm with mail sorted daily and outgoing post franked, fibre broadband from shared access up to dedicated 500 Mbps lines, and free on-site parking.
What stays the same when you move suite
Everything outside the four walls. That is the entire point of doing it this way.
You keep the address: 2 Alexandra Gate, Ffordd Pengam, Pengam Green, Cardiff, CF24 2SA. You keep the A48 Eastern Avenue run into town, roughly two miles from the city centre, and the M4 Junction 30 approach at Cardiff Gate for anyone driving in from Newport, Caerphilly or Bridgend, with Ocean Park and the Cardiff Bay link road to the south. You keep the two-minute drive to Newport Road Retail Park, Tesco Extra, fuel and cash points. You keep the free on-site parking, the electric car charging, the 24/7 fob access, the reception desk that already knows your couriers, the daily cleaning and the on-site cafe. The full list sits on our facilities and amenities page.
Unchanged
Your staff drive to the same building
Your clients park in the same car park. Your Google listing does not move. The reception desk still knows your couriers by name. You just walk through a different door.
- Same CF24 2SA address on every document
- Same free on-site parking and EV charging
- Same cafe, same reception, same commute
FAQs
Can I upsize my office mid-contract, or do I have to wait until it ends?
In most serviced offices you can upsize mid-term. Our terms at Alexandra Gate are flexible licences, monthly or longer, and an internal transfer is handled as a new agreement against the new suite rather than a breach of the old one. We would far rather move a growing tenant up a size than lose them to another building. The practical constraint is availability, not the contract, which is why it helps to tell us early that you are growing.
How much office space do I need per person in Cardiff?
Roughly 60 to 100 sq ft per desk once you allow for circulation, chair travel, bags, storage and the door swing. A four-person team needs somewhere around 240 to 400 sq ft, not four desks’ worth of tabletop. Teams doing heavy phone work, frequent huddles or storing stock and paper should sit at the top of that range.
Is it cheaper to upsize inside the building or to move building entirely?
Upsizing inside the building is almost always cheaper. The only cost that really changes is the monthly licence fee for the larger suite. Relocating adds dilapidations, fit-out, furniture, a new broadband install, removals, downtime, address changes across Companies House and your bank, reprinted stationery, a Google Business Profile update, agent and legal fees, and clients turning up at the wrong door for months afterwards.
Will my address, phone number and broadband change if I move suite?
No. You stay at 2 Alexandra Gate, Ffordd Pengam, Pengam Green, Cardiff, CF24 2SA. Fibre is already in the building, so your connection is re-patched rather than reinstalled, and your telephony moves with you. There is nothing to update at Companies House, on your invoices or on your Google Business Profile.
What if I only need more space for meetings, not more desks?
Then do not buy more desks. Hire a room. We have meeting rooms, a training room and a boardroom that seats up to 25 on site. Meeting and training room hire starts from around £60 + VAT per day and the boardroom from around £100 to £200 + VAT per day, far less than permanently renting floor space you occupy twice a month. If you need a Cardiff business address without taking a desk at all, our virtual office services cover that separately.
Four things worth working out before you move up
Ready to move up a size?
If the room stopped working the day you hired someone, do not sit in it for another two quarters hoping it improves. Tell us your headcount now and your headcount in six months, and we will tell you honestly what is free, what is coming free, and roughly what it will cost.
- Ten minutes in an empty suite beats any floor plan
- We would rather move you upstairs than lose you across the city
- Independent and owner-run since 2005
Or email info@alexandragate.co.uk with your headcount now and in six months.
Book a viewing →All figures are guide bands and exclude VAT. Suite availability changes, so confirm current pricing and what is free with the centre.
