Given the pandemic situation and lockdown, we’ve all known for some time now that it’s essential for many to be able to work from home. Factoring in noisy kids, needy pets, and busy partners into that equation just does not work, so having a designated office space, either that be within your home or in your garden, has been a welcome solution for many. To discover lockdown’s impact on desirability of having a designated WFH space in the UK, specifically the changing demand for garden offices, we analysed search trend data for 20 major cities. Read on to find out more…
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Average Monthly Search Volumes
To analyse location differences, we used Google Keyword Planner to collate the average monthly search volume between March 2020 and February 2021 for the phrase “garden office”. To ensure a representative view, raw figures were then weighted to each city’s population. Here’s what we found:
| Rank | City | Region | 2021 Population | Average Monthly Search Volume (March 2020-Feb 2021) | Weighted (1 in every X people searched) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bristol | SW | 617,280 | 720 | 857 |
| 2 | Leeds | W.Yorks | 455,123 | 390 | 1,167 |
| 3 | Edinburgh | Scotland | 464,990 | 390 | 1,192 |
| 4 | Manchester | NW | 395,515 | 320 | 1,236 |
| 5 | London | London | 7,556,900 | 5,400 | 1,399 |
| 6 | Birmingham | W.Mids | 984,333 | 590 | 1,668 |
| 7 | Coventry | W.Mids | 359,262 | 210 | 1,711 |
| 8 | Sheffield | S.Yorks | 685,368 | 390 | 1,757 |
| 9 | Glasgow | Scotland | 591,620 | 320 | 1,849 |
| 10 | Belfast | N. Ireland | 274,770 | 110 | 2,498 |
| 11 | Liverpool | NW | 864,122 | 320 | 2,700 |
| 12 | Kingston upon Hull | E.Yorks | 314,018 | 110 | 2,855 |
| 13 | Leicester | E.Mids | 508,916 | 170 | 2,994 |
| 14 | Stoke-on-Trent | W.Mids | 372,775 | 110 | 3,389 |
| 15 | Sunderland | NE | 335,415 | 70 | 4,792 |
| 16 | Nottingham | E.Mids | 729,977 | 140 | 5,214 |
| 17 | Preston | NW | 313,332 | 50 | 6,267 |
| 18 | Cardiff | Wales | 447,287 | 50 | 8,946 |
| 19 | Swansea | Wales | 300,352 | 30 | 10,012 |
| 20 | Newport | Wales | 306,844 | 10 | 30,684 |
In 2019, the UK’s average monthly search volume for the phrase “garden office” was 22,200. In 2020, however, this more than doubled to 49,500 – an increase of 123%. Looking into the city-level data, it was those based in Bristol, Leeds, Edinburgh, Manchester, and London that have been most likely to be searching for garden offices after a year of working in close proximity with family and spouses.
In Bristol, for every 857 people someone had searched for “garden office”. Taking the silver and bronze, it was one in every 1,167 in Leeds, and one in every 1,192 in Edinburgh. At the other end of the table, just one in every thirty thousand (30,684) people in Newport searched for garden offices, on average each month between March 2020 and February 2021.
YoY Increase
To get another view on changing demand, we also analysed the YoY (year-on-year) increase, focusing on February 2020 (pre- first lockdown) and February 2021. Here’s what we found:
| Rank | City | Search Volume (Feb 2020) | Search Volume (Feb 2021) | YOY Increase |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| =1 | Cardiff | 10 | 70 | 600.00% |
| =1 | Preston | 10 | 70 | 600.00% |
| 3 | Swansea | 10 | 50 | 400.00% |
| 4 | Sunderland | 20 | 90 | 350.00% |
| 5 | Coventry | 70 | 260 | 271.43% |
| =6 | Liverpool | 110 | 390 | 254.55% |
| =6 | Edinburgh | 110 | 390 | 254.55% |
| 8 | Leeds | 170 | 480 | 182.35% |
| 9 | Birmingham | 210 | 590 | 180.95% |
| =10 | Sheffield | 140 | 390 | 178.57% |
| =10 | Glasgow | 140 | 390 | 178.57% |
| =12 | Bristol | 320 | 880 | 175.00% |
| =12 | Kingston upon Hull | 40 | 110 | 175.00% |
| 14 | Leicester | 70 | 170 | 142.86% |
| 15 | Manchester | 140 | 320 | 128.57% |
| 16 | London | 2,400 | 5,400 | 125.00% |
| =17 | Stoke-on-Trent | 70 | 140 | 100.00% |
| =17 | Newport | 10 | 20 | 100.00% |
| =17 | Belfast | 70 | 140 | 100.00% |
| 20 | Nottingham | 90 | 170 | 88.89% |
Cardiff and Preston both saw the biggest year-on-year increases, with +600% - however, search volumes in these cities are low, so in some ways a larger percentage increase is to be expected. Swansea, Sunderland, and Coventry made up the remainder of the top five, with an increase of 400%, 350%, and 271% respectively.
Search volumes at least doubled in all cities analysed, except for Nottingham who saw an 89% increase. London saw an increase of 125%, increasing from 2,400 searches in February 2020 to 5,400 searches in February 2021.
Peak Months
The initial peak month per city were also analysed. The earliest peak analysis (the month with the highest search volume, or the initial month with the highest search volume if multiple months shared the highest search volume) per city, ordered firstly from earliest initial peak and then by search volume, showed the following:
| Peak month OR initial peak month | City | Searches |
|---|---|---|
| May 2020 | Bristol | 880 |
| Birmingham | 720 | |
| Sheffield | 480 | |
| Leeds | 480 | |
| Liverpool | 480 | |
| Glasgow | 480 | |
| Manchester | 390 | |
| Coventry | 320 | |
| Belfast | 260 | |
| June 2020 | London | 6,600 |
| Edinburgh | 480 | |
| Leicester | 210 | |
| Stoke-on-Trent | 170 | |
| Kingston upon Hull | 140 | |
| Cardiff | 110 | |
| Swansea | 70 | |
| Newport | 30 | |
| July 2020 | Nottingham | 210 |
| Oct 2020 | Preston | 90 |
| Jan 2021 | Sunderland | 90 |
Lockdown 1 started on 23 March 2020, and by as early as May 2020 residents across the country were already searching for solution to provide a designated office space – this was particularly the case for those based in Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow, Manchester, Coventry, and Belfast.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sunderland held out the longest, with searches peaking just a few months ago, in January 2021. Lockdown 2 began on 5 November 2020, and lockdown 3 commenced on 5 January 2021, so the third national lockdown may have been the breaking point for those based in the north-east city.
If you’re continuing to work from home in 2021, why not invest in your very own designated office space – our garden offices offer various different details, including substantial wall thickness, glazed double doors and large canopies that protect you from the elements.
