BENGALURU:
Building a best-in-class office in Bengaluru costs about $950 per sq m — nearly 39% less than the average cost of a mid-range office fit-out across the Asia-Pacific region, offering companies scope to invest the savings in better air quality, lighting, acoustics and workplace amenities, according to a JLL report.
The finding assumes significance as Bengaluru’s office market enters a phase where the focus is shifting from merely adding commercial space to improving the quality and performance of workplaces. JLL’s The Presence Dividend: What India must build, operate and measure differently to win the workplace of 2035 argues that India’s next office advantage will come from converting employee attendance into productivity, engagement and retention.
According to the report, the average fit-out cost for a medium-specification corporate office in Bengaluru is around $800 per sq m, against an APAC average of $1,550 per sq m. Mumbai and Delhi are also substantially cheaper than the regional average, at $900 and $850 per sq m respectively.
JLL says this cost differential provides an opportunity for companies in Bengaluru to spend more on features that influence how employees experience and use their workplaces, rather than treating fit-outs primarily as a cost exercise.
The report recommends that air quality, thermal comfort, daylight, acoustics, energy use and carbon emissions be treated as engineering requirements and measured after a building becomes operational. It suggests, for instance, continuous monitoring of carbon dioxide, fine particulate matter and chemical vapours, maintaining indoor temperatures within a managed 21-25°C band, and ensuring better access to natural light.
From attendance to presence
The report’s larger argument is that India has largely moved beyond the debate over whether employees will return to offices. What matters now is whether their presence produces greater value.
As many as 89% of Indian employers require employees to work from offices for at least three days a week, while 38% require five days. The average mandate is 3.8 days a week. However, employees report attending offices for an average of 3.2 days.
JLL terms the unrealised value between physical attendance and meaningful engagement the “Presence Dividend”.
The report says Indian employees simultaneously report high levels of workplace satisfaction and significant burnout and attrition risks. About 96% say they genuinely enjoy working from their office, while 85% say the office improves their productivity and 83% view their return-to-office mandate positively.
At the same time, two in five employees are at risk of leaving within a year, the report says, while 54% report moderate-to-high burnout.
For Bengaluru, which has a large concentration of technology companies and global capability centres, the issue could become increasingly important as employers seek to make office attendance meaningful rather than simply mandatory.
Bengaluru case shows potential for savings
The report features a Bengaluru example to demonstrate that improving workplace performance does not always require large capital expenditure.
In a 31,000-sq-m, 10-year-old twin-tower office in Bengaluru, operational changes reduced energy consumption by 12.4% and generated savings of ₹19.7 million over 31 months, with no capital expenditure.
The changes included switching off air-conditioning after working hours, putting unoccupied floors into eco mode and scheduling cooling zone by zone.
JLL argues that such buildings should be assessed not simply by energy consumed per square metre but by energy consumed per occupied hour. This, it says, allows companies to account for the fact that a fuller building may consume more energy while simultaneously delivering greater workplace utilisation.
550 million sq ft of Grade A space needs upgrades
The opportunity extends beyond new offices. JLL estimates that more than 550 million sq ft of India’s Grade A office stock needs upgrading, creating an investment opportunity of more than ₹45,000 crore across the country’s top seven markets.
The report estimates that suitable retrofits could result in a 15-30% rental premium. It identifies four levels of intervention, beginning with retro-commissioning existing systems and extending to deep retrofits and complete repositioning of assets.
JLL says around three-fifths of India’s Grade A stock requires upgrading to meet future occupier and sustainability standards. It also notes that green certification is no longer sufficient on its own, with around 66% of India’s Grade A stock already certified, compared with 39% in 2020.
Offices need to accommodate changing technology
The report also highlights the need for Bengaluru’s workplaces to become more flexible as technology-driven businesses operate on shorter planning cycles.
JLL says innovation-intensive sectors are increasingly working with 12-24-month business cycles, while AI hardware can have a refresh cycle of two to three years. It recommends modular workplaces that can be reconfigured without requiring companies to repeatedly replace partitions, furniture and other components.
A Bengaluru client cited in the report saved $132,176 by reusing every chair during a workplace change.
Focus remains a workplace weakness
Despite the emphasis on collaboration as a reason for bringing employees back, the report identifies a significant gap in the office environment: focused work.
About 52% of office time is spent on focused individual work, but only 16% of respondents consider the office the best place for it. In comparison, 54% identify home as the preferred environment for focused work.
Employees primarily cite socialising, internal meetings and team brainstorming among the reasons for coming to the office, while employers emphasise face-to-face collaboration, culture and belonging.
JLL recommends designing office floors around the actual sizes and working patterns of teams, including greater acoustic and visual privacy for employees who need to concentrate.
Changing how offices are measured
The report argues that the traditional metrics used to assess offices also need to change.
Instead of cost per square foot, JLL proposes experience per square foot. Instead of simply recording badge swipes, it recommends measuring engaged presence, alongside experience scores, burnout and retention. And instead of energy consumption per square foot, it proposes measuring energy per occupied hour.
This could eventually influence how office buildings are valued, with JLL envisaging a market in which workplace experience becomes part of rent and asset valuation.
The report identifies Bengaluru as one of the markets already positioned to compete in specialist assets such as AI-dense laboratories and compute-heavy facilities.
