We've just placed Rainbow Chicken into their new regional head office at One on Langford in Westville: a five-year lease on around 2 270m², facilitated by Matthew O'Donoghue on our team. It's a significant transaction for us and it's a useful window into what's actually happening in the Durban office market right now.
Because the story people tell about offices, that the market is still limping out of Covid, isn't the story I'm seeing on the ground, specifically in Durban. Let me walk you through the deal and what it says about where the good office space in Durban has gone.
"A lot of people think the office market in Durban is still recovering from Covid. That's nonsense. It has recovered."
Why Rainbow Chicken Chose Westville
Start with the location, because for Rainbow that was the whole decision. Rainbow is a listed, well-known South African business with operations spread across the province: a processing plant and other operations out in the Hammarsdale area, farms in the region and staff who come from all over Durban. When you've got a team travelling in from every direction, the location of the office isn't a detail. It's the deal.
That's why they needed to stay in and around Westville. It sits centrally for their people and it's easy to get to. In an office decision, accessibility for staff usually beats everything else on the list.
One on Langford ticked the boxes a modern corporate occupier actually cares about:
Well-maintained and genuinely modern
Parking, noticeably more than most buildings offer, which matters more than people expect
Secure, with easy access
Well positioned along the M13, with real branding exposure
Close to shopping centres and amenities for staff
Modernising The Workspace: From Cubicles to a Trendy Open-Plan Floor
The building was right. The space inside it was not, at least not yet. When Rainbow took it over, it was still fitted for the previous tenant, a warren of small cubicle offices that simply didn't work for how they wanted to operate. So, they did a complete refit.
What came out of it is a modern, open-plan floor built around collaboration: boardrooms, meeting rooms, kitchens and canteens, comfortable breakout areas, new furniture and contemporary finishes throughout. More than the look, you can feel it in the staff. The whole environment is designed around their well-being and productivity and the lift in mood is obvious when you walk through.
That's not a one-off. It's exactly the direction I've watched offices move since Covid.
"What Covid taught us is that we don't need such big office spaces. It refined the working environment: more open plan, more collaborative."
Durban’s Office Rental Market Has Recovered
That refit points to something bigger and it's the part I want tenants and landlords to hear clearly: the Durban office market has performed exceptionally well over the last two years. The idea that it's still recovering is nonsense.
What Covid and the looting actually did wasn't kill demand. It decentralised it. Offices have moved out of the CBD and into the upmarket suburbs and that's created strong demand for quality, well-located, well-managed buildings in the leading areas. Look across Durban's prime office nodes, from Westville out toward Umhlanga and up into the Highway area, and there honestly isn't much good space available.
One warning if you're searching online: the internet is a poor guide to how much is really available. You'll see the same building advertised by several brokers from different angles, so it looks like a vast pool of stock. It isn't. Strip out the duplicates and the genuinely good, well-located space is thin and the best of it never reaches the portals at all.
Many of Durban’s Commercial Real Estate Deals Never Hit the Market
The Rainbow deal proves it. One on Langford wasn’t on the market at all. Rainbow approached us through our online marketing to source roughly 1500 m² and when we showed them what was actually available, it was clear how little there was in the Westville area. So, they gave us the room to run with it and we placed them in a building that was never advertised anywhere. A quiet, off-market deal.
That's becoming the norm for the good space. Over the past year we've facilitated about six off-market deals, transactions that were never publicly listed. They're driven entirely by relationships: knowing the right asset managers and property managers and being close enough to the stock to spot an opportunity before it's advertised. Quite often the opportunity is there; you just have to scrape the surface to uncover it.
"This property never came to the market. In a market this tight, that's increasingly how the good space trades."
What’s Happened to Durban’s CBD Office Market?
The flip side of the decentralisation story is the CBD and it isn't pretty. Vacancies there are very high. Most corporate head offices have left; what remains is weighted toward government divisions and businesses tied to CBD trade.
The reasons are simple and they're the same reasons everyone gives me: security, accessibility, parking and congestion. Parking is limited and expensive and the congestion along with security just doesn't work for a modern business. Everybody wants easy accessibility now and the CBD can't offer it.
Positive B-grade Office Stock Transformation
There's a more encouraging trend running alongside this: older B-grade buildings being upgraded, usually in stages, into space tenants actually want.
We've been involved in one in Westville that has undergone significant upgrades over the last 18 months: modernised common areas, energy-efficient lighting, new air-conditioning. The result is roughly a 40% saving on electricity and a big saving on water, all of which benefits the tenants directly. We took that building over at about 60% occupancy; it's now fully tenanted at market-related rentals.
I think we'll see more of this. The catch is that it only works if you buy the building at the right price to begin with.
Common Mistakes Companies Make When Looking for an Office in Durban
So, the good space exists and more is being created. The trick is not tripping over yourself when you go to lease it. Choosing office space catches out more businesses than choosing a warehouse does, because the costs are less obvious. These are the ones I see:
Not planning for growth. You take a few more people and suddenly the floor is too small. Size the space for where you're going, not just where you are.
Not understanding the operating costs. Rental is only part of it. Time and again a tenant gets their first invoice and is upset to find an air-conditioning levy or a generator levy they didn't know about. Get the full picture of what sits on top of the rent before you sign.
Underestimating parking. We are forever dealing with parking. It's a genuine constraint and it's worth checking properly.
We run a space-planning service for exactly this, working out what a business actually needs, with growth built in, before they commit.
"Choosing the right office is about far more than square metres and rental rates."
The Hybrid-Work Misconception: Don’t Make This Mistake
That first mistake, not planning for growth, has a modern twist worth calling out on its own. It's a trap I've watched more than one company fall into: assuming a hybrid model permanently shrinks the office they need and taking a smaller space on that basis.
For some businesses, like IT, software and a lot of the computer industries, a hybrid model genuinely works and their people can work from home well. But the wider misconception that Covid changed everything for good is gone. Companies are bringing staff back into the office and for good reason: you can't build a culture with everyone at home and you can't train and mentor people who aren't there. The biggest lessons in business come from sitting alongside someone more experienced than you and that only happens in an office.
So, the businesses that signed for a small footprint on a hybrid assumption are, within a year or two, taking on more staff and running short of space. Plan for the people you'll have, not the ones who'll dial in.
"You can't build a culture with everyone working from home. And you can't teach someone who isn't there."
Should Companies Buy or Rent Offices in Durban?
Rainbow Chicken leased rather than bought and that raises a question I'm often asked: why would a cash-strong company lease at all? The honest answer most of them give me is straightforward. They're not in the property business and they don't want to be. Managing a property portfolio carries its own responsibilities and headaches and they'd rather put that energy into their core business. So, they lease and get on with what they do.
Personally, if you're going to occupy it yourself, I'd rather pay off my own bond than someone else's. But it's genuinely company-specific and for a lot of businesses leasing, is the right call.
What I Tell Business Looking For Office Space in Durban
Put all of that together and it comes down to this. Choosing the right office is more than square metres and a rental rate. The right workplace strengthens your culture, lifts productivity, supports your staff's well-being and reinforces your brand. Every business has its own operational requirements and finding the space that fits, takes real market insight.
If you're weighing up a move:
Look past the rent and the floor area to culture, productivity and brand.
Plan for growth over the life of the lease.
Get the full operating cost levies and all, before you sign.
Check parking and accessibility properly; your staff will judge the office on both.
Work with a specialist who takes the time to understand your business; the where, the what and the how, before they start showing you space.
That last point is how we work at Deal Core. We get to understand a client's business first, then match them to premises that support where they're going. That's what turned an empty, dated floor into Rainbow Chicken's new home and it's the part of this job I find most satisfying.
Looking for a New Office to Rent in Durban?
Planning a relocation or an upgrade? If the Rainbow Chicken move taught us anything, it's that your ideal office is probably unlisted and may not be on the market at all. Through long-established relationships with the right asset and property managers and a deep understanding of Durban's office market, finding that hidden gem is exactly Deal Core’s speciality. Contact us for a no-obligation free assessment and let’s find your next office space together.
Ryan Berry, Deal Core Property Group 📞 083 607 8128 ✉️ ryan@dealcore.co.za 🌐 dealcore.co.za