The Business Centre market began in the United States, and only started to emerge in the UK in the 1960s. The first centres were run on a kind of co-operative basis by several businesses who got together to share the cost of secretarial and other services. Next to develop were low-budget, low-status centres providing a service which many users found unsatisfactory. These have now given way to a new style of Business Centre, eager to attract the most reputable of companies and therefore offering high quality, well situated offices with a wide range of services and facilities. In the last ten years, the industry has expanded rapidly, and now includes prestigious buildings owned by major financial institutions and let to businesses, large and small, from all over the world. Although there is still a concentration in London, Business Centres have sprung up all over the UK.

A number of factors have contributed to this growth in the market, not least of these being the general trend towards employment in service industries rather than in manufacturing or agriculture. Government-led incentives have also helped to encourage small business ventures, and in a constantly changing financial environment, all types of businesses have begun to value the level of flexibility that Business Centres can offer. Improvements in travel and in IT have facilitated the location of satellites of larger companies in small units within a specific local marketplace, as they are now better able to maintain close communication links with their central office. Likewise, the improvements in air and rail travel and the building of motorways have enabled companies to set up business in premises close to a pleasant working environment whilst remaining accessible to clients throughout the UK and abroad.