Charging an EV at a London Office Block or Mixed-Use Building

Office blocks and mixed-use buildings in London are being asked the same question by tenants, visitors and facilities managers: where can we charge? This guide explains how EV charging works in a shared commercial building, who decides, who pays, and what has to be checked before the first charger goes on the wall.

Who owns the decision

In a multi-let building the freeholder or managing agent usually controls the car park and the electrical intake. A single tenant can rarely install a charger alone, because the cable route, the supply capacity and the metering all sit outside their demise. The practical route is a building-wide plan agreed with the landlord, even if only two or three bays get chargers in the first phase.

Supply capacity comes first

Most office blocks have a three-phase supply with spare capacity outside working hours, but very little spare at 11am on a Tuesday. A proper survey looks at the maximum demand records, the main switchgear and the distribution boards near the car park. Load management, which shares the available power across chargers so the building never trips its main fuse, is standard for anything beyond two or three units.

Cable routes in shared buildings

Basement car parks, podium decks and surface car parks each bring their own problems: long runs through fire compartments, sleeves through structural slabs, and containment that has to stay accessible. Fire stopping where cables pass between compartments is not optional, and the route needs sign-off from whoever manages the building's fire strategy.

Metering and billing

Mixed-use buildings often want three groups treated differently: staff of the office tenants, residents in the flats above, and visitors. Smart chargers with RFID or app access can bill each group at a different rate and report usage to the managing agent. Decide the billing model before you choose the hardware, because it changes which chargers are suitable.

Residents above the shops

Where flats sit over commercial units, the residential and commercial supplies are usually separate. Chargers for residents normally come off the landlord's residential supply with their own metering, so the office tenants are not paying for someone's overnight charge. The condition of the existing installation matters here: an EICR on the landlord's supply before the chargers are added avoids building new kit onto an old fault.

What a survey from us covers

Supply capacity and headroom, the cleanest cable routes, the number of bays that can be served in each phase, load management needs, metering options and a plain-English quote. Book an EV charger survey for a London office block or mixed-use building, or see everything Energy North installs across North, East and West London.

This guide is general information, not legal advice.