EV Charging at London Office Blocks and Mixed-Use Buildings

London office blocks and mixed-use buildings, with shops on the ground floor and offices or flats above, often have a shared car park or a few bays at the back. Adding EV chargers here is different from a single home or a small business yard: there are several owners, tenants and supplies to think about. This post covers what building owners and managing agents should plan for. It is general information, not legal advice.

Who decides and who pays

In a multi-let building the freeholder or managing agent usually controls the car park, while tenants may want chargers for their own staff or residents. Agree early who owns the chargers, who pays for installation and electricity, and how costs are recovered, whether through the service charge or by each user paying per session. Check the leases, as some need landlord consent for alterations.

Which supply to use

• A landlord's supply serving the common parts and car park is often the simplest source.
• Larger sites may need a dedicated new supply for the chargers.
• Connecting chargers to an individual tenant's supply is possible but makes billing and future changes harder.

A survey will check the spare capacity and whether load management can share it between chargers. Commercial buildings often have three-phase supplies; see our post on three-phase EV chargers.

Plan for growth

Demand usually grows once the first chargers are in. Laying ducts and cable capacity for more bays now costs much less than digging up the car park later. Start with a few chargers and add more as tenants ask for them.

Access and billing

Networked chargers with RFID cards or an app let you control who can use each bay and bill users automatically. This avoids disputes between tenants and keeps the cost of electricity separate from the landlord's supply. See our guide to workplace EV chargers.

Fire safety and the building's electrics

Car parks under or next to occupied floors need extra care. Discuss the location of chargers with whoever is responsible for the fire risk assessment, and include the charger circuits in the building's regular electrical inspection.

Residents in the same building

If the building has flats, residents may also want to charge. See our guides to charging for flats and grants and building regulations for flats.

Energy North Ltd surveys and installs chargers for commercial and mixed-use buildings across North, East and West London with City & Guilds certified electricians. See our EV charger installation page to book a site survey.