In 2025, the British Council of Offices (BCO) proposed an overhaul of the grading system. This was backed by a JLL report for the BCO which showed 97 percent of professionals surveyed found the current system to be “not fit for purpose”.
The traditional A, B and C grading system is intended to classify commercial real estate based on age, location, technology and amenities. For offices, Grade A should mean a prime location in top business districts; great transport links; and high-end amenities such as fitness centres, smart technology and property management.
In theory, this system should steer investors in the right direction. But the current system is too broad, and as a result, investors are no longer able to treat it as a strong, independent standard for measuring quality.
Why the system is outdated
The main issue is that labels such as Grade A are now too often used as marketing shorthand rather than a reliable measure of qualit
