Still a relatively small part of the financial landscape in the UK, Europe and the US, multi-family offices have plenty of room to expand as the ranks of the world’s super-rich increase, notwithstanding current economic woes, managers at these companies recently told WealthBriefing.

“Nobody has really gone for the global route but I don’t see why you should not,” William Drake, co-founder of Lord North Street, a multi-family office focusing on investment, said.

“We have about 20 families themselves or find a supportive institution,” Mr Scott said, using the example of the Bessemer Trust, which has a strong business relationship with Stanhope Capital, a multi-family office in the UK.

“I thought that the idea of moving from a single family office to a multi-family office was pretty interesting,” he said, likening the idea to that of fractional ownership of private jets, in which people can share the cost of running a high-end service.

Sand Aire has been open to outside families since 2002 and it now caters for 17 families and employs 25 members of staff.

Some costs, such as IT and systems support, have fallen. However, the cost of finding suitable offices has risen in recent years, Mr Scott said.