Regional office take-up recovers from Covid low
Take-up of office space across regional cities has recovered from the lows of the pandemic, as occupiers make moves to firm up their real estate strategies.
Leasing activity across Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester totalled roughly 4m sq ft in 2021, according to JLL’s UK Big Six report. That figure is below the 10-year average of 4.6m sq ft, the agency said, but up by 1m sq ft on the 2020 total.
Manchester saw the highest level of take-up, reaching 1.1m sq ft, while Leeds was the only city to match its 10-year occupancy average at 624,000 sq ft. Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester were each 10% below their 10-year averages, while Edinburgh and Glasgow were further behind as a result of stricter home-working guidance in Scotland.
Take-up of office space across regional cities has recovered from the lows of the pandemic, as occupiers make moves to firm up their real estate strategies.
Leasing activity across Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester totalled roughly 4m sq ft in 2021, according to JLL’s UK Big Six report. That figure is below the 10-year average of 4.6m sq ft, the agency said, but up by 1m sq ft on the 2020 total.
Manchester saw the highest level of take-up, reaching 1.1m sq ft, while Leeds was the only city to match its 10-year occupancy average at 624,000 sq ft. Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester were each 10% below their 10-year averages, while Edinburgh and Glasgow were further behind as a result of stricter home-working guidance in Scotland.
The largest regional deal was tech firm Roku’s leasing of 115,066 sq ft at the new-build Circle Square in Manchester. This was followed by games developer Cloud Imperium taking 81,113 sq ft at Manchester Goods Yard.
In Leeds, law firm DLA Piper signed up for 83,015 sq ft of space at City Square House, while life sciences company Labcorp moved into a 68,345 sq ft office at Drapers Yard.
Investment activity was also up on the 2020 figure, at £1.8bn.
Jeff Pearey, head of UK regional office agency at JLL, said: “The office markets of the big six act as an important barometer for the health of the regions, and these figures point to a positive post-Covid resurgence which we’re seeing carry through from the second half of last year into 2022.
“Real estate and infrastructure investment are at the centre of rebalancing the UK’s unequal economic geography, and surpassing pre-pandemic occupancy levels this year is likely to spell good news for local growth.”
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