Serviced office players go mad for Manchester
For years the Manchester office market has been dominated by professional, business and consumer services as the biggest group of occupiers across its expanding office market, with the TMT sector firmly in second place.
But last year the creatives started to make a move with TMT representing around 30% of take-up in the city, and business and consumer services only 10%.
Fast-forward to the first half of 2019 and it is all change again. The serviced office operators, which have been dominating take-up in the capital, are now making a charge in Manchester. According to the latest figures from Savills, serviced office providers represented 25% of take-up in H1 2019, just ahead of the TMT sector with 24% of the market and well ahead of business and consumer services, which remain steadfast at 10% of take-up.
For years the Manchester office market has been dominated by professional, business and consumer services as the biggest group of occupiers across its expanding office market, with the TMT sector firmly in second place.
But last year the creatives started to make a move with TMT representing around 30% of take-up in the city, and business and consumer services only 10%.
Fast-forward to the first half of 2019 and it is all change again. The serviced office operators, which have been dominating take-up in the capital, are now making a charge in Manchester. According to the latest figures from Savills, serviced office providers represented 25% of take-up in H1 2019, just ahead of the TMT sector with 24% of the market and well ahead of business and consumer services, which remain steadfast at 10% of take-up.
Richard Lowe, director of office agency at Savills in Manchester, said: “With the substantial growth of the serviced office market, we can expect there to be further change in 2019 when it comes to take-up by sector.
Spaces, WeWork and Huckletree have all taken space in Manchester city centre so far this year, with the largest office letting in the city being to Spaces at 125 Deansgate, with the serviced office concept agreeing to let the entirety of the 117,000 sq ft building.”
Grade-A take-up continues to drive activity in the city, perhaps driven by a lack of affordable office space, with grade-A availability currently sitting at just 340,000 sq ft.
However, Savills said that with an additional 850,000 sq ft of new-build grade-A space coming to the market in the next two years, it expects to see further significant grade-A transactions within the city as occupiers capitalise on newly available prime space.
Photo: Mark Campbell/Shutterstock
