Manchester office market quietens after busy spell
MANCHESTER’S office market picked up during the second quarter of 2010 but take-up of 304,000 sq ft of space in the city centre was still 4% lower than last year, according to the Manchester Office Agents Forum.
Its survey showed that 174,978 sq ft of space was taken during the second quarter – an increase of 36% on the preceding three months.
The biggest deals completed during the last quarter were Linder Myers’ acquisition of the 47,500 sq ft 55 Spring Gardens building for its own long term occupation and HL Interactive’s acquisition of 9,000 sq ft at Bruntwood’s City Tower.
The recent deal with Aegis for 36,000 sq ft of space at City Tower will be included in figures for the third quarter.
The survey said that a similar trend was underway in south Manchester where take-up increased by 38% on the first quarter, but a lack of deals over 10,000 sq ft meant that year-on-year the market declined by 31%.
David Thwaites, Head of office agency at Lambert Smith Hampton (LSH) and spokesperson for the forum, said:
“The slow start experienced early in 2011 followed an extremely strong end of year for 2010, when take-up levels were boosted by several large deals most notably by The Co-operative Group.
“It is understood that 2010 was an unprecedented year for occupational activity, which was always going to be difficult to maintain in the current climate. However, Manchester continues to outperform other competing regional centres and should benefit from several large requirements likely to be satisfied before the end of the year.”
