Liverpool office take-up hits the headlines

Manchester’s continued growth may get most of the property headlines but Liverpool’s office sector is also making people sit up and take notice.

Central Liverpool’s office market take-up reached 150,000 sq ft in the third quarter of this year, according to new figures. And that is 45 per cent more than the five-yearly quarterly average of 103,195 sq ft.

According to Avison Young’s ‘Big Nine’ report, the city also secured the largest letting in the North West, and the third largest across all nine cities, with Sony taking 65,000 sq ft across three floors at Echo Place on Old Hall Street.

Sony will be relocating to the former Liverpool Echo building, which is currently being redeveloped into a mixed-use scheme that will include three floors of offices, a hotel and retail space.

Other significant deals that were completed during Q3 include, Bibby Line Group taking 20,800 sq ft at Exchange Flags and Onward Housing committing to 20,000 sq ft across two floors at the Watson Building on Renshaw Street.
There are a number of other significant lettings set to complete by the end of 2019 and Liverpool is set to have a strong finish to the year, according to the report.

However, Ian Steele, principal at Avison Young, sounds a note of caution looking forward. He says: “There has been a significant decrease in occupier demand over the past few months which is primarily down to the current economic uncertainty which has also resulted in occupiers becoming more cautious and delaying decisions on relocation.”

There is currently no new office space and a limited supply of Grade A refurbished space in Liverpool city centre, with the Spine at Paddington Village the only new scheme currently under construction.

The 160,000 sq ft office development, which is part pre-let to the Royal College of Physicians, is due for completion in September next year.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, plans have now been submitted for phase one of the Mayfield development in the centre of the city – a flagship 13-storey office building at the heart of The Mayfield Partnership’s transformational £1.4bn project.

Designed by architects Morris + Company, the 244,000 sq ft building, which will be known as The Poulton, will feature green, landscaped roof terraces.

And it will also offer views of the new 6.5-acre Mayfield Park to be laid out around the River Medlock that runs through the middle of the site.

The Poulton, designed to be home to innovation companies, has a double-height flexible ground floor which will be open to the public throughout the day and evening for uses that could include well-being activities, sport, leisure and co-working.

The application for The Poulton concludes the phase one planning application process that began when the partnership submitted detailed proposals for a smaller, 70,000 sq ft tech-hub office building, a 543-space multi-storey car park and a 6.5-acre public park – the first to be built in the city centre in 100 years.

Subject to consent, work will start on building phase one in mid-2020. The developers say the addition of the larger office building to the proposals is a response to strong occupier interest in Mayfield and in Manchester as a leading business location.

At 30-acres Mayfield has been described is one of the UK’s largest and most important regeneration opportunities.

The project is being brought forward by the Mayfield Partnership, a public-private venture made up of LCR, Manchester City Council, Transport for Greater Manchester and regeneration specialist U+I.

James Heather, development director for U+I and the Mayfield Partnership, says: “Manchester has an abundance of both brilliant home-grown businesses and an increasing roll-call of global companies looking to invest in the city, meaning there is strong demand for stunning workspaces, which the first phase of Mayfield will deliver in tandem with exceptional community assets.

“Mayfield’s scale and incredible connectivity makes it an opportunity unrivalled anywhere in the UK.”

The wider Mayfield regeneration will potentially provide 1,500 homes, 155,000 sq m of office space, a 650-bedroom hotel, retail and leisure space.

It is envisaged that Mayfield will create more than 10,000 office, retail, leisure and construction jobs.