Warrington office uptake defies expectations
A TOTAL take-up of 439,000 sq ft in the Warrington area has been reported by the Manchester Office Agents Forum (MOAF).
There were 102 transactions showing a 16% increase in deals compared to 2013 and an overall increase in take up by 11%.
Lettings to New Balance at Birchwood Point, Ombudsman Services at 3300 Daresbury Park and the nuclear engineering joint venture AMA at Allday House in Birchwood were key.
Warrington property consultancy BE Group’s Simon Roddam, who is a spokesman for MOAF, said a modest year had been expected following a strong performance in 2013.
“This was not the case with almost 137,000 sq ft of office take up delivered via three headquarter lettings,” he said.
“Due to the absence of new office development, we have seen more speculative refurbishments of secondary buildings in 2014.”
Birchwood Park attracted occupiers URS and Hyder Consulting, both taking a combined total of 33,000 sq ft at 401 Faraday Street, timed with the completion of the building’s £4m refurbishment project.
Allday House in Birchwood also attracted AMA to sign in December following a refurbishment to the 50,000 sq ft building by Pin Properties.
