Major surge in Leeds and Sheffield office take-up
YORKSHIRE’S two biggest cities, Sheffield and Leeds, have seen a surge in office take-up this year according to separate studies from DTZ and Invest Sheffield.
A surge in pre-letting has driven annual office take-up in Leeds to the highest level on record, according to DTZ and another study from Bilfinger GVA.
Bilfinger GVA’s Big Nine report highlights that during the second quarter of 2015, city centre take up increased by 65%, when compared with the same period last year.
Birmingham pipped Leeds to the post with the largest volume of Grade A office take-up according to DTZ, but the Yorkshire city was boosted by lettings for PwC and Addleshaw Goddard.
These lettings pushed overall take-up volume to 213,000 sq ft, 68% above the five year average.
Mark Holmes, surveyor at DTZ said: “As anticipated, Q2 delivered strong take-up with long-expected pre-lets to Equifax, Addleshaw Goodard and PWC. We expect to end the year ahead of the long term average, which could be further swelled by additional pre-lets in H2.
“Grade A supply will continue to dwindle until 2016 when 5 & 6 Wellington Place, Central Square, 3 Sovereign Square and 6 Queen Street will be delivered.
“Grade A rents will edge up to £27-£28 on new grade A product, with refurbishments quoting £24-£25, making the new space look relatively reasonable.”
In Sheffield, office take-up has increased around 100% according to Sheffield City COuncil’s Inward Investment team.
Occupier take up totalled over 305,000 sq ft across the city centre and suburbs of Sheffield, up from 140,000 sq ft in the same period in 2014.
54 deals have been completed this year so far, including The University of Sheffield taking over 65,000 sq ft at Velocity on Solly Street, XLN Telecom, who moved to the city in 2014 and expanded earlier this year by a further 14,000 sq ft at North Bank, and Sky Bet recently opening a new 6,000 sq ft office at Electric Works.
Peter Whiteley, partner at commercial estate agents Knight Frank said “This is great news for Sheffield. The level of demand shows that Sheffield continues to be a successful business location for growing companies.
“We hope that with new developments such as 3 St Paul’s Place underway and major refurbishments taking place we will continue to attract new companies and provide the much needed space for our growing business community.”
