2011 office space take-up in UK regional market in line with 2010 figures

2011 office space take-up in UK regional market in line with 2010 figures

According to new research by property consultants Jones Lang LaSalle, activity levels within the UK's regional office market is heading towards a year of ‘much the same as the last ’ with aggregate take-up levels for the first nine months of 2011 indicating that year-end totals will be similar to 2010 levels.

Across the eight key markets including office space in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and the Western Corridor region monitored by Jones Lang LaSalle combined office take-up totalled over 1.5m sq ft in Q3. This reflected an increase of 22.9% compared to Q2 however volumes were down by -36.3% compared to the equivalent period last year. The economic frailties, which have been evident over recent months, have not yet been reflected in regional office take-up volumes.

Chris Hiatt, Chairman, National Office Agency at Jones Lang LaSalle said: “Overall leasing activity across the eight regional office markets in Q3 2011 was boosted by a number of larger deals in the Western Corridor region. In contrast, Bristol city centre saw no office leasing activity over 10,000 sq ft to be concluded. Given the mixed outlook for the economy, occupiers are expected to remain cautious over the medium term.”