City of London Boost

November 30, 2016 Leave a comment

An October 2016 City of London office market survey by property adviser Ingleby Trice recorded 39,183 sq m (421,760 sq ft) of take-up in the core area: “a healthy rise of 35% over September and a material 76% rise over the 6 monthly average of 22,233 sq m (239,311 sq ft)”

The surveyor says say that October’s City take up was the highest since April and the highest since the June referendum. October’s take up was also this year’s second highest at just over twice the total in October 2015 and includes:

  • 8 Finsbury Circus, EC2 – 17,460 sq ft on 7th floor – placed under offer to an incoming tenant (see Metropolis database for further details).
  • River Building, Cannon Bridge, EC4 – 51,500 sq ft at Riverside 1 – placed under offer to Deliveroo who is moving from the West End. The refurbishment is due to complete in Q1 2017.
  • Cannon Place, 78 Cannon Street, EC4 – 83,937 sq ft on pt 7th & 6th floors to an as yet undisclosed occupier.
  • 99 Gresham Street, EC2 – 17,250 sq. ft on G & 1st floors – placed under offer to a, so far, mystery tenant.
  • The Scalpel, 52 Lime Street, EC3 – 46,983 sq ft on 2nd to 4th floors – placed under offer to an insurance tenant (see Metropolis for further details). The scheme is a new Grade A office tower development due to complete in Q4 2017;
  • 15 Bishopsgate, EC2 – 62,884 sq ft in the entire building – placed under offer. The office development due to complete in June 2017.

October’s City of London fringe take up of 43,194 sq m (464,940 sq ft) represents a significant 31% rise over September and was this year’s highest . Deals included:

  • C Space, 37-45 City Road, EC1 – 15,391 sq. ft on pt 3rd & 4th floors to NeuLion;
  • White Collar Factory, 100 City Road, EC1 – 25,360 sq ft on 14th & 15th floors – placed under offer to an incoming tenant (see Metropolis for further details);
  • 1&2 Paris Gardens, SE1 – 62,425 sq ft on LG, G & 1st to 4th floors under offer to a serviced office tenant;
  • The Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, SE1 – 65,000 sq ft on 6th & pt 7th floors placed under offer to a banking tenant (see Metropolis for further details);
  • Southbank Central, Vivo, Stamford Street, SE1 – 72,080 sq. ft on 1st to 3rd floors – placed under offer to an incoming tenant (see Metropolis for further details).

Details of these deals and many other impending London moves are to be found on http://www.metroinfo.co.uk

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Central London Office Lettings – October 2016

November 22, 2016 Leave a comment

Central London office lettings in October 2016 recorded over 900,000 sq ft of deals from 26 mid-large size transactions (5,000 sq ft+) during the month.

The October figure represents a rise of 26% from the 720,000 sq ft total in September and a rise in the number of deals over the month. However, much of the October total can be attributed to Apple’s 500,000 sq ft pre-let at Battersea Power Station and remainder of the month was disappointing and would have been the lowest monthly take-up figure since April 2012 .

October was characterised by 9 office deals over 20,000 sq ft, apart from Apple at Battersea; London Borough of Westminster took 57,000 sq ft at 5 Strand, WC2; Deliveroo took 51,000 sq ft at Cannon Bridge House, EC4 and The Economist took 25,000 sq ft at The Adelphi, WC2.

Computer services topped the table of lettings by sector, underpinned by the Apple deal, followed by media sector, boosted by deals to The Economist and Spark44. Public sector also performed well. Office deals under offer in central London edged up to around 3m sq ft and include two large pending deals in the City and one in Southbank. Enquiry levels are up slightly.

By area, the City accounted for only 18pc of the office floorspace let in October. The West End saw 100,000 sq ft of take-up. Midtown contributed 90,000 sq ft of transactions, but Southbank was predominant. Current London office demand is calculated to be around 4.5m sq ft in the City and 3.5m sq ft in the West End.

The volume of grade A (newly built or refurbished office space) let during the month reached 613,000 sq ft (65% of the total), as transactions for new space kept momentum.

New research currently being prepared by Metropolis and Cityoffices for a major report on London office construction, reveals that over 14m sq ft of offices are now underway in central London.

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London Office Construction Hits 8 Year High

November 16, 2016 Leave a comment

The Deloitte London Office Scheme Crane Survey Q3 2016 – powered by research from Metropolis and Cityoffices – has revealed that office construction in central London has reached an eight year high with 14.8m sq ft of office space under construction.

The survey, carried out by Cityoffices researchers for Deloitte Real Estate during September 2016, showed 40 new starts on office schemes (2.8m sq ft) in the capital compared to Q1 2016 and over 20 schemes at demolition stage.

The survey, which was covered in the Financial Times, The Telegraph and The Guardian amongst others, highlighted refurbishments as the biggest source of new starts, with a dip in the number of new builds, however researchers found that there is a wave of new build developments poised for starts in 2017.

Some 41% of space in under construction schemes has been pre-let and Metropolis is tracking the next wave of demand with details of over 600 companies with office searches underway in central London.

Full details on every scheme, including schemes in the future pipeline and incorporating details of the players involved, together with weekly scheme news, are to be found on the Cityoffices.net website, where an annual subscription is only £750.

Metropolis and Cityoffices are happy to talk to companies about further research and consultancy projects in the London office market.

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South Coast steady

November 14, 2016 Leave a comment

JLL has just published its Q3 2016 report on the ‘South Coast Metropole’, covering Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth. The headlines are that prime building office rents reached £21.50 per sq ft; there has been a 6% increase in take up from this time last year and there is a shortage of new office schemes coming through the pipeline. The market has generally stabilised after the initial shock of the Brexit vote.

In Q1 – Q3 2016 there has been a 16% increase in take-up compared to the same period last year. Take-up has risen from from 337,366 sq ft in 2013 to 419,160 sq ft in 2014 and to over 500,000 sq ft in 2015. The largest letting over the last year was Utilita Energy which took circa 52,000 sq ft at Hutwood Court, Chandler’s Ford. More recently Just Develop IT  took 25,000 sq ft at Segensworth; Peach Telecom took 14,000 sq ft at Fareham and One Insurance took 12,500 sq ft at Chandlers Ford.

The south coast remains a popular location for businesses in the defence, technology and financial sectors. JLL point to a trend for larger occupiers moving to out-of-town locations due to lack of suitable new schemes in city centres.

Metropolis is tracking over a dozen companies looking for over 10,000 sq ft of offices in Portsmouth, Southampton and Bournemouth.

The occupational market in the region is being been driven by lease events with companies consolidating into single buildings or relocating to take advantage of newly refurbished, better quality accommodation, often from cellular offices into more modern open plan space.

Speculative office development has been quiet with the exception of one building at Southampton Science Park and in Bournemouth, One Vision is currently under construction as part of a mixed use scheme where offices will be provided up to 83,300 sq ft by 2018. Development sites at Royal Pier Waterfront in Southampton, Lakeside Northarbour in Portsmouth and Chilcomb Centre in Winchester may as a result, see new offices built, as supply continues its steady decline.

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Metropolis Law Report Launch

November 4, 2016 Leave a comment

Metropolis is launching its Law Sector Office Activity in London and the UK 2017, today, for clients only.

The report covers Metropolis research on over 430 law firm deals, leases and requirements for London and UK office space researched over the last 12 months.

Key findings include:

Across the UK, there are currently 190,000 sq m (2.1m sq ft) of office requirements from 120 law firms;

There are requirements for over a million sq ft of alternative London office space by over 50 medium and large London law firms.

Outside London, law firm requirements reached 76 searches totalling 105,000 sq m (1.13m sq ft).

The report covers law firms with upcoming searches, those approaching lease expiries over the next two years and recently agreed deals, including a large number of named examples. The report also looks at factors triggering law firm moves and the outlook for the future, based on expansions, mergers and property costs.

See more at http://metropolisleads.uk/

For further details on becoming a Metropolis subscriber email Simon at simon@metroinfo.co.uk

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