Manchester Update

Recent research by Avison Young and MOAF reveals that Manchester city centre office activity reached 491,300 sq ft during Q2. The figure was 64% above the quarterly average and brings the year to date total to over 800,000 sq ft. Metropolis ran 40 business leads featuring companies relocating in the Manchester market in Q2 2019.

The largest move of the quarter involved Spaces agreeing the largest flexible workspace deal in the UK outside London, taking 122,000 sq ft at 125 Deansgate.  It also understood that BT is close to taking a significant amount of space. Other large moves recently researched by Metropolis included relocations by Hewlett Packard, ME Group, Jones Lang Lasalle and BASF.

There is considerable activity from the flexible workspace sector as WeWork has signed for its fourth location in Manchester, 51,000 sq ft at Hyphen and there are more than half a dozen co-working operators
looking for substantial amounts of space. Business services tends to dominate take-up in Manchester, accounting for a third of take-up.

Advertising and public relations company WPP have committed to 82,000 sq ft which will be constructed at Enterprise City, St John’s. Barclays expanded by 33,000 sq ft at Piccadilly Place. The largest deal in the out-of-town market was to telecommunications company Verastar, which has agreed a 61,000 sq ft deal at One Dovecoat in Sale. Marks & Spencer took 12,000 sq ft at the Alexandra, The Home Office taking 20,490 sq ft at the Soapworks and Capgemini taking 11,360 sq ft at Venus.

Looking ahead, Metropolis is monitoring almost 40 medium/large firms looking for space in Manchester, together with a further 70 tenants approaching lease expiries over the next two years.

There is 1.6 million sq ft of space under construction in Manchester, of which 38% is pre-let. Of the million sq ft of speculative space under construction, key developments include Landmark Oxford Road, 100 Embankment and Circle Square. Grade A remains in good stock with new developments such as 125 Deansgate and Landmark at St Peter’s Square due to complete in 2019. Between them they will bring 305,000 sq ft to the market, 133,000 sq ft of this currently under offer to new tenants.

Leeds Offices Step Up

Recent research by Avison Young showed a strong start to 2019 in Leeds city centre with 222,000 sq ft take-up in 39 deals, 56% above the 10 year average. TMT occupiers accounted for the lion’s share of activity, and with Channel 4’s announcement that it intends to acquire 25,000 sq ft at Rushbond’s Majestic this commitment is likely to act as a further stimulus for the continued growth of this sector in the Leeds region. Banking and finance combined with professional services also accounted for a third of transactions.

Take up was led by the 71,000 sq ft letting at M&G’s Central Square to Link Asset Services, a share registry provider. There were also five transactions above 10,000 sq ft, the largest of which was 20,700 sq ft to WYG plc at 3 Sovereign Square as well as Unite Union (12,800 sq ft) and Opera North (11,000 sq ft). There were two further 5,000 sq ft deals to engineering companies BAM Nuttall and Buro Happold. The Government Hub announced its move in 2017 and will open in the next 12 months. Metropolis has published details of 20 future relocations and 36 companies considering a move in recent months.

Out-of-town mover activity was more subdued but there was also a greater than average level of take-up for deals below 5,000 sq ft across both markets.

Channel 4’s deal to lease three floors of the 66,000 sq ft Majestic, the former cinema located opposite the train station will account for one office scheme. Along with 34 Boar Lane (46,000 sq ft) this is currently undergoing a major refurbishment in the city centre. The speculative 4 Wellington Place (155,000 sq ft) is also under construction in the city centre and due for completion by the end of 2020. The only new development completed recently was the newly refurbished 33 Wellington Street of which 15,000 sq ft is still available.

Metropolis is tracking around 40 companies looking for office space in the Leeds area.

Central London Office Market May 2019

Central London office lettings in May 2019 reached 1.3 million sq ft, from 40 mid-large size office transactions (5,000 sq ft+) during the month. The May 2019 deals volume figure is well above the current monthly London average of 1m sq ft.

May was characterised by 14 office deals over 20,000 sq ft, which were led by EBRD’s 365,000 pre-let at 1-5 Bank Street, E14; along with the letting of the refurbished 25 Cannon Street to Brewin Dolphin; WeWork at Film House, Soho, W1; Parliamentary Estates taking space at 64 Victoria Street, SW1, plus Quilter at Senator House in EC4 .

Financial Services topped the table of lettings by sector, compiled by Metropolis, underpinned by the EBRD pre-let and Brewin Dolphin’s new City of London HQ. This was followed by business services led by WeWork and Signature (Regus) deals. Public services, led by Parliamentary Estates and professional services with Cadwalader and Comply were also well represented.

Office deals ‘under offer’ in central London stood at 3m sq ft, and pending deal volumes are healthy in nearly all sub-markets, with a number of deals in solicitor’s hands.

By area, the City accounted for 34% of the office floorspace let in May 2019 at 437,000 sq ft. The West End saw 350,000 sq ft of take-up. Docklands 365,000 sq ft, Midtown contributed 109,000 sq ft of lettings and Southbank 21,000 sq ft. Current London office demand is calculated to be around 3.7m sq ft in the City and 3m sq ft in the West End.

The volume of grade A (newly built or refurbished office space) let during the month, reached a healthy 960,000 sq ft sq ft (74% of the monthly total), as transactions for new space maintained the recent strong showing. Availability is dominated by secondhand space in all London markets.

Metropolis research is currently monitoring 625 ‘live’ London office requirements, including a large volume of requirements from the banking and finance sectors, with pending deals for space of up to 1.5m sq ft due to sign in the next few months.

Metropolis Movers January 2019

Metropolis ran 653 business leads on ‘office movers’ in January 2019. If all reported moves were added together, the total would exceed 16 million sq ft of office searches and transactions, researched by Metropolis’ unique market-led intelligence research team, last month.

London was the largest region with 336 business leads during month, but there were also strong showings from the North West (56), South East (50) and Yorkshire (44). Financial services, IT and business services were the largest business sectors planning relocations or agreeing moves during the month.

The relocation leads geographically covered the whole UK and provided details of the size of the office occupier,  likely move dates, a description of the reasons or trigger for the move, its business sector and full contact details including an address for written inquiries, at least one telephone number and in most cases an email address. Some of the largest planned moves and top picks amongst the 653 January leads, included those on occupiers Nomura Bank, BNY Mellon, Virtus Data, Brewin Dolphin and Merck & Co .

The January 2019 leads included 201 ‘identified requirements’ across the UK, including 120 in London. Which means that the company confirmed to researchers that it has current or future plans to search for alternative office space. Of these 201 searches, 117 were newly posted office searches, not previously notified to clients.

The most recent research also included 202 ‘potential movers,’ which were mainly longer-term leads on occupiers, considering a future relocation, however the occupier has yet to make a final decision on whether to search for offices.

Most of the remaining stories covered companies that have just signed for new office space and have set a move date, including some large pre-lets and companies inviting tenders for fit-out contracts. The shortest planned move date is just over a month away, whilst the longest was late 2021.

Recent research by Metropolis concluded that a conservative estimate of ‘live’ business tender opportunities on the database in recent months, exceeded £1bn of business.

 

Metropolis Movers – A 2018 Review

Metropolis ran over 6,500 business leads on ‘office movers’ in 2018. If all reported moves were added together the total would exceed 100 million sq ft of office searches and transactions, researched by Metropolis’ unique market-led intelligence research team, during the year.

London was the largest region with 2,850 business leads during the year, but there were also strong showings from the South East (710), North West (650), Yorkshire (525), Scotland (441). Financial services, IT and business services were the largest business sectors planning relocations or agreeing moves during the year.

The relocation leads geographically covered the whole UK and provided details of the size of the office occupier, company likely move dates, a description of the reasons for the move, its business sector and full contact details including an address for written inquiries, at least one telephone number and in most cases an email address. Some of the largest planned moves and top picks amongst the 2018 leads, included those on occupiers Facebook (new London HQ), AstraZeneca (Cambridge base), Chinese Embassy (new London HQ), Barclays Bank (Manchester and Glasgow campuses), WPP (new London base), Jane Street Capital, McCann Worldgroup and many, many more.

The 2018 leads included nearly 1,800 ‘identified requirements’, including 1,100 in London. Which means that the company confirmed to researchers that it has current or future plans to search for alternative office space. Of these 1,800 searches, nearly 1,200 were newly posted office searches, not previously notified to clients.

The research over the year also included 1,900 ‘potential movers.’ These were mainly longer-term leads on occupiers, considering a future relocation, but the occupier has yet to make a final decision on whether to search.

Most of the remaining stories covered companies that have just signed for new office space and have set a move date, including some large pre-lets and companies inviting tenders for fit-out contracts. The shortest planned move date is just over a month away, whilst the longest was late 2022.

Research by Metropolis during the year, concluded that a conservative estimate of ‘live’ business tender opportunities on the database in recent months, exceeded £1bn of business.

If you would like some information on flexible Metropolis subscription packages, then please email Andy or Paul at andy@metroinfo.co.uk or paul@metroinfo.co.uk, mentioning ‘Metropolis Blog’

Metropolis Movers October 2018

Metropolis ran 616 business leads on ‘office movers’ in October 2018. If all reported moves were added together the total would exceed 14 million sq ft of office searches and transactions, researched by Metropolis’ unique market-led intelligence research team, last month.

London was the largest region with 300 business leads during month, but there were also strong showings from the North West (61), South East (52) and Yorkshire (52). Financial services, IT and business services were the largest business sectors planning relocations or agreeing moves during the month.

The relocation leads geographically covered the whole UK and provided details of the size of the office occupier, company likely move dates, a description of the reasons for the move, its business sector and full contact details including an address for written inquiries, at least one telephone number and in most cases an email address. Some of the largest planned moves and top picks amongst the 616 October leads, included those on occupiers Shell UK, IBM, WPP,Jane Street Capital and McCann Worldgroup .

The October 2018 leads included 161 ‘identified requirements’, including 100 in London. Which means that the company confirmed to researchers that it has current or future plans to search for alternative office space. Of these 175 searches, 109 were newly posted office searches, not previously notified to clients.

The most recent research also included 176 ‘potential movers,’ which were mainly longer-term leads on occupiers, considering a future relocation, but the occupier has yet to make a final decision on whether to search.

Most of the remaining stories covered companies that have just signed for new office space and have set a move date, including some large pre-lets and companies inviting tenders for fit-out contracts. The shortest planned move date is just over a month away, whilst the longest was late 2021.

Recent research by Metropolis concluded that a conservative estimate of ‘live’ business tender opportunities on the database in recent months, exceeded £1bn of business.

If you would like some information on flexible Metropolis subscription packages, then please email Andy or Paul at andy@metroinfo.co.uk or paul@metroinfo.co.uk, mentioning ‘Metropolis Blog’

Metropolis Movers September 2018

Metropolis ran 535 business leads on ‘office movers’ in September 2018. If all reported moves were added together the total would exceed 13 million sq ft of office searches and transactions, researched by Metropolis’ unique market-led intelligence research team, last month.

London was the largest region with 270 business leads during month, but there were also strong showings from the South East (53),  North West (52) and Yorkshire (40). Financial services, IT and business services were the largest business sectors planning relocations or agreeing moves during the month.

The relocation leads geographically covered the whole UK and provided details of the size of the office occupier, company likely move dates, a description of the reasons for the move, its business sector and full contact details including an address for written inquiries, at least one telephone number and in most cases an email address. Some of the largest planned moves and top picks amongst the 535 September leads, included those on occupiers Apple, Santander, EBRD, PWC and UK Hydrographic .

The September 2018 leads included 175 ‘identified requirements’, including 105 in London. Which means that the company confirmed to researchers that it has current or future plans to search for alternative office space. Of these 175 searches, 110 were newly posted office searches, not previously notified to clients.

The most recent research also included 153 ‘potential movers,’ which were mainly longer-term leads on occupiers, considering a relocation, but the occupier has yet to make a final decision on whether to search.

Most of the remaining stories covered companies that have just signed for new office space and have set a move date, including some large pre-lets and companies inviting tenders for fit-out contracts. The shortest planned move date is just over a month away, whilst the longest was late 2021.

Recent research by Metropolis concluded that a conservative estimate of ‘live’ business tender opportunities on the database in recent months, exceeded £1bn of business.

If you would like some information on flexible Metropolis subscription packages, then please email Andy at andy@metroinfo.co.uk, mentioning ‘Metropolis Blog’

Central London Office Lettings in September 2018

Central London office lettings in September 2018 reached just over 1m sq ft from 50 mid-large size office transactions (5,000 sq ft+) during the month. The September 2018 figure is at the current monthly London average of 1m sq ft.

September was characterised by 15 office deals over 20,000 sq ft, which were led by the Linkedin’s 83,000 sq ft deal to pre-let ‘The Ray’ office scheme on Farringdon Road, EC1; Beazley Insurance took 75,000 sq ft pre-let at 22 Bishopsgate, EC3 and Live Nation took a 66,000 sq ft pre-let at 34-36 St John Street, EC1.

IT related services topped the table of lettings by sector, compiled by Metropolis, underpinned by the Linkedin deal. This was followed by business services led by a number of lettings to WeWork and Orega. Insurance, professional and media were also well represented. Office deals ‘under offer’ in central London remained at 3.9m sq ft, and pending deal volumes are healthy in nearly all sub-markets, with a number of deals pending.

By area, the City accounted for 31pc of the office floorspace let in September 2018 at 310,000 sq ft. The West End saw 150,000 sq ft of take-up. Midtown contributed 450,000 sq ft of lettings. Current London office demand is calculated to be around 3.8m sq ft in the City and 3.2m sq ft in the West End.

The volume of grade A (newly built or refurbished office space) let during the month, reached a healthy 530,000 sq ft sq ft (53% of the monthly total), as transactions for new space resumed their recent strong showing. Availability is dominated by secondhand space in all London markets.

Metropolis research is currently monitoring 640 ‘live’ London requirements, with deals for space of up to 1.7m sq ft due to sign in the next few months.

Cityoffices is close to completing on its autumn ‘Skyline Survey’ in London. Further details of office scheme planning applications and consents, with scheme by scheme detail are listed on the Cityoffices.net website. Details on Metropolis and the Cityoffices database from Andy King at andy@metroinfo.co.uk

Metropolis Movers in August 2018

Metropolis ran 601 business leads on ‘office movers’ in August 2018. If all reported moves were added together the total would exceed 15 million sq ft of office searches and transactions, researched by Metropolis’ unique market-led intelligence research team, last month.

London was the largest region with 309 business leads during month, but there were also strong showings from the South East (72),  North West (60) and Yorkshire (46). Financial services, IT and business services were the largest business sectors planning relocations or agreeing moves during the month.

The relocation leads geographically covered the whole UK and provided details of the size of the office occupier, company likely move dates, a description of the reasons for the move, its business sector and full contact details including an address for written inquiries, at least one telephone number and in most cases an email address. Some of the largest planned moves and top picks amongst the 601 July leads, included those on occupiers AstraZeneca, NTT Data, BNY Mellon, Booking.com and BGC International.

The August 2018 leads included 203 ‘identified requirements’, including 120 in London. Which means that the company confirmed to researchers that it has current or future plans to search for alternative office space. Of these 203 searches, 104 were newly posted office searches, not previously notified to clients.

The most recent research also included 133 ‘potential movers,’ which were mainly longer-term leads on occupiers, considering a relocation, but the occupier has yet to make a final decision on whether to search.

Most of the remaining stories covered companies that have just signed for new office space and have set a move date, including some large pre-lets and companies inviting tenders for fit-out contracts. The shortest planned move date is just over a month away, whilst the longest was late 2021.

Recent research by Metropolis concluded that a conservative estimate of ‘live’ business tender opportunities on the database in recent months, exceeded £1bn of business.

If you would like some information on flexible Metropolis subscription packages, then please email Andy at andy@metroinfo.co.uk, mentioning ‘Metropolis Blog’

Smaller end of the market

Recent research from property firm Colliers International suggests a higher demand for startup-sized offices in London and this in turn is putting a downward pressure on lease lengths.

Colliers say that across London in 2018 to date, transactions for space of 5,000 sq ft or less represented 78% of the total deals by number, up from 69% in 2015. Sub-2,500 sq ft offices represented 57% of the deals by number – the category’s highest level since 2012.

Metropolis saw 306 letting in the first six months of 2017 of over 5,000 sq ft each, although in the same period in 2018 this fell slightly to 278 deals.

Colliers, which is forecasting the average lease to fall to 5.5 years during the course of 2018. The property adviser says that 2018 is the third successive year in which the proportion of sub-5,000 sq ft deals has risen.

According to Colliers, the trend is particularly evident across Shoreditch, Soho and Paddington.

WeWork’s exposure to London is likely to exceed 3.5 million square foot in 2018, putting increasing pressure on landlords, particularly those with assets around the 5,000 sq ft mark, to offer a more flexible, hybrid product to attract occupiers.

Stuart Melrose, director and head of occupier advisory for London offices at Colliers, commented: “We are seeing demand for flexible office space under 5,000 sq ft approaching an all-time high.

Research by Metropolis of over 820 London office lettings between January and June 2018 suggests an average lease size of 8130 sq ft compared to nearly 9,000 sq ft in 2017. The average lease length is 5 years, but with over 40% of lettings of 4 years or less.

The implication of this trend could be that companies operating in the market may need to contend with smaller relocations, with occupiers moving more frequently.