A Manchester-based software company has expanded its office in the city centre, as it plans to boost headcount over the coming year.
Pimberly has taken fresh space across the eighth and ninth floors at St James’s Tower on a five-year lease.
The company employs more than 50 members of staff and aims to increase headcount by 50% over the next 12 months. Pimberly relocated its headquarters to St James’s Tower from Knutsford back in 2017, when it had just 15 members of staff.
According to OBI, the agency behind the letting, 45% of office take-up (about 500,000 sq ft) in Manchester last year was by technology, media and telecoms companies. OBI founder Will Lewis (pictured) told EG the Manchester tech market is now “the most active outside of London” and dominated by “home-grown” local businesses.
“Because Manchester got this reputation of breeding successful tech businesses, it then saw other technology companies, which weren’t based in the region, look to relocate their HQs or additional office space in the Manchester region,” he said.
“The other trend we saw was that tech companies that are based in the regional towns like Wilmslow, Stockport, Cheadle, Macclesfield, Altrincham – once they get to 150-200 [people] strong, they’re moving into the city.”
According to OBI, around 1m sq ft of office space was let in 2021, out of which 42% was let to new businesses coming to the region.
Lewis predicts that take-up will exceed 1.25m sq ft this year but added that supply is tight, with no new completions expected in 2022. Three sites are set to be delivered in Manchester in 2023.
“We think that in terms of real available supply, up and built, there will be a lot of pressure on that, which is forcing rents up in the city as well,” he said, noting that prices could hit a record of £40 per sq ft soon.
“The big deals to Cloud Imperium, Auto Cab and Octopus Energy were all at rents of circa £35 per sq ft,” he said. “The schemes where tech businesses like to cluster have comfortably established rents of £35 per sq ft and more prime, centrally-located buildings such as Landmark, 11 York Street and the Lincoln, they’re pushing rents in the late £30s already.”
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