Bristol agents are pleased with the rental performance of the office market, but it could turn out to be a double-edged sword. DTZ, Colliers CRE, Knight Frank and the newly merged Osmond Tricks/GVA Grimley, need to relocate within the city next year.
When asked if it was a good time to be looking for office space in Bristol, Philip Morton, director at DTZ, laughed.
Indeed, with agents looking to locate their workforce to a single floor and suitable space in short supply, there is a distinct possibility that these firms could be fighting each other for anything that becomes available.
“It would prove intriguing,” is Knight Frank partner Martin Booth’s polite response. “It would be a lot of fun being the letting agent.”
It is unlikely that one of these agents will end up setting a new headline rent, but the member of staff assigned to find space will be taking on a poisoned chalice. “You do all the work and take all the blame,” says King Sturge partner Jeremy Richards.
The GVA Grimley/Osmond Tricks merger is the latest in a long line of such activity over the past two years. During that period, Colliers CRE took over niche practice Lipfriend Dawson, and Savills bought a niche firm.
It is too early to say how the GVA Grimley and Osmond teams are melding together. But one agent who has been associated with GVA Grimley in Bristol for a long time one agent even described him as Mr Grimley has moved. Jeremy Brooks has taken a role with Prudential.
Some see the takeovers as a good thing because it reduces the overall number of agents and, therefore, the competition. There are still niche firms left, most notably Burston Cook and Williams Gunter Hardwick, but the popular consensus is that, even though there is nothing on the grapevine, future takeovers cannot be ruled out. With Atisreal still hungry after its acquisition of Fuller Peiser, it could be the firm to keep an eye on.
When EG visited Bristol in April and September, agents were predicting a rosy outlook. But were they right?
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Then According to Chris Howell at King Sturge, Rok Developments secured £24.50 per sq ft at its 101,000 sq ft Temple Quay. The last remaining floor at the building is now being marketed at £26 per sq ft. A prime headline rent of £26 per sq ft was achieved in September at Westmark’s 22-24 Queen Square Now “It took us years to break through the £20 per sq ft barrier, and I can see £27.50 per sq ft being achieved within the next 18 months,” says Stephen Lipfriend, head of Colliers CRE’s Bristol office. Then DTZ director Philip Morton believes the annual average of 500,000 sq ft will be achieved by the end of the year, even though only 200,000 sq ft of deals have been recorded so far. Now With Q3 figures now in, Knight Frank has take-up figures totalling 383,000 sq ft, and says that they are on schedule to reach 523,000 sq ft by the end of the year. Then Depending on whose figures you use, there is between 60,000 and 100,000 sq ft of grade A space available in the city centre. Now Knight Frank’s Bristol Market Activity report states that there will be no further completions until July 2007. However, it is predicting that three schemes Ashfield Land’s St Catherine’s Court, Charterfield/Cubex’s 32-36 Victoria Street and the first phase of HDG’s Finzels Reach will start by the end of the year or early next year. When complete, they will provide a total 221,000 sq ft. |
