They don’t come much bigger than the BBC. So when the media giant signed for a 146,000 sq ft prelet at Central Square, Cardiff, agents felt they were in for a good year.
A buoyant office market in Cardiff saw a rise of 13% year-on-year, with more than 747,000 sq ft of office space signed for in 2015.
The BBC deal also helped push the newly merged Cushman & Wakefield up to second place with an average deal size of 14,000 sq ft. But it failed to overtake Knight Frank, which retained top spot for the second year running.
Aside from this trophy deal, the average deal size fell marginally by 3%.
Winners and losers
Going up Cushman & Wakefield
Following its merger with DTZ, Cushman & Wakefield climbed to second place from seventh the previous year. Its rise was greatly helped by a 146,464 sq ft prelet to the BBC at Central Square. This was almost three times the size of the second biggest deal done in 2015 – 51,652 sq ft let to Public Health Wales at 2 Capital Quarter by Knight Frank & Fletcher Morgan.
Going down Cooke & Arkwright
Last year’s biggest fallers were Cooke & Arkwright, which dropped three places to fifth, and Emanuel Jones, which slipped to ninth from fifth in 2014. Both companies saw the amount of office space they disposed of in 2015 drop significantly from the figures achieved a year before.
