There has been an 80% increase in new project starts in the largest UK cities excluding London, according to the latest Deloitte crane survey.
The UK Cities Crane Survey shows 45 new projects in Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh, in what is described as a “period of recovery” for the regional market, though the improving fortunes are not evenly spread.
Nearly two-thirds of new starts recorded between July 2012 and July 2013 were in the office, residential and student housing sectors, with most activity in the prelet market.
Geographically, most of the increase in activity was in Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Despite 11 new office starts in the five cities – the highest level since 2008 – the total floorspace start-up volume stands at a long-term low of 837,000 sq ft.
Retail registered a fall in activity as Trinity Leeds and the Buchanan Quarter in Glasgow completed, while residential saw a two-fold increase in the number of units being built.
However, the housing recovery was highly concentrated, with 1,400 homes under construction across three of the five city centres, but none at all in Glasgow and Leeds.
The upturn in Manchester was credited to the government’s Get Britain Building initiative.
At the same time, the pipeline of housing remains far below the 2007 peak of 10,000 new homes, while the pipeline of student housing stood at 2,900 beds, the highest since 2008.
The leisure market saw a small upturn, with five hotel starts during the year, along with five education schemes and five mixed-use projects.
chris.berkin@estatesgazette.com
