The 378,000 sq ft prelet to the Government Property Unit at MEPC’s Wellington Place in Leeds has helped put the city on track to record full-year take-up of more than 1m sq ft for the first time.
According to office market data compiled by the Leeds Office Agents’ Forum, Q3 office take-up in the city centre reached 557,990 sq ft, a 345% increase compared with the same period last year.
Out-of-town activity rose by 81% over the same period, reaching 119,554 sq ft in Q3.
During the first nine months of this year, office take-up in the city centre alone had already hit a total of 797,722 sq ft.
In Q3, 37 city centre deals completed. The largest involved HMRC and NHS Digital, working with the Government Property Unit, which agreed a 378,000 sq ft prelet at Wellington Place on a 25-year lease. Not only was this the largest office letting in Leeds, it was also the biggest office deal to complete outside London so far this year.
Take-up volume was also boosted by four other deals of more than 10,000 sq ft including Sky Subscription Services’ 25, 740 sq ft deal at M&G Real Estate and Marrico’s Central Square, NHS Digital taking 12,303 sq ft at Whitehall II and Regus’s 10,200 sq ft deal at Pinnacle.
Jeff Pearey, JLL’s lead director for Yorkshire and the North East and spokesman for the LOAF, said: “Leasing activity in the traditionally quieter third quarter has been exceptionally strong. Even without the significant government prelet, office take-up in Leeds city centre was a healthy 177,990 sq ft, the highest quarterly figure since Q4 2015.
“All the signs point to office take-up in 2017 being the largest on record in Leeds, driven in part by the government letting but also other public sector transactions such as NHS Digital, and by the serviced office and TMT sectors.”
The Leeds Office Agents’ Forum was established in 2010. Its members include BNP Paribas, Carter Towler, Carter Jonas, CBRE, Colliers International, Cushman & Wakefield, Eddisons, Fox Lloyd Jones, Bilfinger GVA, JLL, Knight Frank, Lambert Smith Hampton, Ryden, Sanderson Weatherall, Savills and WSB.
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