Manchester’s office market has seen the highest take-up in four years, with 802,000 sq ft of new lettings signed in the first half of the year, according to DTZ.
However, the city will face a shortage of space in the next two to three years owing to a lag in construction activity, said Rob Yates, director of office agency at DTZ’s Manchester office.
There is around 600,000 sq ft of office space in the development pipeline, but this will take some time to feed through, according to DTZ’s Q2 Manchester Snapshot. Construction has started on three schemes and a fourth is likely to start later this year.
Notable deals during the period include Barclay’s letting of 82,000 sq ft at 4 Piccadilly Place in January, consolidating several smaller offices around the city, and law firm Slater Gordon’s take-up of 104,000 sq ft at 58 Moseley Street following its acquisition of a number of smaller practices.
Towergate Insurance, which took 35,000 sq ft at Hardman Square , is one of a number of firms that made inward moves to Manchester city centre from out-of-town locations or from elsewhere in the country. Another was Autotrader, which took 60,000 st ft at 1 First Street in an inward move from Warrington.
“We expect Q3 and Q4 2014 to show continued levels of activity. There are a number of deals due to commit plus larger transactions that may come to fruition. We expect the final take-up figure for 2014 to be as high as 1.2m to 1.4m sq ft,” said Yates.
sophia.furber@estatesgazette.com
