MORNING NEWS: Warning over Westminster office pipeline

Good morning, and welcome to your Thursday round-up of news, views and interviews from EG, plus some real estate-relevant stories from the papers. More glum news for Westminster’s office market following this week’s refusal of an office redevelopment proposed by the Pollen Estate on Savile Row. We dug into a report on the state of the Westminster and West End core office market prepared by Kontor, Knight Frank and Gerald Eve as part of that application and it isn’t pretty reading. The trio say there is “relatively little” floorspace in the planning pipeline and no offices above 60,000 sq ft available in the West End core. “The overall level at which space is currently being leased is well above the long-term average and driven by demand for the best quality space,” the report said. “The forecast pipeline of space comes nowhere near close to meeting this long-term average.” More here. If that reminds you of anything, it’s probably last week’s report from the Westminster Property Association and Arup, revealed exclusively in EG, analysing the best- and worst-case scenario over the coming decades for the borough’s economic growth under different approaches to planning policy. In the worst, said the WPA’s chair, the borough could face a “catastrophic decline” in office space. At least TikTok is getting more office space – OK, just a little. The developers of its new Farringdon HQ have decided scrap a small café on the ground floor now that they’ve let the entire building to the social media giant. The space will be used now as more offices for the tenant. And fair enough, it’s not like a cup of coffee is hard to find in Farringdon. Finally, a reminder that if you want to top the EG Radius leaderboard for the first quarter, you need to get those deals logged before the end of this week. More details here. All the news from EG, plus a selection of headlines from the nationals: Agencies warn Westminster office pipeline is ‘nowhere near’ demandSavills IM raises £123m for affordable housingL&G buys Stonebond’s Cambridge BTR siteReal estate resets as cities shiftA decade of development or a push back on progress?It’s time to prove whether you’re the UK’s best dealmakerA decade on, is there any low-cost living in London?Eqtec reaches settlement with Manchester developerLSH nabs duo from AY for Cardiff valuations teamScottish Opera files plans for new HQ and PBSA in GlasgowTakeaway taken away from TikTok HQ plansPocket Living founder steps back to take new chair roleFenwick flies but Savile Row sputters at Westminster planning meetingMileway appoints UK managing directorSpecialist investor buys £150m battery storage developmentFarmfoods’ Bristol distribution hub up for grabsCIBSE replaces BRE as NABERS UK scheme administratorHousing associations in England warn ‘we can’t build houses’ (£)Eurozone inflation rate falls to two-year low of 2.4% (£)US may be forced to delay interest rate cuts, warns Powell (£)House prices fell in March – here’s why homeowners shouldn’t be surprised (£)