Tech occupiers are driving a resurgence in skyscrapers across North America with London next to feel the impact, according to a Knight Frank report released today.
The Global Cities Skyscraper report reveals an increased appetite among technology and digital companies in the US for high-rise office space.
New York came second in the report’s skyscraper index and is now closing in on the world’s number-one city, Hong Kong, according to the Knight Frank. New York’s rise is driven in part by increased demand in high-rise office space in the city from TMT tenants including LinkedIn and Shutterstock.
Knight Frank’s chief economist James Roberts said that London was next in line to see the results of the TMT sector’s shift from low-rise industrial space to tall building.
He said: “In this sector you start to see trends emerging in northern California, usually San Francisco, then New York, then London, which is followed by the US regions and then the rest of the world.
“It is an economic and a psychological pattern and we would definitely expect to see the trend emerging in London next. It already is with Salesforce moving into the Heron Tower.”
Roberts puts the shift down to tighter constraints on space in major cities and the impact of the move made by tech companies including Spotify, Pinterest and Google in the Bay Area over the past five years as they followed young talent from Silicon Valley to the better-connected, buzzier San Francisco.
Read this week’s Estates Gazette for an indepth analysis of today’s skyscrapers and if they will make sense to tomorrow’s occupiers.
