Following a promising start to 2021 the Bristol office market has continued to demonstrate its resistance to ongoing uncertainty, reports the Bristol Office Agents Society. Strong activity across the board provides optimism for the rest of 2021 as restrictions are expected to ease and confidence is expected to increase.
Bristol’s City Centre market saw a further 20 deals complete in the second quarter with a healthy take up of 103,498sq ft. This brings the total take up for the first half of 2021 to 219,955sq ft which is 87% of the 5 year average for this period. The slight decrease in take up is perhaps to be expected given the ongoing pandemic, however with further deals in the pipeline and this healthy start to the year the market shows good promise.
This quarter has seen a lack of larger deals complete, which perhaps explains the lower take up, however several larger requirements have been circulated in the market and are expected to complete by the end of the year. The largest deal this quarter was BBC Studio’s acquisition of 60,251sq ft at Bridgewater House which forms part of the wider Finzels Reach scheme.
Headline rents in Bristol City Centre have remained stable at £38.50psf which demonstrates how tenants are prepared to pay for good quality office space which will help them to attract their staff back to the office, with wellbeing and sustainability are at the forefront of most acquisitions now. During the pandemic we have also seen the emergence of a new offering to the market with landlord’s providing fully fitted plug-and-play options which are becoming increasingly popular with tenants, who are paying rents in the region of £40.00psf.
Following a positive start to 2021, the out of town market has experienced a quieter second quarter with a total take up of 33,259sq ft from 12 lettings. This is behind both the 5 and 10 year average take up figures for the market.
Back in the city centre Umberslade have commenced development of the new build Cargo Work, which will provide 21,000 sq ft at Wapping Wharf and will be completed in Quarter 2, 2022. Royal London’s speculative development of 93,000sq ft at The Distillery has completed and is understood to have very good interest from a variety of tenants. In addition to this new space to the market there are also several comprehensive refurbishments underway which will provide high quality space to the market in the interim period including V7’s Pivot + Mark and Northwood’s 10 Victoria Street.
Andrew Hardwick, Partner at Carter Jonas commented “Occupier sentiment has been remarkably resilient since the start of the pandemic. There is no consistent theme about what Covid means for office occupation but the signs are very positive for the post-Covid completions such as Cargo Work and refurbishments such as Crescent Centre.”
Colliers’ office agency director James Preece added: “Bristol has most definitely seen an increase in activity in Q2, which is yet to translate to the take up figures. It is evident that the smaller companies have been quicker to make decisions with 80% of the city centre transactions being sub 3,000 sq ft. Viewing numbers are up and it’s worth noting that this year’s Q2 take up has almost double the amount of space taken up compared to the same time last year”.
