Take up doubled on North West business parks was exceptional during the second half of 2014, with figures reaching the highest level since Bilfinger GVA’s biannual survey in 2009 -– surpassing even the levels of take-up seen during the dot.com boom.
Across the North West, office space was steadily leased on business parks at a healthy rate. Significant regional deals included John Lewis taking 24,000 sq ft at Towers in Didsbury and AMA 51,000 sq ft at Allday House, the largest deal in Birchwood, Warrington, where over half the activity in the North West occurred.
In the UK, availability fell for the fourth successive Bilfinger GVA survey to 15.7m sq ft at the end of 2014, compared to 18.6m sq ft at the end of 2012, while large North West business parks such as Birchwood and Daresbury are nearing existing capacity.
With national increased demand and a still modest level of completions, vacancy rates fell over the final six months of the year to 16.2% from 16.9% in June. This compares to the highest rate of 19.2% recorded at the end of 2012, and a low of 12.4% in 2007.
Construction activity gradually increased over the past four surveys to more than 2m sq ft at the end of 2014, the highest level since 2009. This compares to a historic low of 470,000 sq ft two years ago, but is still under half the 4.5m sq ft peak seen in 2008.
Chris Cheap, Senior Director at Bilfinger GVA, said: “While the majority of focus has been on activity within the regional centres, the North West’s decentralised market place has continued to transact office space at a healthy rate. The lack of pipeline brings us ever nearer to speculative office development outside of our regional city centres and, with some really significant requirements on the horizon, many decentralised markets are already in a ‘pre-let world’, a position that will only strengthen as stock is absorbed.
“A note of caution though is that the better performing parks are those that have embraced a mixed use environment and are offering more than just accessibility. Developers, landlords and investors who react to what occupiers seeking within this arena are those that are likely to be most successful.”
