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Regional office market outlook: JLL's Big 6 breakfast

By Nadia Elghamry on February 28, 2013 9:59 AM | No TrackBacks
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Jones Lang LaSalle's Big 6 Office Market Outlook Breakfast this morning was packed out. 

If that's a sign no-one really knows what's going on in the region then I don't know what is. 

Things learnt from this morning's presentation: Manchester has completely overtaken Birmingham as the number 1 city (in terms of take-up, see pie chart below) this year; overseas investors are 'irrantional and emotional' (JLL's words not mine); and they need a bigger room for next year's breakfast.


Source: JLL

Headline bullet points are below:

Job creation
London been the driver but, have seen job creation in wider regional economy.

Regional job creation winners: Leeds & Manchester, led by professional services.

Others have more reliance on public services so are losing a bit more ground.

Grade A take-up for all the Big 6 grade would fit in the Shard with 100,000 sq ft left over. 

Birmingham deals down 5% Grade A down 40%

Bristol Grade A down 80%. JLL will be passing round a hat later for the Bristol agents

Scotland
Edinburgh Grade A up 60%
Glasgow deals up grade A down 60%
One city seen more pre lets than anywhere else in big 6 and even London - yes, you've guessed it Aberdeen. Out of town rents £27 per sq ft and JLL believe it will remain buoyant and robust. Take up was 850,000 sq ft in 2012, but there is no Grade A supply left.


Continue reading Regional office market outlook: JLL's Big 6 breakfast.


DJD report: Construction starts in key UK cities drop further

By Stacey Meadwell on September 28, 2012 11:51 AM | No TrackBacks
Drivers Jonas Deloitte published its annual UK crane survey today and the findings make for depressing reading but won't cause too much surprise. Looking at the key UK cities: Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh and Glasgow it finds that construction starts have dropped 36% in the 12 months to July compared to previous 12 months period.

Offices, retail and residential schemes (over 10,000 sq ft) are the hardest to find with most activity restricted to student housing and education (click on diagram for a bigger version).

crane survey snapshot.jpg

Out of the five cities, it is Birmingham which has seen the most activity, jumping from 8 to 14 starts in 12 months. The comprehensive refurbishment of Five Brindleyplace is the most notable office scheme but this is eclipsed by the huge redevelopment of New Street Station which will include a 250,000 sq ft John Lewis.

At the other end of the scale are Scotland's two biggest cities: Edinburgh and Glasgow. Neither has seen any construction starts although both have projects underway - Edinburgh had a relatively busy crane survey last time around. Most notable development that is already underway is Edinburgh city council's speculative office development Atria which completes early next year. 

It is a similar picture for Glasgow in that there is development activity already underway, mainly around the 2014 Commonwealth Games site in the East End.

You can read the full report on DJ Deloitte's website


The best and the worst of the regional office markets in Q1

By Stacey Meadwell on May 16, 2012 3:12 PM | No TrackBacks
Knight Frank released its amusingly named ROMP report yesterday (that's Regional Office Market Presentation - just don't google ROMP on its own on your office computer - well maybe a colleagues) in which it compares and contrasts the market performance in 11 regional cities around the UK. 

One of the most interesting graphs within the report shows Q1 2012 take up vs the average quarterly take up for 2011 ie how well has each city done this year so far? Now you have to look at the figures in context but before we do that here is how the 11 cities rank in terms of take up in Q1 2012 vs its 2011 quarterly average:

  1. Leeds +50%
  2. Glasgow +32%
  3. Edinburgh +23%
  4. Manchester -5%
  5. Liverpool -11%
  6. Bristol -16%
  7. Sheffield -29%
  8. Cardiff -40%
  9. Aberdeen -165%
  10. Birmingham -209%
  11. Newcastle -376%
Now the context bit, Leeds had a good 2011 but it was its first year of increased take up since 2007 and the Q1 figure includes one particularly large deal of over 60,000 sq ft (Medical Protection Society's purchase of 2 & 3 Victoria Place). 

Glasgow and Edinburgh on the other hand, while having had storming starts to Q1 compared to everywhere else, actually didn't have great 2011 for office take up so they are coming from a lower base.

The flip side of that is Aberdeen which looks like it has had a terrible start to the year when in fact it had a phenomenal 2011 recording the highest average quarterly take up of all 11 cities and it still ranks the fifth highest take up for Q1 2012.

And then there is Newcastle, while there was a brief filip last year, office take up in the city actually peaked in 2004. Ouch.

Are you up to the Buccleuch Property Challenge?

By Stacey Meadwell on May 10, 2012 9:01 AM | No TrackBacks
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It's a big year for sport. The London 2012 Olympics, Euro 2012 are all sporting highlights to look forward. But there's one event that should be on every property company's calender and that's the annual Buccleuch Property Challenge writes Lisa Pilkington.

This year, Estates Gazette is delighted to be teaming up with Buccleuch Property as the event's media sponsor and we want to see you there.

The no-nonsense team building event will take place on 7th September at the Duke of Buccleuch's historic Drumlanrig Castle and Queensberry Estate in Edinburgh.

The perennially popular event will feature up to a hundred teams made up of property professionals from across the UK and this year it will be in aid of Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres, as part of a year-long fundraising campaign by the Edinburgh-based company.

Teams will endure a six hour test of mental and physical endurance, split into three stages. These include a 50km cycle, kayaking and an orienteering course on foot (I'm worn out just thinking about it) and finishes with prize giving and a BBQ for all participants (that's better).

A variety of other fundraising activity will be held before and after The Buccleuch Property Challenge in September to try and raise more than £10,000 for Maggie's.

Buccleuch MD David Peck says the firm chose to support Maggie's this year as it plays a crucial role supporting cancer patients across the country. "Having now visited the centre in Edinburgh I have been able to see at first-hand the excellent job that the people at Maggie's do and the unique environment that the centre has created."

So if you, your colleagues and clients are up for a challenge it's time to step up. I'll be covering the event - see you there!

Pic cap from left to right: James Macleod, Buccleuch Property Finance Director, Nick Waugh, Buccleuch Commercial Property Director , David Peck, Buccleuch Property Managing Director


EG's Edinburgh Focus reception

By Nadia Elghamry on March 19, 2012 10:41 AM | No TrackBacks


Well if it's good enough for Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess then it is good enough for EG Focus. Over 40 Edinburgh agents crammed into Tigerlilly on Friday for EG's annual Scotland reception, where apparently a scene from the film One Day was shot. 

It was a good day for Ryden. The firm was named most active agents in the EGi deals competition and Iain Taylor was crowned most active deal maker. 

The fate of the local office market was much discussed with the jury out on whether things were about to get much better or stagnate further. With supply thin on the ground and at least some occupiers looking for space some felt this would push up rents. Others felt that the Scottish capital was still feeling the pain from the banking crisis and talk of devolution could be the death knell for inward investors eyeing the city. 

You can find the Edinburgh synopsis by clicking here and a slideshow of the pictures from the event will be available here shortly. 

Picture by John Need

Scotland Focus synopsis

By Nadia Elghamry on March 19, 2012 9:56 AM | No TrackBacks
Published May 19
Edinburgh offices 
Analysis of market conditions
Contact: Stacey Meadwell, regional editor, 020 7911 1819, stacey.meadwell@estatesgazette.com

Edinburgh funding 
Analysis of the funding climate for commercial development 
Contact: Nadia Elghamry, deputy regional editor, 020 7911 1849, nadia.elghamry@estatesgazette.com
 
Aberdeen
Analysis of market conditions
Contact: Lisa Pilkington, Scotland correspondent, 07771 673 458, lisa.pilkington@estatesgazette.com

Market health check  
If you think you can supply up to date office, industrial and retail stats for Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen (up to end of Q1 2012) contact stacey.meadwell@estatesgazette.com

Please contact writers directly, by Friday 20 April, for more detail about their individual features
 

Pictures: Edinburgh city council's spec office development Atria

By Stacey Meadwell on March 15, 2012 5:09 PM | No TrackBacks

Office building site tours are like hen's teeth at this point in the economic cycle, owing almost entirely to the lack of development. So when the opportunity arose to have a look around Edinburgh city council's bold 200,000 sq ft speculative office development called Atria for myself it was hard to resist.

Wellies, high-viz and hard hat all on, the schemes agents Hugh Rutherford of Montagu Evans and Ben Reed of Jones Lang LaSalle took me and EG's online editor Nathan Cross up to the top floor where the concrete floor has just started being poured. Even against the overcast sky, the panoramic views of the city and its famous castle were breathtaking. 

We couldn't resist using the castle as a back drop to talk to Hugh about the rationale behind the council's decision to speculatively build and how letting the space is going ahead of it's Q1 2013 completion.

You can watch the interview next week on EGi but in the meantime here are some pictures I snapped.



MIPIM 2012: Battle of EZ's commences

By Stacey Meadwell on March 6, 2012 4:33 PM | No TrackBacks
It's half past five in the London Pavilion and it's rammed. The tuesday afternoon arrivers have descended in their masses and an already buzzing MIPIM feels like it is off and running at full pelt (cold and grey weather must be playing a part in encouraging people indoors too).

This year the UK cities are out in force and with Enterprise Zones to promote and development money to find, the competition to shout loudest is hotting up. Sheffield and Leeds have already scheduled events that overlap later in the week and Birmingham and Manchester have both got crammed schedules of events on their respective stands. 

I haven't visited the Manchester stand yet but certainly Birmingham gets points for its snacks on offer: glass bowls full of Cadbury's chocolate.

Brum city council's Mark Barrow was well prepared to brief me about progress on the city's Enterprise Zone, despite having only just registered. I was treated to a sneak peek of his presentation which he had on his iPad - definitely the device of choice this year.

The Edinburgh stand, as usual, is tempting visitors with regular whisky tastings and also rather tasty rum and raisin tablet (fudge for those from south of the border). Another duo fresh from registration were Montagu Evans' Hugh Rutherford and Edinburgh city council's Dave Anderson both of whom were full of enthusiasm with the former saying he was confident about the market this year due to pent up office demand.

Meanwhile back in the London Pavilion, the battle is more about models - not the leggy type but the development type. There are at least four including the huge and very impressive central London model which gives a interesting glimpse of what the capital could look like with several proposed towers. The Nine Elms follows on a close second with some impressive towers of its own and a faithful reconstruction of Battersea Power Station - wonder if that will make it into the future?

You can see pics from the London Pavilion and all the other days delights by clicking on the slide show below.


Other MIPIM posts you might like:


Pics: Edinburgh council's 200,000 sq ft spec office development

By Stacey Meadwell on January 26, 2012 1:40 PM | No TrackBacks
(Atria Edinburgh under construction Jan 2012, click for slide show)

This time next year Edinburgh city council will be opening the doors to Atria Edinburgh, its circa 200,000 sq ft of spec office development, and the biggest speculative office scheme outside London. 

Initially when the council first mooted its plans to build offices as part of the extension of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre many thought that a) it wouldn't happen and b) it was mad to go ahead. But much has changed since then. OK, so the UK economy has been in and out of recession and is looking precariously like it might dip back in again but Atria is the only show in town when it comes to office development in the Scottish capital. 

Research by Jones Lang LaSalle showed Edinburgh's office vacancy at 6% at Q3 2011 having been on a downward trajectory for two years.

Agents on the scheme (JLL & Montagu Evans) remain tight lipped about quoting rents and any deals being on the table. However, late last year EG's Lisa Pilkington reported (£) that as much at 140,000 sq ft was close to being let and rents were thought to be around £32 per sq ft.

If those deals come to fruition and with the potential of further demand from lease expiries in the Scottish capital there a) might not be very much space in Atria Edinburgh to showcase come launch day and b) smug looks all round.

Pics: City West Edinburgh, spec development starts

By Nadia Elghamry on November 24, 2011 12:00 PM | No TrackBacks
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Speculative developments are few and far between these days, so it's always nice to see when someone puts their neck on the line and actually starts building.

This is C&W Assets, the development arm of  J Smart & Co, City West in Edinburgh.

Work has just started on site for the 25,000 sq ft, five-storey office block, which forms park of a larger mixed-use scheme comprising 88 residential units. Floorplates range in size from 2,100 sq ft to 6,900 sq ft and 20 secure car parking spaces. Completion is due by the end of 2012.

The scheme is located on the site of the former Bank of Scotland Computer Centre on Robertson Avenue between the main arterial roads Gorgie Road and Slateford Road.

Agents Ryden (who are joint letting agents with James Barr) are betting on lease expiries in 2012/2013 to let the building. 
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