As Birmingham roared, Manchester felt the bite as time, or rather space, seemed to finally run out for the northern powerhouse’s office market
Take-up in the UK’s regional office markets roared back in 2015, as northshoring landed Birmingham the biggest regional deal of the year.
HSBC’s 212,000 sq ft letting at Two Arena Central dwarfed anything else in the market last year, and was more than double the nearest contender, Sky’s 62,000 sq ft prelet of Leeds Dock, according to figures from EGi’s Regional Offices Research.
But two key cities slumped. In Manchester, supply in the city, at just over two years of available space at current take-up levels, hit new lows and year-end take-up took a tumble.
In Glasgow take-up slipped by 47% as the city failed to find a match for 2014’s mammoth 220,000 sq ft letting to Scottish Power, a deal that made up 43% of take-up in Q4 2014.
