London’s South Bank has just 11 months of commercial supply left and is in desperate need of new stock, research by Knight Frank has revealed.
Speaking at the London Real Estate Forum today, Knight Frank partner Dan Gaunt said that the SE1 area was experiencing more than 1m sq ft of take-up every year and, with just under 1m sq ft left vacant, was just 11 months off a dearth of stock.
He said: “There is only 11 months’ supply and this is an issue across London. Our research shows that there is 13 months’ supply left in Canary Wharf, nine in the City core, eight in Victoria, six in the northern City area and just one month of supply in the northern corridor.”
He added that demand for commercial space was there in SE1 and James Keegan, head of central London residential at Knight Frank, said it was the same story on the residential side: “We predict there will be around 1,350 new residential units being built in SE1 every year over the next three to five years. We have analysed household rates and funding and have concluded the demand for these units is absolutely there.”
James Goldsmith, leasing director at REM, added that the big problem in SE1 was the lack of a retail offer. This point was picked up by Stephen Platts, director of regeneration for the London Borough of Southwark.
He said : “Retail has been sparse in SE1, but this is changing. We are focusing on a retail run from London Bridge, down St Thomas’s Street and along to Vinoplois. And we are investing a huge amount of money into Blackfriars and the Blackfriars Road to create a boulevard which will become a high-quality retail environment.”
Yair Ginor, director of developer Lipton Rogers, rounded up the debate by saying that delivery, not marketing, would be crucial for the future of the South Bank. “There are areas if London where a lot of time needs to be spent focusing on creating a buzz. The buzz is already there in SE1. All we need to do is deliver and the onus is on us to do that. Once we start to deliver on the right scale, take up will be phenomenal,” he said.
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