Liverpool’s out of town office market closed 2016 on a high with deals in the final quarter reaching 55,000 sq ft.
That’s according to the latest regional office occupier report from real estate adviser GVA. It revealed that deals outside of the city centre were up nearly 20 per cent on the five-year average of 40,000 sq ft.
The biggest deal of the quarter was the letting to Glasgow-based call centre operator, Kura who took 34,201 sq ft at Caspian House, Atlantic Park in Sefton and represents the fourth largest deal of all the Big Nine cities during Q4 2016.
Deals in the final quarter of 2016 in Liverpool city centre reached approximately 80,000 sq. ft. with the largest letting being to Armstrong Solicitors who acquired 22,500 sq ft at the Plaza.
It was also confirmed that HMRC has chosen India Buildings as its preferred option for a 300,000 sq ft requirement. Commenting on the future of the iconic building, Ian Steele, director at GVA said: “We have seen a trend of buildings in the traditional core, and in particular the Water Street area being sold and converted for alternative uses during the course of the past couple of years. As a consequence, the city has lost in excess of one million sq ft of office stock and it is therefore good to see one of Liverpool’s most iconic buildings being retained for office use.
“Supply levels for good quality space in both the city centre and out of town markets are at critical levels which is primarily due to the fact that no new buildings have been developed in either market since 2011 and 2009 respectively.”
As well as Liverpool, GVA’s Big Nine report also focuses on office trends in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle.
