TAKE-UP of office space in Glasgow city centre in 2018 was the highest for any year since 2006, even though the fourth-quarter figure was down on the same period of 2017, a survey shows.
Property services company CBRE said 970,845 sq ft of office space had been taken up in Glasgow city centre last year, up by 53% on the 2017 figure of 635,015 sq ft.
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Office space take-up in the centre of Glasgow in the fourth quarter, at 236,002 sq ft, was down by 29% on the same period of 2017. However, the number of deals in the fourth quarter, at 37, exceeded the 34 recorded for the same period a year earlier.
Business services was the most dominant sector in terms of take-up of office space in 2018, accounting for 34% of the total. Consumer and leisure accounted for 15.7% of office space take-up.
CBRE said office stock in Glasgow city centre was sitting at 13.7 million sq ft, 1.3 million sq ft of which was available for occupation. It added that Grade A office supply remained “critically low” at just 32,910 sq ft.
CBRE declared: “The development pipeline remains particularly tight, and there is little evidence of space returning to the market through tenant distress.”
Andy Cunningham, senior director at CBRE, was upbeat about the outlook.
He said: “Having seen an increase in take-up in 2018, equating to one of the strongest years on record, we are confident that this trend will continue into 2019 and companies will continue to make positive decisions regarding their new offices. Deals such as the Barclays commitment at Buchanan Wharf are also clear indicators the market is continuing to strengthen on the periphery of the city centre and within the financial services sector.”
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Mr Cunningham added: “The diminishing development pipeline is likely to create a supply shortage as businesses plan ahead of lease breaks and expiries over the next three years.”
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