By Victoria Masterson

ABERDEEN’S office market is bouncing back from the lows of the Covid-19 pandemic, a new report has shown.

Commercial property consultancy Knight Frank said office take-up in the city was on track to double last year’s total.

Increasing activity in the oil and gas sector was being reflected in property deals, the firm said.

Knight Frank believes office transactions in the Granite City will exceed 400,000 square feet during 2022 – despite a slight slow-down in the third quarter.

So far this year, 304,352 square feet of office space has been transacted in Aberdeen.

This includes 195,905 square feet in the first quarter, 60,521 square feet in the second quarter and 47,926 square feet in the third quarter.

“Office activity so far in 2022 demonstrates that Aberdeen is bouncing back from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Matthew Park, partner at Knight Frank Aberdeen.

“There are enough transactions in the pipeline to believe that we can surpass 400,000 square feet for the year, which would be more than double 2021’s total.”

In 2021, Knight Frank said 197,000 square feet of office deals were transacted.

Office take-up slowed in the third quarter of 2022, when 19 deals were concluded.

The largest deal of the third quarter was Dolphin Drilling, an Aberdeen-based offshore drilling rig company, securing 9,000 square feet of office space at D2 Business Park in Dyce, a business park close to Aberdeen Airport and conference centre.

This deal reflected the continuing high price of oil boosting offshore activity, Knight Frank said.

“The sustained high oil price at around $100 per barrel and the prospect of more than 100 new North Sea licences being awarded, to boost domestic oil and gas production, in the next licensing round is trickling through into property deals,” Mr Park said.

More oil services and drilling companies were issuing office requirements, he said.

“All things being equal, we would expect that to continue in the final quarter and into 2023,” Mr Park added.

Knight Frank said several office transactions were already underway in Aberdeen and likely to conclude next quarter.

Separately, two offices on Aberdeen’s Westpoint Business Park are being offered for sale at auction on November 3, with guide prices of £900,000 and £1million.

The offices include a former headquarters building and an office currently let to a drilling company, Borr Drilling Land Support, until 2029,

Mhairi Archibald of auctioneer Acuitus said: “Both offices at Westpoint Business Park have asset management potential for re-letting or re-purposing.”