Office take-up in Bristol city centre hit 419,180 sq ft last year – a significant fall on the 620,211 sq ft recorded in 2022, which was the strongest year of annual take-up since 2017, according to new figures from the Bristol Office Agents Society.
The annual figure was buoyed by strong activity in Q4, which saw a flurry of 34 deals complete. As a result, Q4 take-up reached 193,183 sq ft – the highest quarterly figure for 2023 and the highest volume of deals in any quarter since Q1 2022. The largest deal to complete in the quarter was Dyson taking 66,317 sq ft at 1 St George’s Square (pictured).
Headline rents in the city centre remained stable at £42.50/sq ft, but it is anticipated they will increase in 2024 with some space under offer at rents of £44.00-£46.00/sq ft.
New schemes due to reach practical completion in 2024 include CEG’s EQ, which is circa 80% pre-let or under offer, Trammell Crow and Tristan Capitals’ Welcome Building, which is circa 25% under offer, and AXA/Bell Hammer’s Assembly Buildings B & C, which has already secured pre-lets.
Out of town, activity remained steady with Q4’s take-up figure of 74,792 sq ft taking the annual total to 276,867 sq ft – just below the five-year average. In Q4, 18 deals completed, making it the most active quarter of the year.
James Preece, office agency director at Colliers, said: “Following a challenging first nine months, it was great to see the Bristol office market bounce back in the final quarter of the year. Prime rental levels have been pushed by occupiers willing to pay more for the best-in-class sustainable office space and this trend looks set to continue in 2024. There are a number of larger deals under offer and requirements in the market, so we are expecting to see far better conditions than last year.”
Andy Heath, office agency director at CSquared, added: “Whilst the overall core stats for 2023 do not make good reading, we began to see the return of proper market activity in Q4 which we expect to see continuing to grow during the next 12 months. The lack of any major development commencements during the last 18 months will create an acute shortage of super prime supply in 12-24 months’ time which will lead to some interesting headline transactions. Some astute occupiers are already aware of this and are out looking in the market far ahead of when you’d expect them to start their occupational strategy for a potential relocation.”
