Lettings indicate return of market
LAMBERT Smith Hampton (LSH) has completed four office lettings in south-west Wales, suggesting the region’s commercial property market has returned to pre-Brexit levels.
Activity levels rose at the end of 2016 and, according to the national commercial property consultants, this followed subdued periods in the second and third quarters earlier in the year.
Demand for offices is now on a par with the first quarter of 2016 with market activity steady particularly amongst SMEs, says LSH which has recently let accommodation to Window To The Womb, Jenco International and New Directions and The Labour Party.
New Directions, a recruitment company, has taken a 1,300 sq ft office suite at Llys Y Barcud in Heol Parc Mawr, a new office development in Cross Hands.
The Labour Party has moved into 43 Pottery Street, Llanelli, a terraced property set over two storeys that will serve as an administration office for both an Assembly Minister (AM) and a Parliamentary candidate. The political party was previously based in the town centre on Queen Victoria Road but needed premises with a shop front so that it is more accessible to constituents.
And in Johnstown, Carmarthen, Jenco Civil engineering has taken 1,300 sq ft of first floor accommodation at the Ty’r Drindod development. The company has relocated from the town centre as it needed office, yard and storage space in order to grow a business that provides plant hire, demolition, groundwork, building and civil engineering services.
In Swansea, a company specialising in 3D scans for pregnant women has taken a 1,200 sq ft suite on the ground floor of Maple House in the Tawe Business Village on the Enterprise Park.
Called Window To The Womb, the UK-wide business was set up to offer expectant parents the opportunity to see life-like pictures and movies of their baby using the latest ultrasound technology. The baby scan clinic is the first in Wales and offers gender scans and 4D ultrasound scans.
Tom Rees, associate director at LSH in Wales, said: “The number of transactions is certainly encouraging but the area is still suffering from a lack of good quality supply which is why bespoke office schemes like Llys Y Barcud perform very well as today’s occupiers look for high specification work environments in good locations with parking.”