Mixed picture in office take-up

Office take-up in Scotland in the first three quarters has been resilient despite the Brexit vote but with a varied picture emerging, according to new research.

Property consultancy CBRE, which has offices in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and two in Glasgow, said that north of the Border, “some cities have fared better than others relative to recent past performance”.

The Scottish capital saw take-up for the year to date reach about 565,000 square feet, flat with the same period in 2015, with technology making up nearly a third of the total so far this year.

Additionally, overall availability dwindled to the city’s lowest rate in the study’s history, and rents increased to £31.50 per sq ft.

Glasgow saw overall take-up for the year to date sit at about 529,000 sq ft, just 6 per cent below 2015’s full-year total and boosted by the first-quarter pre-let to Morgan Stanley.

Additionally, rents in Scotland’s largest city have overtaken the previous peak in 2008 to reach up to £30 per sq ft as headline rent for prime city centre accommodation.

Turning to Aberdeen, while the third quarter was its bestperforming period this year, total take-up volume for the first nine months was about 153,000 sq ft, notably below average levels for this time of year. There was also a 45 per cent year-on-year jump in supply at the end of the period.

Emma Jackson, associate director in UK Research at CBRE, said: “Concerns about the referendum itself, ahead of the vote, do not appear to have unduly deterred occupiers from continuing their searches for new space.

“Requirements continue to circulate, so it still remains to be seen the extent to which the Brexit vote will dampen occupier demand in the regions.”