Nottingham waits on 'massive' office pipeline
Nottingham is sitting on a "massive" pipeline of new-build office space, according to the authors of a new survey.
The Nottingham Commercial Office Review, which has been produced by the Nottingham Office Forum - a collaborative venture by the city's property and development professionals - said more than 2.3 million sq ft of Grade A-space is waiting to be built.
The report also said Nottingham is holding its own in terms of large office deals.
Matthew Smith, at Jones Lang Lasalle (JLL), said: "We have had a number of really important deals in Nottingham including Browne Jacobson, Potter Clarkson and Nottingham Building Society.
"The Browne Jacobson deal was the 23rd largest in the UK, the 11th largest out of London – and the second largest in the Midlands; all comparing favourably with activity in London and Birmingham. What we can see is that Nottingham is really holding its own in the current market."
Smith said that the take-up for 2011 will include 251,768 sq ft, of which half were three JLL deals.
He added: "Occupiers are keen to take advantage of good quality supply when competitively priced. It shows confidence in the city's business community, they are saying 'we are planning for the future'. This is good news.
"My view is that supply will continue to drive the demand, as good quality and correctly priced buildings become available then the market will move to fill them."
Smith points out that Nottingham is not immune to the challenges of the wider economy and in a climate like this, occupiers are firmly in the driving seat. "It is a cautious environment and funding remains constrained," he said.
He added: "What is encouraging for Nottingham is that we have on the drawing board some exciting proposals which put us in a strong position to take advantage of the long-awaited upturn."
Craig Straw from Innes England said: "The market performed relatively well overall in 2011 with take-up remaining constant at around 250,000 sq ft but the deals that lead to this headline was markedly different in make up to the previous year.
"In 2011 there was no pre-letting activity with transactions instead centred on primarily good quality existing accommodation with the market being characterised by lots of smaller deals with transactions of less than 5,000 sq ft accounting for eight out every ten deals.
"Activity was driven by the private sector in particular business and professional service providers who lead the way with the city's largest transactions. Although year on year there was a 30 per cent increase in supply with availability standing at about 950,000 sq ft by the year end, this increase was accounted for entirely in poorer quality stock with supply of Grades A and B space, where we saw the majority of activity, remaining constant."