A sample of the office space in Scotland’s Capital city

Edinburgh has surpassed the 1,000,000 sq ft take-up mark for the first time since 2004 with 1,138,500 sq ft of office space transactions across the four quarters of last year.

The take-up reported was also higher than the previous five-year total of 808,833 sq ft, with large pre-lets including the GPU relocation at New Waverley (186,500 sq ft) and State Street Bank (65,628 sq ft) at Quartermile 3 contributing significantly, according to research from CBRE Scotland.

Further pre-lets include Standard Life Aberdeen taking 69,000 sq ft at 10 George Street and Computershare leasing 41,395 sq ft at Four North.

Edinburgh is one of four cities reporting over 1,000,000 sq ft of take-up. The others are Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.

Angela Lowe, senior director in CBRE’s advisory and transaction services team, said: “The Edinburgh office market activity witnessed in 2017 demonstrates that occupiers are increasingly considering pre-lets in order to secure space of the required size and quality in their preferred locations.

“Recent take-up also indicates the continued importance of the financial services and tech sectors in generating demand for quality, city centre offices.”

Despite the strengthening demand in take-up, supply remains at a critically low level, with only one development scheme to complete in July this year, GSS Development’s 2 Semple Street.

It will provide 38,648 sq ft of Grade A office accommodation in a prime city centre location.

 

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