Although Brexit has cast some sure uncertainty as to both the economic and political climate of the UK, other aspects of the country have meant that it still remains a desired spot for businesses and investors to potentially expand.
Darren Best, the Managing Director of SavoyStewart.co.uk, has commented on Brexit and its connection with office take up space, claiming that “With the uncertainty of Brexit glooming over the UK, it is not entirely discouraging businesses from searching for and acquiring new office space.”
This was highlighted in a recent article from Bloomberg that said ‘offices are not scared of Brexit anymore.”
SavoyStewart.co.uk recently analysed reports assembled by Knight Frank to find out what both the investment volume and take-up of office space was in the following 10 major cities within the UK: Aberdeen, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield.
Of these 10 major UK cities, Manchester had the largest office take up space, coming in at 1,750,562 square feet (sq. ft) in the year 2018. This take up in office space had increased drastically from the previous year (2017), in which Manchester saw an office space take up of 1,218,892 sq. ft.
This meant that Manchester’s take up in office space had increased by an impressive 44% in just one year. Following this, Manchester also, unsurprisingly, had the highest office investment volume, this being £989 million in 2018, increasing by 8% from the previous year’s £917 million.
In comparison to this, Newcastle was found to have the lowest office take up space, coming in at 236,928 sq. ft. However, although these results found that the North-East city was the lowest for this take up, it still experienced a 33% increase from the previous year (2017), when the office take up space was 177,870 sq. ft.
In addition to measuring the investment volume and take-up of office space, SavoyStewart.co.uk also analysed 436 businesses that were office-based (all from a variety of different industries). These businesses were all looking for new offices, and the results found some of the main factors businesses focused on when looking for new working premises. It is worth noting that this excluded price.
Savoy Stewart found the following: 84% had location as one of their main priorities, 76% on the size of the office space. 73% considered legalities like contracts and lease flexibility in addition to added costs from such things as utility bills to be a main consideration. 69% had a main focus on infrastructural elements like internet and telephone connections.
In addition to this, 52% considered the style and the layout as main contributing factors, and 25% had the presence of competitors in the surrounding area as a main focus when searching for new office space.
London continues to be a popular destination for start-ups and international companies, with particular growth for offices in East London including areas such as Shoreditch, Hackney and Dalston. It was recently reported that London has had the highest uptake in offices in 5 years, despite Brexit woes.
