An Abundance of Small Floor Lettings!
Who said that the city of London’s small floor plate market is slow?!
There have been plenty of recent articles placing a negative spin on this particular market sector mainly due to rise in serviced office popularity.
However, Newton Perkins has bucked the trend! Since the turn of the year we have been involved with over 20 transactions (units between 500 sq ft – 5,000 sq ft) totalling c. 55,000 sq ft.
Please contact Jack Wells (jw@newtonperkins.com) or Ali Porter (ap@newtonperkins.com) for further information.
A Tale of Two Articles
Office take up in central London is at its strongest for six years and is continuing to rise. That’s according to one real estate company, who cites take up of 1.16 million sq ft in the city office market alone.
The Technology, Media and Telecommunication sector were responsible for the largest share of take up in the West End. The financial & insurance sector and serviced office providers were also active accounting for 21% of take-up activity.
However conversely, according to the Q1 2019 RICS UK Commercial Property Market Survey, the demand for office space in London has continued to fall during the first quarter of the year.
They report that uncertainty over Brexit continues to prevent occupiers across the board. Furthermore, the retail sector has been struggling during the first quarter of the year, as more than 65% of commercial surveyors have reported a decline rather than rise in demand from occupiers for retail space.
Inducement packages from office landlords picked up during the last quarter of the year in London as demand fell. Apparently 38% saw this rise in incentives. Whilst the rental growth expectations is still very stagnant.
So which article is to be believed? In our opinion there is some truth in both reports. We have been pleasantly surprised by the robust nature of the central London office market over the past year, despite the ongoing certainty caused by Brexit. That being said, we have also witnessed a significant increase in inducements to tempt occupiers into transacting.
It is of course impossible to predict where we will be in the next 12-24 months but we remain hopeful given the large amount of take up despite the fact that inducements are on the rise.
New electric cars have joined the City of London Corporation
Three new electric vehicles have joined the City of London’s fleet to hopefully stimulate the area towards becoming a fully zero-emission zone.
One of the vehicles is called EV80, which is manufactured by one of the largest automotive companies in China, SAIC Maxus. It is distributed in London by Heathrow LDV which will help the City Corporation to deliver some of its key services across London.
It is the first fully electric car launched as part of Heathrow LDV’s range of commercial vehicles. It will be capable of running a 120 mile range on a single charge and can be fully charged within 90 minutes.
The Barbican Centre in the Square Mile, Heathrow Animal Reception Centre at Heathrow Airport and the City of London Cemetery and Crematorium in Manor Park will all be serviced the electric vehicles.
