52 commercial property
Meet the Thames Valley office experts
National commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton has launched its much anticipated Thames Valley Office Market Report, a review of the dominant commercial property trends in the Thames Valley over the past 18 months. Head of LSH’s Thames Valley offices, Nick Coote, explains the background to the report and its key findings
Now in its fifth year, the Thames Valley Office Market report, published by Lambert Smith Hampton, has established itself as the guide to the commercial property market in the Thames Valley.
The report analyses the key trends across the local commercial property market over the past year with detailed statistics and forecasts for 11 key towns in the region.
Aimed at office occupiers, investors, developers and virtually anyone interested in the Thames Valley’s office market, the report is written by LSH’s expert team of office agents spanning Reading, Maidenhead, Oxford, Guildford and London.
Nick Coote, head of LSH’s Thames Valley Offices, explains the concept behind the report: “We began the report in 2009, when of course the property market was in a rather different situation than it is today.
“Meetings with clients showed us that at this time, more than ever, they needed market data and intelligence. So we decided to use our local market expertise to explore some of the specific drivers behind office demand in the region, alongside detailed statistics and medium term forecasts.
“We published the report and took it out into the market with a series of one-to- one presentations to our key clients. The report was very well received and further demonstrated our skills and ability to analyse our markets and understand local market influences.
“The report really grew from here and now in its fifth year, it has become an annual occurrence that is anticipated and appreciated by our clients.”
Themes in the report
This year’s report explores the triggers and drivers behind corporate office activity in the region, the rise of the ‘creative class’ and its impact on the Thames Valley market and the issue of office obsolescence. The report also includes a guest article by Mark Cote, director of Boston and Silicon Valley- based company, T3 Advisors, who gives an insight into US corporates’ attraction to
www.businessmag.co.uk
the Thames Valley following an influx of US businesses into the region.
“One of the key findings of the report, and arguably the most encouraging, is that business expansion is driving increasing numbers of office deals in the Thames Valley, with 34% of all deals over the past 18 months triggered by company growth,” explains Coote.
“This is a positive sign that the local economy is starting to improve as in weaker economic conditions, lease events are the dominant driver behind occupational activity and in the previous period of 2011/12, 72.5% of occupational office deals in the region were driven by property lease events, such as lease breaks or expiries.”
Coote continues: “Our latest stats from the third quarter show that office take-up in the Thames Valley is the highest it’s been for years at more than one million square foot, which is already higher than 2012 figures, with a further quarter of 2013 yet to complete. Investment activity in the Thames Valley is also at very high levels.
“While office supply has just about managed to keep pace with demand for the past
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – OCTOBER 2013
few years, we are now seeing a change in fortunes. As occupiers seek quality, larger office space to which they can relocate, the reality of the lack of such stock is starting to sink in; more than 1.76m sq ft of office availability in the region is of lower quality, for which there is very little market.
“The pressure is therefore building on investors and developers, as occupier options in some locations are already thinning. As a result, we anticipate even more speculative office development over the coming 12-18 months and a rise in rental values across the region over the next five years as the competition to secure the best quality space heats up.”
Taking it to market
As well as being published on LSH’s website, the LSH Thames Valley team has been active in taking it out to market and personally presenting the findings to key and prospective clients in the south. And this year, the team has received more demand for presentations than ever before.
“We have received a really positive response to the report, from those wishing to receive a presentation and from the feedback we have gained following our presentations,” says Coote. “Companies are really keen to see our results and question us on the findings – and in several cases the report has even resulted in more business. Once again it has been a big success and we are already collating our market intelligence for next year’s report.”
To read the full report, visit Lambert Smith Hampton's website.
Details:
www.lsh.co.uk
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