50 property
Vail Williams grows with return of the market
The impact of the long awaited and very welcome recovery of the UK economy is now being seen in the Thames Valley commercial market and Vail Williams has responded by growing its team in the region to meet increased demand. The firm is investing in the Thames Valley, to mirror the improvement in the region’s economic fortunes, writes David Barden, associate, lease advisory, Vail Williams
grabbing rent of £33.50 psf.
These all show landlord confidence in the Reading office market and support predictions that this will continue with Crossrail coming to Reading.
Thames Valley industrial market
Much is the same for the industrial market. Demand has improved and supply tightened considerably, rents have risen accordingly, by 20-25% in many instances.
In Slough, Segro has been one of the leaders in speculative industrial development and this has proved very successful with many being let before completion. The result is that supply is still limited and quoted rents are being revised upwards.
Vail Williams
The improvement in the Thames Valley is replicated in Vail Williams activity and its growth in 2014. Key statistics for Vail Williams in 2014 were:
• One million sq ft of office and industrial space let
• 100,000 sq ft of office and industrial space acquired
• Secured planning for 57,000 sq ft • Valued over £350m of property
Key features of the property recovery are:
• Rents rising on the back of supply shortage in popular areas.
• The return of speculative development in both industrial and office markets in key towns.
• A shift from a tenant to a landlord led property market.
For its part, Vail Williams has expanded its key offices in the region (at Reading and Heathrow) in response to demand. The firm now has over 25 specialist surveyors operating in the region.
General overview
2014 was a good year for the Thames Valley commercial property market and initial signs are that this is continuing into 2015. Demand has increased and supply is reducing, which is seeing rents being pushed up and fewer incentives being offered. Landlords are now in a much stronger position that they were 18 -24 months ago and are able to demand longer lease terms, in those parts of the market where supply is limited.
The needle is starting to turn heavily back in favour of landlord’s as occupier demand picks up and supply dwindles.
With the upturn in the market, Vail Williams has rapidly expanded its team in the region, adding new specialist surveyors in its offices at Reading and Heathrow.
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Vail Williams’ Thames Valley team now consists of 25 surveyors offering advice on all property matters with every surveyor specialising in their field of expertise.
The new recruits include Linda Staker (business rates), Peter Fry (valuation), Marcus Smith (agency),Patrick Pringle (agency) Matt Clarke (agency) and Sarah Isherwood (planning).
Thames Valley Office Market
Headline office rents are increasing steadily with rents in excess of £30 per sq ft in Maidenhead and now in Reading Town Centre. With that background, it is easy to see why speculative development is once again strongly back on the agenda.
The new office developments are a result of large portions of the secondary and tertiary office supply having been earmarked for conversion to residential use, through the Government’s Permitted Development (PD) scheme which is taking supply out of the office market.
At Winnersh Triangle, Patrizia have started speculatively developing 60,000 sq ft of Grade A office space.
There are also a number of refurbishment projects completed or ongoing which have proven the right decision. Aquis House in Reading was comprehensively refurbished and completed in 2014, securing a headline
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – MAY 2015
• Saved clients a total of £2.95m worth of savings in rates payable terms and a total of £2.09m worth of RV savings
• Undertook lease renewals on 282,000 sq ft with a combined rental value of £2.2m
• Undertook rent reviews on 800,000 sq ft with a combined rental value of £4.3m
• The property management team collected over £30m of rents and over £10m of service charges.
Vail Williams’ regional partner Kevin Cook commented: “2014 was a very good year for Vail Williams and it’s great to see the new additions to our team”
2014 was topped off by Vail Williams winning the Owner Managed Business Award at the Thames Valley 250 awards.
2015 has started in a similar vein to 2014 and it is hoped that the current positive sentiment is underpinned by the good news surrounding Crossrail and its extension to Twyford and Reading.
Details: David Barden, 07799-760323
dbarden@vailwilliams.com www.vailwilliams.com
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