focus on west london
Uxbridge Business Park
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James Finnis, head of JLL’s South East office agency said: “The development pipeline has been active and delivered good stock into the market. The take-up year- to-date has been as forecast, but remains limited. Looking into 2018/19/20 the market will enter a period of net absorption, which will create opportunities in certain markets for renewed development activity. Buildings cannot afford to be ‘vanilla’ and success will come to those who have the right ingredients to attract and engage occupiers and their employees.”
Chris Johns corroborated the JLL view, noting a 9% increase in West London office take-up over the past four quarters, and a westward drift towards “far cheaper rents than Central London submarkets.”
Despite the vacancy rate jumping dramatically upwards in 2015 when the BBC vacated around 500,000 sq ft of space at White City, rent growth has continued on a steep upward trajectory.
Johns also highlighted West London’s largest letting since the beginning of 2016 – The World Business Centre near Heathrow gaining an 85,000 sq ft office pre-let that will be ready for airport technology group Amadeus to move into later this year.
He noted that Uxbridge’s second-place ranking in the CoStar 50 Occupier Index was supported by MSC Cruise Management and Russian air cargo group Volga Dnepr acquiring a combined 68,000 sq ft of refurbished space at Stockley Park.
... aware of its need to change
Technological advancement is driving property sector change, reshaping business
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models, workstyles, and accordingly occupier demand, while revealing the need for employee wellbeing.
JLL associate director Claire Racine suggested: “There has never been a better time to embrace employee wellbeing. Creating environments which promote productivity by being mindful to employee needs is the key to success, with early adopters of these strategies already reaping the rewards.”
Developer Chris Hiatt, a Landid director, commented: “The Elizabeth Line is going to be a game-changer and I don’t think that’s completely sunk in yet, particularly, when occupiers consider the difference in Western Corridor values compared to central London. The very best buildings – those that cater for modern occupiers and benefit from great connectivity – will reap the benefits.
“While the Western Corridor office market remains strong, occupier demand has fallen slightly and supply has also dipped. With fresh speculative projects unlikely, there is limited new space – and a shortage of real quality.”
Occupiers are still consolidating their businesses by bringing different arms under the same roof. “With the rise of agile working and other modern work practices, that translates to a need for less space and a flight to high-quality design-led offices.
“Businesses are also facing pressures to attract and retain talented people and increasingly that is translating into a desire to be located in well-connected, town- centre locations, with great amenities.”
In recent months, the Landid and Brockton partnership has signed several such forward-thinking businesses to its buildings in Reading, Slough and Uxbridge.
Brexit clouds the horizon
Given that the EU and UK are major trading partners, the sooner we get some sense of stability on BREXIT discussions the better, says Peter Sunderland, MD of a typical outer West London business, Feltham-based Charles Kendall Freight. “Business needs confidence about the future and this is affecting trade.
“A hard Brexit will mean we become an independent trading nation following WTO rules. Free movement of labour and goods will stop and imports and export will be subject to the same procedures as current non-EU shipments.”
This would involve significant extra administrative work for logistics companies such as Charles Kendall.
“However, the UK and EU Customs structure are not prepared for this; the added import and export declarations would create major delays.
“Companies are already planning to move operations to the EU where the economy is doing very well. Conversely the UK industry outlook is not so good. While current exchange rates have brought lower costs, we’ll have to negotiate many free-trade agreements – and quickly. UK Export Finance has a £1.7b fund to help UK companies win overseas contracts, but more needs to be done.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – NOVEMBER 2017
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