business parks/commercial property How will the South East property


market look in a post COVID-19 world? Understanding what will drive corporate real estate decisions after COVID-19 is vital to help businesses proactively plan for their future property needs. What parallels can be drawn from the past and learnt from as we prepare for the post-COVID-19 world?


Property consultants at Reading-based Vail Williams LLP, are using their collective expertise to make sense of the current situation for clients – by learning from what has gone before.


Vail Williams partner and South East office agency expert, Guy Parkes, discusses


Will we need to employ the same strategies used post-dot com crash in 2001 or after the fiscal crisis in 2008? Or will there be a short pause and quick bounce back like last year during the Brexit negotiations – something we refer to as the ‘trampoline effect’?


Having researched what has gone before, we have pulled together some market insight to reveal potential parallels and opportunities that could help businesses prepare for life after the Coronavirus.


Preparation prevents poor performance


The UK is well-prepared and practised in uncertainty thanks to the indecision surrounding the Brexit negotiations.


As a result, businesses have not been over-stretching themselves, so over the past three years, we have seen sensible and sustained growth as businesses have taken a more measured and conservative approach to expenditure and cost control.


This means that, fundamentally, the UK economy has been performing well which should stand us in good stead, subject to the impact of other external factors.


What impact will COVID-19 have on the office market?


The truth is, that no one can be certain.


But our sentiment is that COVID-19 will not result in a repeat of the sustained downturn


of 2008, which was induced by economic imbalance and fiscal mismanagement rather than external factors like the current predicament.


However, parallels might be drawn from the events of 2001, which resulted in a sharp short- term correction and cautious but sustained recovery.


This crash was contributed to by extraordinary external factors such as the Y2K computer scare and combined 9/11 attack, so more akin to one-off shocks, rather than directly linked to economic performance.


See how these shocks manifested themselves in terms of office transactions across the Thames Valley below:


Office Transactions – Thames Valley Region


Leased Area (SQFT) *Source: Market research undertaken by Guy Parkes. 26 businessmag.co.uk THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – MAY/JUNE 2020


Rent (PSF)


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