We have a new member of staff, James Couse. James brings to us his extensive agency expertise in the City and London niche markets and we are very happy he has joined

As Meta pay £149 million to British Land, to get out of their lease obligations at 1 Triton Square, what are the real costs involved and to whom?

The West End investment market is showing some signs of recovery with over £1bn of deals under offer, whilst availability is at over £4bn

Flexible workspace provider WeWork warned that “substantial doubt exists" about its ability to continue as a going concern

Interest rates, quality & sustainability High interest rates are being blamed for a slump in Central London’s office market, in the first 6 months of 2023, with investor spend on buildings dropping by more than 50%.  The total investment volumes were 55% lower than a year earlier, and a 42% fall from the ten year average. Rising borrowing costs add further pressure to a market that is undergoing big change, for a variety of reasons. Hybrid working remains popular, post pandemic, and other factors such as “Best in Class” and sustainability are both having their effect On borrowing costs, Julian Sandbach, head of central London capital markets at  JLL said: “The extent of the slowdown in capital invested in central London commercial real estate in the first half of 2023 is profound. The effects of rising interest rates have had a material impact on pricing and confidence as investors continue to seek higher returns to compensate for [...]

The 56,000 sq ft office building at 5-10 Great Tower Street has been bought by real estate group Dominus for a reputed sum close to £25 million, against Cushman Wakefield’s guide price of £15 million. The sale comes as the City of London has indicated it may relax the Square Mile's strict planning requirements, that protect existing offices, to encourage alternative uses for secondary buildings. Dominus launched in 2011 and quickly built a hotels portfolio across the UK. It has more recently expanded into residential, student homes and mixed-use development. It is understood that plans for this building is for redevelopment as a hotel. Has this price achieved been influenced to any extent by the City of London’s recently indicated plans and the content of its “The Future of the Office” 2023 Arup Report? Probably the most significant recommendation in the Arup report is the introduction of a "fast track" planning approach to ensure more "diverse and inclusive [...]

Manchester and Bristol have been flagged as the UK’s commercial property hotspots over the next decade as investors seek to achieve better returns than the traditional, most sought after, London markets offer. CBRE has picked Manchester and Bristol as the standout locations for commercial property investment over the next ten years.  This has been based on the analysis of the expected economic drivers, such as income trends and socio-demographic predictions, across UK towns and cities.  Other factors taken into consideration have been supply pipelines, universities and housing affordability. Both Manchester and Bristol rank among the cities with the highest growth potential in various sectors including office, retail, student accommodation, build-to-rent and senior living.  Manchester has thriving retail and tourism industries and boasts one of Europe’s largest student populations. Whilst London has been the UK’s go to destination for investors putting money into new offices, shops and student accommodation, CBRE say investors are now wanting to see “what life outside [...]

A fall in rent free periods being offered across the London office market have led to net effective rents rising faster than headline rents.  Net effective rents for prime space continued to rise in Q1 2023 and are at around 0.5% of their pre-pandemic levels.  Headline rents, across London’s sub markets, however, have been somewhat static, despite an ongoing lack of supply. Some districts have seen an increase, most notably core City of London (3.4%) and Soho (2.7%), but overall growth in prime central London headline rents sat at a modest 0.4% during this quarter. Over the past 12 months to Q1 2023, prime headline rents across central London increased by an average of 2.6%. Across the four key submarkets, the strongest rental growth was in the City at 3.6%, followed by the West End at 3.4%. Docklands saw growth of 1.85% over the year, while Midtown increased by 0.8%. Looking at the net effective rent based on [...]

WeWork Inc stated last week that it had received a non-compliance notice from the New York Stock Exchange, due to its stock closing below $1 over a consecutive 30 trading-day period. Shares of the flexible workspace provider continue to slide.  The company will have six months to regain compliance.  The company had benefited from the shift to flexible working practices outside traditional offices driven by the pandemic but has been feeling a pinch from mass layoffs across the tech sector and shares have fallen over 65% year to date.  Since their surging growth through the 2010s WeWork has been trying to focus on more profitable leasing deals in recent years. WeWork says it is considering a number of available alternatives to cure its non-compliance. Currently, however, WeWork’s penny stock status precludes a range of possible investors as their value is too low to meet their investment parameters.

Planning permission has been granted at 21 Bloomsbury Street for the refurbishment of these 86,000 sq ft Central London offices.  The refurb is to be undertaken by Morgan Capital on behalf of Capital 38 who acquired the building in 2012 for an undisclosed sum and will give the building a gross development value of circa £150m. Work is due to start in the third quarter this year and will see an atrium café/lounge, rooftop café/event space, building wellness studio, 174 cycle spaces, 112 lockers and 17 showers and a feature cycle entrance. Simon Morgan, investment and asset manager of Morgan Capital, said  “Twenty One will set a new benchmark for how existing buildings can be sustainably reimagined to provide the exemplar buildings of tomorrow, providing the performance and amenity to compete with the very best new builds, whilst achieving aspirational levels of low embodied carbon through 95% retention of the existing structure.”