Industrial Shines

The brightest sector in the south west over the past few months has been industrial property. Sustained demand led to the decline in the amount of Grade A properties of more than 4, 465 sq.metres (50,000 sq.ft.) together with a fall in the rate of return on Grade B and C stock. In fact the overall take up, said DTZ, fell by 15% and Grade A accounts for 48% of the total. In its view, the market will “prove to be a battleground for landlords with many looking to customise stock to attract smaller local occupiers.” DTZ’s Simon Lloyd said: “While the majority of the take up has been in Swindon in the last quarter, there are a number of occupiers looking for large buildings in the region which should be reflected in the figures for the third quarter.”

The largest deal was a letting of 19,509 sq.metres (210,000 sq.ft.) at the Spectrum building, Swindon to TS Tech, an automotive company. Jeremy Hughes of BNP said: “The industrial market has been interesting with a number of large deals, such as the Cooperative leasing a 37,160 sq.metres (400,000 sq.ft.) shed at Cabot Park.” This was made possible by the surrender of land by Honda. Another major deal recently completed is the letting of a 7,989 sq.metres (86,000 sq.ft.) property at Portbury by LVT of London. Hughes said: “It will not be long before we will have a shortage of large buildings.” In Bath, one former industrial building, a printing works, is to be redeveloped by Tesco and St James to include a large supermarket, 2,787 sq.metres (30,000 sq.ft.) of creative work space, 3,716 sq.metres (40,000 sq.ft.) of offices, a museum and community space in a design by Make. The scheme will cost £50 million.


The South West Commercial Property Register

The South West Commercial Property Register is a leading UK business property publication from Martin Austen Publishing. The aim of the publication is to offer a simple and effective means of finding Office Space in the South WestServiced Offices in the South West and industrial commercial property in the South West. You can also find the latest commercial property news for the South West region.