Activity in Bristol’s office market is growing faster than any other major UK city, with three large deals completing this month, rents up 11% on last year and a strong pipeline of inquiries for vacant space.
With the city’s economy due to grow by 6.2% this year, property agents in the city are looking to ahead to a busy 2022, pointing out that despite the challenges caused by the pandemic, total take-up last year reached 90% of the annual average. 
During the fourth quarter, take-up hit 200,000 sq ft – against 140,000 sq ft in an average year – and following the hat-trick of deals completed over the past few weeks, agents are now facing the prospect of having just 58,000 sq ft of new space to offer to growing businesses.
That comes despite a raft of new speculative offices now nearing completion around the city centre after delays of several years.
These include EQ, pictured, on Victoria Street, where global engineering and consultancy firm Arup has confirmed it will take the entire 27,377 sq ft second floor, and fast-growing fintech Paymentsense is to move into 55,000 sq ft – meaning nearly half will shortly be occupied.
Meanwhile, law firm Clarke Willmott will relocate its Bristol office next spring from Bath Street to the top two floors of the 11-storey Assembly C building, pictured below, on Temple Way.
The result of recent activity has pushed rents in the city centre above £40 per sq ft for the first time – a rise of 11% on this time last year.
Agents see Clarke Willmott’s move to around 15,000 sq ft at Assembly – cutting its total space by more than 10% – as indicative of a trend that will shape the market this year as newly introduced hybrid working patterns reduce the need for larger offices.
Hannah Waterhouse, office agency director in JLL’s Bristol office, said: “There’s a flight to quality going on. It’s now all about the look and feel of the office. 
“If you want to bring your people back to the office, you have to have a nice office. This is combining with the war for talent, so if your staff don’t like your office they will vote with their feet and leave.
“It’s no surprise that these latest deals are in buildings that are big on staff wellbeing, with things like yoga studios.”
Arup Bristol office leader Austin Smith said: “Our decision to move to EQ underlines our commitment to Bristol city centre, which has been our home in the South West for more than 45 years.
“EQ’s balance of public, private and shared spaces, along with the capacity to bring all our people together on a single floor, complements our creative, collaborative and flexible approach to our work.
“It was important that our new home’s location and facilities continue to enable our staff to have the option to walk, cycle or use public transport to travel to the office.”
Clarke Willmott CEO Stephen Rosser said the pandemic had transformed ways of working at the firm and, as a result, it had updated its strategy overall and its property strategy specifically.
“Our people have performed exceptionally over the last two years whilst working flexibly, and largely remotely, from home to support our clients. The pandemic has fast tracked our ways of working and transformed the way we operate,” he said.
“For us this is about facilitating remote working combined with an appealing office environment in order for staff to enjoy working collaboratively in person with clients and colleagues, whilst also enjoying the culturally important social aspects of work.”
He said the move enabled the firm to significantly reduce its overall space requirement, given its plans for hybrid working, while at the same time giving it an office that provided an attractive destination for its staff.
Assembly C is being been developed by AXA IM Alts with Bell Hammer as development partner. Clarke Willmott was represented by Morton Property Consultants and AXA IM Alts by JLL.
When construction on the 200,000 sq ft EQ scheme began a year ago it was the largest speculative development underway in the South of England.
Since then it has become Bristol’s first new build office to target Carbon Net Zero in Operation in accordance with the UK Green Building Council’s (UKGBC) framework approach and the first in the world to achieve SmartScore certification, achieving SmartScore Gold for its technology and connectivity.
It will be powered by renewable energy, sourced through a Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin (REGO) contract, have a rooftop array of photovoltaic units as well as connection to Bristol City Council’s District Heating Network.
Some 2,000 litres of water per occupant will be saved each year through the building’s rainwater recycling features.
JLL and Cushman & Wakefield have been appointed by developer CEG to market the building.
CEG investment manager Paul Richardson said: “EQ rethinks contemporary office design. Our low carbon approach is embedded in everything we do, from the design and operation to the health and wellbeing of those who will work here.”
