Bristol’s office market is proving resilient despite uncertainties triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, according to a new report, with take-up so far this year in line with the five-year average.
Latest figures from the Bristol Office Agents Society show strong demand for good quality space and suggest that occupiers remain committed to offices in the city. 
A total of 15 deals with a total take up of 58,833 sq ft were completed in the city centre in the third quarter. While this is behind the five and 10-year average it is an improvement from the second quarter.
However, the OAS said several deals were in the pipeline and described the outlook for the remainder of the year as positive.
The largest deal of the quarter was global cloud-based finance software provider Xledger taking 10,719 sq ft at Tower Wharf, pictured right, from global business and legal services group Integreon, followed by the letting of 7,026 sq ft at Royal London’s showpiece Aurora building at Finzels Reach to global property and construction consultancy Gleeds.
Development management firm V7 secured the first pre-let at its Pivot+Mark scheme on the corner of Baldwin Street and Queen Charlotte Street in the city centre and formerly known as Bridge House, where Bristol-based architectural practice AWW has agreed to take 6,907sq ft of newly refurbished space when conversion work completes later this year.
While there was an absence of larger lettings this quarter these deals are all indicators that there is still good demand for high-quality space in the city centre, said the OAS, and occupiers continued to seek grade A space to meet their expectations.
Headline rents in the city centre remained stable at £37.50 per sq ft and the OAS said it continued to see strong demand from a variety of occupiers who were now realising that they needed to consider their office needs.
Although levels of supply remain low in the city centre, there are several schemes being developed speculatively that will help meet future demand.
The Distillery at Glassfields on Temple Way is due to complete later this year and will bring 92,000 sq ft of grade A space to the market. The scheme targets smaller occupiers and provides a variety of suites across three buildings.
In addition, Cubex’s Halo, pictured right, is now well underway and law firm Osborne Clarke’s pre-let of the upper floors means there is now 42,142 sq ft available in the building.
CEG (Commercial Estates Group) has now also started work on its rebranded EQ site – formerly called Aspire – which will provide around 200,000 sq ft of speculative grade A office space on Victoria Street.
The OAS said the out-of-town market exceeded expectations with a total take up of 164,489 sq ft from 13 deals, to bring it ahead of the five and 10-year averages for the period.
However, this was largely impacted by Babcock’s pre-letting of phases 2 and 3 at 100 Bristol Business Park. Following its commitment to the scheme last year the business has signed to take a further 132,000 sq ft on the site.
Other deals completed in quarter three include Davies and Partner’s acquisition of 9,418 sq ft at 250 Bristol Business Park and BAE taking 9,100 sq ft at Filton 20.
Morton Property Consultants director Phil Morton, pictured, said occupiers were learning to deal with the Covid crisis, and were starting to emerge into the market now viewings were permitted with a trend towards high-quality accommodation that is re-purposed to “suck staff back” to the office on the other side of the pandemic.
“Businesses are becoming concerned that a lack of face to face communication is starting to erode their culture and values ultimately reducing growth and productivity long term,” he said.
Savills’ director of office agency Chris Meredith added: “Covid-19 has changed our thinking and accelerated the evolution of the office for both occupiers and owners. While there are positives to working from home during the current pandemic, there are many important factors that can’t be facilitated through home working.
“The trend we are seeing is very much showing that high quality buildings, focusing on wellness continue to attract significant attention, while on-site facilities, location and amenities remain important as ever for the workforce.”
