Bristol’s city centre office market is poised for some of its largest deals for more than six years with four major requirements totalling more than 200,000 sq ft on the cards.
Ovo Energy, the rapidly-expanding Bristol-based energy supplier and emerging challenger to the big utility firms, is about to relocate from its base in St Thomas St to 70,000 sq ft of office space in a so-far unnamed location.
According to property agents DTZ, this would be the biggest individual deal in Bristol city centre in six years and a further indication of a strong bounce back in the property sector. 
French energy giant EDF is seeking between 60,000 and 70,000 sq ft of grade A space and considering Bristol city centre, along with other locations on the M4 as it continues to negotiate with the Government over its planned Hinkley C nuclear power station.
As previously reported by Bristol Business News, the city’s two largest firms of accountants, KPMG and PWC, are also looking to move to new offices.
KPMG, which has to vacate 100 Temple Street when its lease expires at the end of 2017, needs around 40,000 sq ft of space while PWC, which will move from its Great George Street office, requires 25,000 sq ft.
Both have been linked with the city’s two speculative schemes – 2 Glass Wharf at Temple Quay, which will add 98,000 sq ft to the market when it becomes available at the end of this year, and the 57,000 sq ft development at 66 Queens Street, which is on target to complete in the second quarter of next year.
DTZ’s Bristol office agency director Andy Heath said: “The steady improvement in trading conditions continues with the highest level of quarterly take-up in the city centre since the second quarter of 2008.
“What was also encouraging was the number of deals – 40 against the five-year average of 24 – which was the highest number since the fourth quarter of 2007. However, this new found encouragement needs to be tempered by the lack of grade A activity, which does not look like changing hugely over the next two quarters.
“This is highlighted by the fact that we only witnessed 100,000 sq ft of grade A/refurbished grade B take up over the past 12 months and of that 40% of accommodation taken up has been by occupiers acquiring additional accommodation in their existing building.
“This indicates that a lot of the grey space within the market has already been absorbed.”
He said the picture for Bristol’s out-of-town market was also encouraging, with a second consecutive quarter take-up of over 100,000 sq ft. This brings the half year total take-up to 219,000 sq ft, already only 32,000 sq ft behind the annual average.
Director of office agency at property firm GVA’s Bristol office, Richard Kidd, said the latest take-up figures reflected the positive sentiment in the Bristol market.
“There has been a good level of medium-size (5,000-20,000 sq ft), grade B activity that has put take-up well over the quarterly average, but the lack of headline grade A deals continues,” he said.
“However, there are some decent live requirements and before the autumn we could see the largest letting in the Bristol market since 2008 with Ovo looking set to sign for new headquarters.
“With grade A supply continuing to be a concern in the city centre market, this also highlights the lack of available, quality, larger buildings in the out-of-town market as well, following the letting of Temple Point, Almondsbury to TSB.”
He stressed the differences between the current occupier recovery and the capital boom that led up to the 2008 crash.
“Sector-specific growth in the UK’s economy has begun to feed into the need for companies to grow their office space,” he said.
“This is very different to the experience of the mid-2000s, when the vast majority of new-build, capital growth and investment decisions were being made based on the continued belief that values would increase – irrespective of occupier demand.”
