Edinburgh is suffering from an acute shortage of Grade A office space – levels are at their lowest for a decade according to our recent research on the city’s office market.
Central Edinburgh currently has a total available office supply of 574,000 sq ft, of which 203,000 sq ft is Grade A, although many consider a large portion of this to be secondary Grade A. The shortage of high quality space in Edinburgh means that occupiers need to seriously think about starting their office search earlier to secure the appropriate workspace for their business.
The war for talent means that wellbeing, staff attraction and retention are at the forefront of occupiers’ minds. When searching for space the demand for flexible, efficient floor plates that enable collaboration and flexible working to drive greater productivity is fierce. This criteria often means that only the best new office schemes can fully address the requirements of employers and staff.
This situation is further exacerbated by the lack of a development pipeline of new office stock coming to the market. Currently, the only development under construction due to complete in the next 12 months is Capital Square (pictured above), due to complete in May 2020, of which 55 per cent has already been committed and pre let.
Development/Major Refurbishment with Funding
The distinct shortage of new Grade A stock in Edinburgh means businesses are increasingly competing against a diminishing pool of high quality space in the city centre. As a result, we are seeing occupiers moving earlier to secure the best space and who are moving below the radar to avoid alerting competitors.
Where previously many occupiers could secure their preferred office space within a year, now it is taking well over 18 months. Those that can’t find space have often been forced to re-gear existing leases as a result, on what is quite often on sub- optimal space.
Let’s put this into perspective: taking Capital Square again as an example, the Gantt chart below shows when you’ll be able to gain occupation if you started your search in June 2019.
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