Glasgow’s office leasing market bounces back strongly

Glasgow’s office leasing market bounced back strongly in the third quarter of 2021 as firms finalised moves ahead of welcoming staff back in greater numbers over the coming months.

CoStar researchers logged nearly 300,000 square feet of lettings in Scotland’s largest office market between July and September, the highest quarter-end figure since third-quarter 2019 and the fifth strongest of the past decade. Deal count picked up as well, with 65 lettings recorded in the three-month period, the most since fourth-quarter 2018, based on deals collected by quarter end.

The quarter-end measure used in this analysis allows for like-for-like comparisons as CoStar researchers continue to collect deals.

Firms’ preferences for high-quality new or modern office space in central locations was behind the rebound in take-up. More than two-thirds (68%) of the square footage leased was in prime (4 & 5 Star) buildings, while almost 80% of activity was within the central business district, which mainly comprises Glasgow’s City Core but takes in parts of the city’s west end and southside.

The biggest deal of the quarter was the Student Loans Company’s pre-let of 75,000 square feet at Drum Property Group’s Buchanan Wharf on the south bank of the River Clyde, next to the new North European hub of Barclays Bank and adjacent to the city’s established International Financial Services District.

Speculative buildings in the IFSD were also popular. AECOM and CBRE took a total of 38,000 square feet at 177 Bothwell Street, after BNP Paribas took 21,000 square feet last quarter, and with all the remaining space at the under-construction 313,000-square-foot building understood to be under offer. Elsewhere, engineering consultancy Atkins and legal firm TLT signed deals of 22,000 square feet and 10,000 square feet to become the first tenants at 2 Atlantic Square and Cadworks, respectively.

Read the full story on Costar