Commercial real estate outfit King Sturge reported that deals involving 127,759 square feet of office space took place in 2010. This is over twice the amount for 2009.
Much of the take-up was from eight deals of over 10,000 square feet. In 2009, there were only six such deals.
The report postulated that much of the take-up was the result of occupiers securing good value from landlords seeking to rent space and reduce their liabilities.
When total take-up in the city for 2010 is looked at, 78 per cent of the deals remained below 5,000 square feet, the research reported. However, the mid-range market of 4,000 to 8,000 square feet saw 20 deals last year, compared with 14 in 2009.
The level of take-up for 2011 will be around the same as in 2010, the report predicted.
“Despite general activity and confidence improving, there are signs that it will be a long road to recovery,” the report stated.
“We believe 2011 take-up will be in line with 2010, with a few good enquiries currently in the market negotiating on space and with 56,367 square feet under offer on Grade A stock”.
The recent public sector cuts will have some fallout for the Bristol office space market, the research also predicted; however, it stated that Bristol is one of the least exposed regions due to its ‘diverse occupier base’.
King Sturge stated in its report that this represents ‘a huge opportunity’ for both tenants and landlords and that tenants will be forced to consider sustainability costs associated with older buildings versus the cost of moving to better quality office space.
The report postulated that much of the take-up was the result of occupiers getting good value from landlords wishing to rent space and lower their liabilities.
Editor’s notes: In 2022, there was a total of 620,200 square feet of office space taken up through office leasing deals, and this was just above the 10-year annual average of 612,700 square feet.
This total volume was created through 116 deals, which was the largest number since 2016. The largest deal done in 2022 was Paymentsense’s pre-let acquisition of 54,767 square feet at EQ.
At the end of 2022, prime headline office rents stood at £42.50 per square foot per year, which reflected a 10.4 per cent increase year-on-year, due in part to the relative shortage of available high-quality office space to rent.
In the third quarter of 2025, the total take-up of space by way of office lettings in Bristol was 248,697 square feet. This was a slight decrease from the previous quarter; however, it remained 15 per cent above the 10-year quarterly average.
Take-up at the end of Q4 2025 totalled 164,699 square feet, 62 per cent higher than Q4 2024 and on par with the five-year Q4 average.
Take-up reached 160,400 square feet in the first quarter of 2026.
Overall vacancy remained steady in Q1 at 5.0 per cent, although Grade A vacancy slightly lowered to 2.8 per cent from 3.0 per cent in the last quarter of 2025.
Prime office rents increased in Q1 to £52.00 per square foot per annum, and it was predicted that they would face further upward pressure over the remainder of 2026 due to the constrained supply of prime Grade A space.
In January 2026, Burges Salmon announced it was renewing its lease and expanding its footprint to occupy the entire 216,172-square-foot One Glass Wharf. The new lease was due to expire in 2045.
At the time, it was effectively the largest office letting ever completed in Bristol city centre.