One of the firm’s partners, Simon Reynolds, has suggested that office space in outlying areas of the region may struggle to attract or retain tenants, but that Manchester is well set for a positive 2011.
New office space projects will continue to reach completion as the year unfolds and schemes in and around Manchester look likely to remain popular with businesses aiming to establish themselves or continue their growth in the north-west, Mr Reynolds told the Manchester Evening News.
Office space in Liverpool performed well last year, but Manchester is believed to be particularly well-placed to grow its international reputation over the next 12 months or so.
Another expert commentator, Mark Bamber from the commercial property consultancy Lambert Smith Hampton, told the same paper: “Having overtaken Birmingham, and sitting comfortably above the likes of Leeds, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Bristol in a recent survey of the best European cities to locate a business, it would appear that Manchester’s claim to the unofficial title of the UK’s second city has been fully endorsed.”
A report from Lambert Smith Hampton last month noted that office space take-up in Greater Manchester grew by around 45 per cent during 2010, to almost 2 million square feet, up from 1.3 million square feet in the previous 12 months.
Salford Quays, and particularly the MediaCityUK project spearheaded by the Peel Development Group, is among the most high-profile schemes currently underway in Greater Manchester, with sizeable areas of office space being brought to market at the site on a monthly basis.
Editor’s notes: In 2022, the take-up of office space in Manchester by way of office lettings deals totalled 1.2 million square feet.
In the same year, Liverpool’s total take-up figure was 510,552 square feet.
In terms of the other five markets within the Big 6 Regional Office Markets that Mark Bamber referred to, Birmingham’s 2022 take-up was 692,700 square feet, and Bristol’s was 620,200 square feet.
660,700 square feet of office space was let in Edinburgh in 2022, with 409,200 square feet transacted in Glasgow, while 618,200 square feet of office space was taken up in Leeds over the year.
Research conducted in June 2026 found that Manchester’s total take-up via office lettings in 2025 was 1.14 million square feet.
Liverpool’s total take-up for 2025 was 255,873 square feet.
It was reported in June that Liverpool had doubled its Q1 take-up year-on-year in 2026. Take-up reached 60,471 square feet across 27 transactions in Q1 2026, almost double the level recorded in the same period last year, when take-up totalled 36,325 square feet.