Real estate consultancy CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) pointed to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Leeds as three British cities where demand has begun to swell considerably. However, the picture of circumstances within UK office space markets outside London is described as “divergent,” with several cities struggling for activity in a challenging economic climate.
Despite the UK’s official return to recession in the first half of 2012, demand for prime office space in several regional cities has been growing in light of diminishing supplies, according to the CBRE report. A contributing factor is believed to be that a sizeable portion of Britain’s professional services and finance businesses are analysing their office space options ahead of lease expirations in 2014/15.
Birmingham and Bristol were singled out in CBRE’s latest Regional Offices Marketview report as two cities that saw particularly restrained office space take-up in the first half of 2012. The turmoil in the Eurozone was blamed for helping to create a notably more challenging environment throughout the country.
“Although cities throughout the UK are still experiencing the repercussions of widespread European uncertainty, there are certainly some indications that mature regional leasing markets are improving,” said Ashley Hancox, head of CBRE’s regional office agency.
“Sizeable deals in Southampton, Aberdeen and Leeds have been driven by pent-up occupier demand for the best quality space, and we are aware of a number of major corporates who face lease expiries in the next two years,” he added.
Edinburgh was highlighted as the regional market with the most impressive take-up activity in recent months, where several large-scale commitments were secured earlier this year. Meanwhile, analysts suggest that Manchester looks to be the regional city best placed for strong performance in the second half of 2012 as “several large requirements come to fruition.”
Editor’s notes: In 2023, Aberdeen’s office space taken by way of office lettings was 321,013 square feet, which was 17 per cent higher than 2022’s figure and 13 per cent below the 5-year average.
The largest transaction in the city was Harbour Energy leasing 35,000 square feet of Grade-A office space at the Prime Four Business Park in Kingswells.
Prime office rents remained unchanged from 2022 at £32.50 per square foot per annum.
In Birmingham, the total 2023 office space take-up was 829,928 square feet, which was 21% below the 10-year average.
Notable deals included Mills & Reeve renting 32,088 square feet at One Centenary Way, the Global Banking School’s leasing 29,383 square feet at Norfolk House, and The Crown Prosecution Service taking 27,589 square feet at 9 Colmore Row.
Birmingham’s prime office rent was £41.00 per square foot, up 2.5 per cent from the previous year.
Bristol’s take-up totalled 696,047 square feet in 2023, which was 23 per cent below the 10-year average.
Key deals in Bristol included Dyson renting 66,317 square feet at 1 George’s Square, DLUP taking 28,550 square feet at Neighbourhood North, and Deloitte leasing 6,730 square feet at Halo.
Bristol’s prime office rent remained unchanged for the seventh consecutive quarter at £42.50 per square foot per annum.
In Cardiff, the 2023 total take up of office space was 277,222 square feet which was 41 per cent below the 10-year average.
Key deals in Wales’s capital city included Rolls Royce Submarines’s 13,031 square feet letting at St Davids House, All Clear Insurance Services renting 6,230 square feet at Churchill House, and Mott Macdonald’s taking 5,727 square feet at 2 Callaghan Square.
The Cardiff’s prime office rent remained at £25.00 per square foot, unchanged from 2022.
In Edinburgh, the annual take-up for 2023 was 620,486 square feet, 15 per cent below the 10-year average.
Key deals in Scotland’s capital city included Sainsbury’s leasing 19,332 square feet at 1 New Park Square, MFMac renting16,435 square feet at 9 Haymarket Square, and Buro Happold leasing 6,372 square feet at New Clarendon House.
Prime office rents in Edinburgh increased by 7.5 per cent on the previous year, to £43.00 per square foot per annum.
Glasgow’s 2023 total take-up was 669,289 square feet, which was 31% below the 10-year average.
Key deals in Scotland’s largest city were Cubo’s 19,375 square foot letting at Aurora, 120 Bothwell Street, Heathrow Airport’s renting of 15,121 square feet at Lightyear, Glasgow Airport Business Park, and the leasing of 12,934 square feet by Envevo at New Lanarkshire House, Strathclyde Business Park.
Prime office rents in Glasgow stood at £39.50 per square foot at the end of 2023, a 9.7 per cent increase on the previous year.
In Leeds, the total 2023 office space take-up was 910,559 square feet, 5 per cent below the 10-year average.
Key office space deals in Leeds included Barnett Waddingham’s letting of 13,446 square feet at City Square House, and Freeths’ renting of 11,270 square feet at Central Square.
Prime office rents in Leeds stood at £37.00 per square foot, up 2.8 per cent on the previous year.
In Liverpool, the total amount of office space taken up in 2023 was 439,807 square feet, which was 15 per cent below the 10-year average.
Key Liverpool office deals included The Crown Prosecution Service’s renting of 27,975 square feet at Walker House, Optical Express leasing of 9,172 square feet at Exchange Station and Avalanche Studio taking 9,452 square feet at No. 5 St Paul’s Square.
Liverpool’s prime office rent remained unchanged from 2022 at £25.50 per square foot per annum.
Office space take up in 2023 in Manchester totalled 2 million square feet, just 6 per cent below the long-term average.
Key deals in the Northwest city included BDO’s 23,017 square foot pre-lease at Eden, and
Alvarez & Marsal’s 14,160 square foot letting at The Lincoln.
The prime office rent stood at £43.00 per square foot per annum, 7.5 per cent more than 2022.
In Newcastle, the total 2023 office space take-up by way of leasing deals was 700,337 square feet, which was 9 per cent below the 10-year average.
Key deals in the Northeast city included Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne & Wear NHS Foundation Trust’s 24,500 sq ft letting at 1 Carliol, and flexible workspace provider Wizu renting 19,541 square at Portland House on New Bridge Street West.
Prime office rents at the end of 2023 stood at £32.00 per square foot, 14.3 per cent up on 2022.
Office space take-up figures were not released by Southampton office agents in 2023.
Southampton’s prime office rents rose to £29 per square foot per annum at the end of 2023, rising from a previous high of £25.50 per square foot.
In January 2025, at the previously mentioned Aurora building on Bothwell Street in Glasgow, another deal was struck with law firm Pinsent Masons.
After terminating its lease at Lucent at 50 Lucent Street with landlord Orion, the firm signed a 10-year lease for 31,000 square feet of office space on the first and fourth floors with an option to extend for a further five years with Aurora’s landlord Forma Real Estate Fund.
HFD Property Group, a long-term client of Pinsent Masons, was managing the development of the building.
The firm would join other tenants at the building, including PwC, News UK and SSE, which boasts amenities including a 4,000 square foot rooftop terrace, a new café space, auditorium facilities, podcast studio, wellness area and gym, as well as 200 cycle racks, and changing facilities.
The building was being developed to be net zero carbon in operation, with a focus on ‘biophilic design’, making it one of the city’s smartest and most sustainable offices.
In August 2025, CBRE reported that 20.6 million square feet of office deals were recorded in the UK from Q1 to Q2 2025.
The commercial real estate consultancy revealed that UK office take-up through lettings reached a three-year high, with the 12 months to the end of Q2 2025 achieving the highest rolling total since Q3 2022.
The increase was driven by 11.8 million square feet of office lettings in Central London, of which the technology, media and telecoms (TMT) sector accounted for a quarter.
During this period, the UK regional market contributed significantly to the overall take-up, with 6.5 million square feet of lettings.
In July 2025, it was reported that the Big Nine regional office markets (Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle) had the strongest H1 take-up in six years.