The rise in demand for office space in the central south coast region of the UK – and the lack of new office development – is leading to an increasing amount of office refurbishment.
While the south coast has seen significant investment in leisure, retail and residential property, the same cannot be said for office development. As a result, the availability of good-quality professional working environments is becoming a real issue.
The increased demand for office space has therefore led to a hike in headline rents. According to propertyweek.com some areas on the south coast (such as Southampton city centre) have seen record headline rents of £22/sq ft.
The opportunity to make the most of these increased rents by bringing much-needed good-quality, functional office space into the market has encouraged landlords to consider refurbishment of existing office space. For example, in 2016, Ashville Group undertook a full refurbishment of the White Building in Southampton city centre, which led to an uplift of of £5.50/sq ft in rent.
At Procol, we have years of office refurbishment experience. No matter what size of office space you have, we can advise how a refurbishment will make it more valuable to owners and users in equal measure. To find out more, please get in touch.