Reading leading the way ...
Reading has often been seen as a barometer for the wider Thames Valley market, giving a sense of what the occupational market is doing and what trends are emerging, says Jeremy Rodale, director, office advisory, Lambert Smith Hampton.
It is probably too early to fully understand what the pandemic has meant for future decisions but there is sure to be renewed thinking as a result of this unprecedented event.
As Three gives the market a timely boost by acquiring just over 116,000 sq ft of new offices at Green Park, it is intriguing to know why there was a shift from their original focus on town-centre options a year earlier. Was this as a result of the pandemic and shifting views on public transport and busy town-centre locations? Have occupiers altered their thoughts on how they can offer their staff genuine and all-encompassing wellness provisions or, is it as simple as a new CEO wanting a change from what has gone before and putting his own stamp on the future direction of the business? We wait to hear.
A trend that has developed in this market is the provision of Cat A+ space, giving occupiers an easier route to occupying high-quality space without the high-capital outlay. Landlords are increasing looking to provide this ‘service’ and we are now starting to see real evidence that there is genuine and sustained demand. Last year 60% of all take up of under 5,000 sq ft in Reading was for fitted-out space and therefore it’s not surprising that more landlords are providing this offer as part of new developments.
For a few years now occupiers have increasingly promoted an ever-growing range of wellness provisions they want to provide their staff and it is now fundamental to incorporate this into good building design. More so than ever after the past 12 months, places of work will need to provide its occupants with stimulating spaces to work (and rest) and offer a holistic solution to where people want to work.
As a place of business, Reading continues to pick up its fair share of plaudits and accolades. In the recently published Good Growth for Cities report, PWC rank Reading second in the UK.
This year’s report focuses on the economic impact of Covid-19 and recovery prospects for the UK’s largest towns and cities in 2021 and beyond but covers broad measures of economic wellbeing including jobs, income, health, skills, work-life balance, housing, transport and the environment. These independent endorsements of Reading’s prosperous future are backed up by investors delivering high-quality real estate in response to the occupier’s changing needs.
V7 and Baumont will shortly be launching their re-development of two offices at Thames Valley Park where wellness, sustainability and flexible work space is at the heart of the design. It will be clear when these offices are brought to market that they are resilient to the new requirements of occupiers mentioned above but not just to ‘tick a box’, but because they believe there is a responsibility to drive building design standards as high as possible and meet the challenge of evolving occupier desire and sustainability challenges.
We all hope to see life bounce back as soon as possible but it is impossible to understand just what that will look like at the moment. What we can be more certain about is that Reading is well positioned to respond to the recovery and that those forward thinking and innovative investors are likely to be at the front of the queue when the occupiers make their return to the office.
Jeremy Rodale
