Life sciences property occupancy in South East to surpass last year's total
Take-up of life science related space for the first half of 2022 hit 629,374 square feet, according to Real Estate firm Savills.
The total, which is 11 per cent above the same period last year, is only 29 per cent below the total amount transacted for 2021 and, as such, is on track to go beyond those numbers.
Looking at the core markets of Oxford, Cambridge, Greater London, the South East, White City and central London, Savills recorded all types of deals within the life science sector including offices, laboratories and office space set to be converted into labs. As of H1 2022, 62 per cent of deals can be attributed to the Oxford and Cambridge markets, matching last year’s H1 figure.
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Last year’s total figure, of 887,220 square feet, is consistent with trends dating back to 2018. Taking into account increases in pre-letting activity derived from a number of lab enabled schemes, however, Savills anticipates a potential increase in 2022 and 2023.
For example, the first phase of St John’s College’s Thomas White Oxford, Cadillac Fairview and Stanhope’s Oxford North scheme, totalling 145,000 square feet, is due to start on site later this year.
With as much as 4.5 million square feet of requirements across London, Stevenage, Oxford and Cambridge, the second half of the year is expected to be busy.
Tom Mellows, head of UK science at Savills, said: “Whilst fundraising in the life science sector has reduced considerably since last year, this is largely to do with the significant macro-economic headwinds that are currently impacting all markets at this time.
“As we can see from the transactional figures, life science occupiers remain resilient and we are likely to see take-up surpassing long-term averages as further development comes through. It is due to the continued confidence in the sector that we are seeing more landlords looking to enter this space.”
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