Occupiers are poised to move into Bath’s first major new office development in more than a generation as the city’s commercial property market continues to recover from the impact of the pandemic.
No.1 Bath Quays, the recently completed 45,000 sq ft scheme at Bath Quays South, has been marketed for nearly two years as offering the type of modern office accommodation capable of competing with recent schemes in Bristol and stemming the flow of fast-growing firms moving out of the city.
Now, according to a new report on the South West’s commercial property market, a number of lettings for the five-storey building are already in solicitors’ hands and could be completed soon.
The report by Bristol-headquartered property agents Alder King predicts the unnamed occupiers are expected to move into No.1 Bath Quays this year – delivering a major boost to Bath’s office market after a challenging period.
The city has for many years suffered from a shortage of modern office space – a fact that has led to a number of firms heading to Bristol to find suitable space for expansion.
Bath & North East Somerset Council funded the development of No1 Bath Quays to stem the tide as well as being able to offer premium office accommodation for businesses moving to the city.
While the Bath office market saw an increasing level of supply, this didn’t have a negative impact on activity levels, with take-up in line with recent years and headline rents increasing.
The Alder King Market Monitor 2022 shows take-up of office space in Bath last year was around 90,000 sq ft – very similar to 2020.
However, the majority of activity was in the sub-5,000 sq ft bracket, with lettings completed in Westpoint, Northumberland Building and Queen Square.
Top headline rents in the city centre increased by 4.8% to £32.50 per sq ft and Alder King expects them to continue to rise this year as a result of lettings at No.1 Bath Quays.
Alder King associate Tom Dugay said: “The supply of immediately available, modern, open plan accommodation within the city has previously restricted the Bath market in recent years.
“However, as a result of new developments, refurbishment projects and a change in working practices, there has been a rise in supply over the last 12 months.
“Total supply currently stands at circa 160,000 sq ft, the highest it has been in recent years.”
The strength of the office investment market in the city was demonstrated by Edinburgh-based Ediston Property Investment Company’s sale of Midland Bridge House – the head office of law firm Royds Withy King – for £5.925m to a private family trust.
Alder King said a substantial car park on the high-profile site on Midland Bridge offered longer-term redevelopment opportunities.
The report also said that while Bath had struggled with the reduced number of tourists, there was still strong demand from food and drink operators.
The Square Grill Restaurant and Piano Bar is set to open soon on Abbey Churchyard while upmarket bar chain Coppa Club has submitted a planning application to occupy the former GAP store on Old Bond Street.
If successful, it would the group’s 10th outlet and follows on from its opening in Clifton Village in Bristol, pictured.
One area of commercial property where Bath has always struggled to compete with neighbouring towns and cities is industral and logistics.
Alder King said that while demand for good quality industrial space remained strong with a number of active requirements, particularly for freehold space, options within the city continued to be “almost non-existent”.
Supply was limited to secondhand stock with no speculative industrial/distribution development and none expected for the foreseeable future, the report says, with occupiers struggling to find accommodation of a modern specification forced to consider locations outside Bath, such as east Bristol – particularly along the ring road corridor from the A4 to the M32 – and
Chippenham, where St. Modwen has recently pre-let 88,000 sq ft to Furniturebox, the online furniture retailer.
No.1 Bath Quays, which is being marketed by property agency Knight Frank, forms part of the 4.5-acre Bath Quays regeneration project, providing the city with new space for business, life and culture.
A further 45,000 sq ft of offices is to be developed in the historic Newark Works by regeneration specialists TCN, with space likely to be suitable for small firms in the city’s burgeoning creative and digital sectors – of which there is also a severe shortage at present.
Both developments form part of Bath’s Enterprise Zone and are expected to create around 9,000 jobs as firms move to the sites.
