With more and more investment being targeted towards the oil and gas industry in the North Sea, this has also had a positive impact on office space demand in Aberdeen, according to new research by CBRE.
The report highlights that 287,463 sq ft of office space was taken up in the city in the first half of the year, which is above its usual six-month average. Demand has particularly been increasing from service firms and oil operators, both of which have been looking to snatch up head offices in the nearby area. Even though prime Grade A space in Aberdeen is quite low, with only 38,000 sq ft of new offices is now left, total available space is still quite stable due to a mass of second-hand developments being released in the past year.
It was not just Aberdeen that has seen the 'North Sea effect' however. CBRE reports that Edinburgh experienced 306,244 sq ft of space take-up in the first six months of the year, a rise of eight per cent when compared to the second half of 2012, while Glasgow saw it's take-up reaching 200,000 sq ft.
The CBRE report now predicts that prime office rents in Aberdeen are set to rise from the current rate of £31.50 per sq ft, especially as supply begins to dwindle in the city over the second half of the year. This may, in turn, encourage speculative development projects in both the city centre and out-of-town regions. Examples of big projects in the pipeline include the Triple Kirks scheme and the Rubislaw 7 development by Carttera, the latter of which will begin construction in the third quarter. The 40-acre Aberdeen International Business Park has also begun work in Dyce.