Bristol office market has highest rents outside London

Office space in Bristol is now more expensive than any other big city outside of London, a new report has revealed. Surging demand among businesses and a lack of supply drove up rents last year, the Bristol Office Agents Society found.

Headline rents in the city increased through 2024 to £48 per sq ft - the highest of the big six cities analysed. A lack of "good quality" space also drove up prices on refurbished buildings which in many instances achieved rents of £40 per sq ft.

Though take up of space was below the five and 10 year averages for the year, there was an increase on the level for 2023 and with strong demand towards the end of the year market sentiment going into 2025 is positive, the report said.

Bristol’s city centre market saw 41 deals completed in the second half of last year with a H2 take up of 187,527 sq ft. Total annual take up in the city centre for 2024 was 440,562 sq ft.

Among the biggest deals was BLOCK’s acquisition of 21,235 sq ft at the newly refurbished building The Fairfax. There were also agreements at UBS’s newly refurbished 3 Rivergate, with Aecom’s taking 15,124 sq ft on the sixth and part of the fifth floors, and DNV taking 11,261 sq ft on the fourth.

Other Grade A lettings this quarter include CBREIM’s letting at Halo of 9,5