Take-up of South East offices reached 1.4 million square feet in the first half of 2025, the highest half-yearly take-up for the region since 2019 and a 3% increase on the same period last year, according to CBRE. The upbeat figures come as CoStar News tracks a raft of requirements nearing a decision.
More than 761,000 square feet of take-up completed in the first quarter, with take-up in the second quarter totalling almost 600,000 square feet. In the second quarter specifically, the Thames Valley market accounted for 61% of take-up, totalling 362,600 square feet. The M25 markets accounted for the remaining proportion, CBRE said.
Take-up of second-hand space fell quarter-on-quarter by 12%, but continued to account for the largest proportion of total take-up at 71%, CBRE said. Two of the three largest deals in the second quarter were for secondhand space, but the largest deal was for new space, with the Premier League taking more than 73,000 square feet at One Olympia in west London.
At a sector level, the consumer services and leisure sector took the most space in the second quarter, accounting for more than a quarter (27%) of total take-up, followed by TMT and manufacturing, industrial and energy at 26% and 23% respectively, CBRE says.
Under-offers fell by 18% in the second quarter to 578,400 square feet across all unit sizes, and much like take-up, was predominantly in the Thames Valley market at 51%.
Peter York, head of London Met and South East investor leasing at CBRE, said in a statement: “Take-up has gradually been increasing in recent years, taking us to the highest half-yearly levels we have seen since 2019. We’ve seen a lot of diversification on business parks across the region, with a wider range of occupiers looking to secure space in what is an attractive market, particularly for larger units.”
CoStar News understands that a flurry of lettings are nearing completion to bolster figures this year.
Lincoln MGT, the joint venture between Lincoln Property Company and MGT Investment Management, is understood to have completed its letting to Centrica of 42,000 square feet. This would move it closer to full occupancy at the first office building at its £850 million mixed-use Station Hill development in Reading, as first revealed by CoStar News.
Centrica, the British multinational global energy services and solutions giant which owns British Gas, is understood to have now taken the third and fourth floors of One Station Hill, taking it to 70% let. Centrica's portfolio of real estate includes around 100 buildings in the UK with its head office at Millstream, Maidenhead Road in Windsor, owned by Malaysian pilgrim fund Lembaga Tabung Haji, and London offices at Marble Arch Park House.
Last year, CoStar News revealed that Lincoln MGT had completed the first 115,000 square feet of office lettings at the 283,000-square-foot building. Hatch Real Estate and JLL are office advisers at Station Hill. BNP Paribas Real Estate is advising Centrica.
Elsewhere, Microsoft is closing in on a decision after increasing the size of its search for an office in the Reading area from around 35,000 square feet to 80,000 square feet.
The US computer giant has appointed CBRE on the requirement. The status remains unclear of the group's larger expected 500,000-square-foot move in London, which was put on hold last year after it recommitted to offices in Paddington.
In the South East, in 2020 Microsoft centralised its occupation at its long-term campus at Thames Valley Park in Reading into Buildings 1, 2 and 3, which provide 241,000 square feet of offices.
It sold Buildings 4 and 5 which comprised 69,350 square feet and 85,900 square feet, to Baumont Real Estate, which alongside V7 has redeveloped them as the 146,000-square-foot Here and Now campus.
Microsoft subsequently handed back Building 3, comprising around 50,000 square feet, to its landlord at Thames Valley Park, meaning it currently leases close to 200,000 square foot in Buildings 1 and 2.
Microsoft is focusing its attentions on 2 Forbury Place in the centre of Reading, the Here building on Thames Valley Park or staying put.
Also in the Thames Valley, Deloitte, which is being advised by Savills, is understood to be zeroing in on options in Reading and Maidenhead for a circa 45,000-square-foot move with 2 Forbury Place, 1 Station Hill and Accrue Capital's Core Maidenhead understood to be in the running. It is thought that Deloitte could decide on a short-term, two-year lease and return to its current home at Schroders Real Estate's' Abbots House if its landlord commits to refurbishment works.
Siemens, advised by CBRE, is also looking for around 40,000 square feet of offices with The Core Maidenhead development understood to be a potential move.
Boyes Turner, advised by Vail Williams, which is also based at Abbots House in Reading, is receiving advice on a potential 15,000-square-foot to 20,000-square-foot move.
American mobile communications company Zebra Technologies, via JLL is looking for around 40,000 square feet in Reading. US food group General Mills, also advised by JLL, is thought to be looking for around 25,000 square feet of offices in the Stockley Park, Uxbridge and west London areas.
A leading South East offices adviser said: "There is more activity from corporates in a clear sign that they are again reinvesting in the workplace."