2 minutes to read
A Look Back
Brighton has continued to cement itself as a TMT Hub in the past 12 months with Hyve Managed Hosting and Electric Square following the "flight to quality" trend. Both have taken space at Circus Street, leaving just c.10,000 sq ft of New space available in the City.
The mega 85,000 sq ft pre-let (letting pre-completion rather than off-plan pre-let) at Edward Street has proven Brighton can land the "big deals". Octopus Energy moved quickly with the structural shifts in the energy sector, acquiring local businesses like Bulb and rapidly growing its footprint. What started as a 15,000 sq ft requirement rapidly rose to the delight of the developer (Patron / Socius). Edward Street delivered a huge amount of office space into the Brighton market, but due to this pre-let, the demand and supply dynamic remains incredibly tight.
The prime headline rent achieved remains c.£36.00 per sq ft, but the market has not seen new products delivered in the most prime of locations – like we said last year, watch the performance of the development pipeline in the coming years for lettings closer to headline rents of £40.00 per sq ft.
A Look Forward
All eyes are on the owners of Middle Street and Portland, each delivering schemes between 20,000 and 30,000 sq ft in the next 12 months. With both located in the heart of The Lanes and with the most recent development pipeline (Circus Street and Edward Street) letting up, it will be interesting to see who snaps them up first.
There continues to be a healthy level of occupier demand, albeit moving slightly slower and more strategically like many businesses post-pandemic. Professional services firms like Close Brothers and Mott Macdonald want to downsize but upgrade. At the same time, we wait to see which sub-sector of TMT will deliver the "unpredictable" growth demand that Brighton has consistently demonstrated over the past five years.