Take up of office space in Bristol city centre in 2013 increased by nearly a quarter on the previous year, according to the latest figures released by The Bristol Office Agents Society.

Over 504,500 sq ft of space was taken in the city centre, an increase of 23% on 2012 and up on the five year average.

In the out of town market, take up stood at 229,858 sq ft, giving an overall total for the city of 734,366 sq ft compared to 660,598 sq ft in 2012.

Richard Kidd from GVA’s office agency team comments: “Such a dramatic uplift in city centre take up is extremely encouraging and another indicator that occupier confidence has returned to the market. We expect this to continue into the year ahead.”

Chris Grazier of HTC adds: “The strong take up leaves the city with a diminishing supply of good quality space. This bodes well for more speculative office development in the city.”

Earlier in the year Tim Davies of Colliers International said faster than expected recovery in the UK economy could restore Bristol’s financial and banking sector to 2008 levels within three years.

Article from Business Leader magazine