Member Article

Liverpool developers must reduce grade A office deficit

The owner of Liverpool’s historic flagship India Buildings has urged property developers to invest in high quality office space in the city.

Mike Tapp, director of London-based Green Property, has predicted a shortfall in grade A office space in the Merseyside city, and said developers must work to prevent losing occupiers to other cities.

Research carried out by property consultants, GVA, found that Liverpool needs to address a deficit of new and refurbished grade A office space, which will become a problem in the next two years.

Mr Tapp said: “Whilst there was a spike in availability for city centre offices in 2011, Liverpool, like most regional property markets, has seen a dearth of development and refurbishment activity since.

“So much so that we are approaching the tipping point when known demand for grade A space will overtake current supply.This is the right time for owners to be looking at investing in their buildings.

“It will be some time until new speculative development is economically viable, but older office stock can effectively be refurbished to provide create the high quality space that leading occupiers demand. It’s precisely why we’re creating Liverpool’s largest grade A floor plate at India Buildings.”

He added: “We believe the market for grade A offices will continue to improve which is why we are investing £1.5m into redeveloping an entire 35,000 sq ft floor plate on the fifth floor of India Buildings.

“This is Liverpool’s most prestigious address and, looking at the current trends, we are confident there will be demand for a single floor plate of this specification.”

India Buildings was built between 1924 and 1932 and used as the headquarters for Alfred holt’s Blue Funnel Line, designed by art deco pioneer Herbert Rowse.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Miranda Dobson .