Belfast office space take-up 'lowest on record'

As more companies allow staff to work remotely, there is concern footfall in the city centre will decrease

Take-up for Belfast office space hit a record low in the second half of 2020, Northern Ireland's largest commercial real estate service has said.

CBRE figures show 29 transactions for the whole of the year, a sq ft decline of 72% on 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns have been blamed for the drop.

CBRE director Brian Lavery said he was hopeful the end of 2021 would look very different to last year.

Speaking to BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster, Mr Lavery said the results are "out of kilter with our normal market", but "it was circumstances none of us had ever seen before or anticipated".

Availability was up 116% on the first half of the year.

• 'Hybrid working will become the norm'

• 'People are tired of working from home'

As lockdown continued into 2021, Mr Lavery said this first quarter "unsurprisingly" seemed to mirror that of 2020.

With more companies giving employees options of home-working and remote employment there are concerns offices becoming vacant, particularly older buildings in need of renovation, will lead to increased grey space and less footfall into the wider city economy.

But Mr Lavery said the number of job announcements throughout 2020 from firms such as BT Legal Hub, Neueda, Codec, Peak 6 and Gately is encouraging.

"I don't see all of those being able to be facilitated by at-home working, one of the big drivers of getting people back to the office will be training and collaboration. Training, in my view, cannot work productively online," he said.

"There is definitely an appetite for office investment, for new offices with better green facilities, sustainability built into them, open space built into them - those are already being created in Belfast.

"I do worry that the grey space this leaves behind as people trade up to the better style of offices will need further investment before they can be repositioned and come back into the market, but that happens over time."