Bristol Construction to Grow

Vast growth is being predicted for Bristol’s construction sector, as the city is set to become one of the most vibrant regional and industrial development markets out with the South East.

When business returns to normal, Bristol’s construction pipeline is looking likely to benefit from major employers viewing locations out with London in a more favourable way – by removing the need for long-distance staff commuting.

In a recent report from Savills, it noted that 2019 was a strong year for Bristol’s office market, ad it was crowned in the fourth quarter by the city’s largest-ever office letting, BT signing up to take all the space in the 200,000 sq ft Assembly Building which is currently under construction.

This is boosted by strong demand from the South West’s tech, media and telecoms, financial services and serviced office sectors, together with a limited supply of space, record rents of £37.40 per square foot have been recorded for refurbished Grade A office space in Bristol.

Savills has also said that Bristol has the highest top rent among the big six regional office markets and it’s also forecasting a further increase in rents to £40 per sq ft.

This bodes well for construction activity around the city and as developers seek to meet the buoyant demand for new commercial space a variety of significant projects are in the pipeline too. Along with a new indoor sports arena and convention centre, the £100 million Ashton Gate Stadium redevelopment will include offices, hotels, a multi-storey car park and housing, with work on the scheme due to start in Spring 2021 and continuing for 12 months.

As well as this, construction work on the £87.5 million scheme of offices and academic units for the University of Bristol on a former Post Office site at Cattle Market Road is set to get underway in the autumn of this year, with work continuing for 24 months.

Bristol has also seen more serviced office deals than any other major UK regional office centre in the last year, which shows continuing strong demand is likely to mean growing opportunities for fit-out and refurbishment contractors as premises are converted to meet the needs of the sector.

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