• Swindon & Wiltshire Property
• Wednesday January 4 2023
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Bath office market starts to move again – Carter Jonas

After a challenging start to 2022, the office market in Bath picked up in Q3 2022 according to figures from property consultant Carter Jonas.

Just under 23,000 sq ft was leased in the third quarter, which was 63 per cent up quarter on quarter, up 56 per cent year on year – but four per cent below the five-year quarterly average.

Philip Marshall, a partner at Carter Jonas’ Bath office, said: “Many businesses still face an uphill struggle to get staff back in the office day to day, but an increasing number now recognise the need to maintain office and company culture, which is challenging, at best, via online means of communication.

“Bath seems to be ahead of the curve here, but this might be down to the smaller size of the average business in the city when compared to other locations – there are relatively fewer larger employers within the city.

“We have recently seen a material pick up in office enquires and deals agreed – perhaps more so than other locations in the region. We anticipate a relatively steady, but normal, first quarter of 2023 as businesses assess their needs and commit to generally higher specification offices than those they currently occupy.”

“This trend appears to be developing to meet staffing demands of better-quality workspace. Traditionally, many businesses occupied Georgian buildings, but this is now much more limited, and with MEES (Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards) dictating a minimum of a ‘D’ rating from April 2023, this trend is only likely to increase.

“Bath now has a much greater supply of modern, open plan offices and the quality of these is getting better as businesses realise the need for improved space.”