Property agents say Liverpool still needs to build more premium office space to attract national and international companies – even as they remain upbeat about the city’s prospects for 2025.
The latest report from the Liverpool Office Agents Forum (LOAF) showed office space transactions in 2024 totalled 318,479 sq ft – up 12.5% on the 283,799 sq ft acquired the previous year. The central business district showed particularly strong demand. In Q4 of 2024, 21 deals were completed in the city centre, totalling 103,318 sq ft.
The year’s biggest acquisition was in Q4, when insurer Acorn Group bought the Grade I Listed Atlantic Pavilion at the Royal Albert Dock. Also in Q4, Direct Line Insurance bought the fourth floor at 1 St Paul’s Square, totalling 16,964 sq ft, while Your Legal secured 6,060 sq ft of offices at No 8 Princes Dock.
Tim Garnett, chair of LOAF, said: “The underlying numbers demonstrate a robust commercial market within Liverpool’s central business district. Take-up has increased from 2023 and the number of transactions taking place is arguably greater than before the pandemic.
“We are not without challenges in the marketplace, but fundamentals in Liverpool are strong. As a city we must be able to offer opportunities to large inward investors and employers, who are footloose across the regions. It is critical therefore that we see a push for improved supply, specifically in the heart of the Commercial District.
“As a forum, we are predicting a positive 2025, with several large requirements due to land. However, this will not continue in the long term if schemes like Pall Mall do not come to fruition soon. Ready-to-occupy supply remains less than 500,000 sq ft and this is dispersed throughout the city and is of mixed quality.”