Year end Big 6 office take-up predicated to hit 3.8 million sq ft, as professional services continues to dominate
According to the latest take-up figures from Savills, total office take-up across the Big 6 regional cities (Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester) reached 948,771 sq ft in Q3 2025, marginally down by 6% on the five-year Q3 average. During Q1 to Q3 2025, Savills reports that the Big 6 regional office markets recorded 2.68 million sq ft of office take-up, exactly on par with the five-year average. With activity anticipated to increase during the final part of the year, the firm predicts Q4 take up to reach in excess of 1 million sq ft, resulting in an expected year end figure of circa 3.84 million sq ft across the Big 6 overall by the end of year.
Whilst the overall take-up figures for Q3 are down yoy, Savills research highlights a number of regions that have seen a rise in activity. Most notably Bristol has shown an impressive performance with 227,767 sq ft transacted in Q3, reflecting a 164% increase yoy and stands 168% above the five-year average. Key to this strong performance was Hargreaves Lansdown’s 90,362 sq ft deal at the Welcome Building and a new headline rent achieved at £50 psf, the highest of the Big 6 paid by Birketts at EQ totalling 8,500 sq ft.
Leeds also saw a yoy rise for Q3 take-up reaching 156,675 sq ft, just ahead of the 146,372 achieved during the same period in 2024, whilst Birmingham was 10% ahead of the 5-year average for Q3 take-up for the region. In terms of the number of deals done, Bristol and Birmingham topped the table seeing a 70% and 55% rise respectively in the number of Q3 deals yoy, while Manchester recorded the largest single deal of Q1 to Q3 with Autotrader’s 130,000 sq ft lease at 3 Circle Square.
When analysing sectors, Savills notes that professional services and TMT (Technology, Media, Telecoms) dominate across the regions accounting for 19% of total take-up respectively.
James Evans, national head of office agency at Savills, says: “In spite of continued challenging trading conditions and uncertainty associated with a late budget these take up figures emphasise a remarkable resilience in the sector. It is likely year end figures will track long term average. Slow decision making however remains a threat to speed of transactions. Looking towards 2026 a lack of new development may hamper take up but this in turn presents significant opportunity for repositioned assets and rental growth.”