Reading office space take-up 'rises 88 per cent'

The Quintiles deal at Green Park helped to boost office space rental in Reading last year.

Article posted: 06 Jan 2011

One major letting helped to push occupancy levels for office space in Reading up 88 per cent on the previous year in 2010.

This is according to provisional data from property consultancy Hicks Baker, which found that 246,300 sq ft of commercial space was taken in the Berkshire location last year, Get Reading reports.

Pharmaceutical research company Quintiles signed up for a 121,000 sq ft premises at Green Park in an agreement that pushed the year's office space activity levels well above the 130,555 sq ft recorded in 2009.

"This deal also skewed the take-up figures in the direction of business parks, which accounted for 72 per cent of total take-up," explained Stephen Head, office space expert at Hicks Baker.

He added that headline rents for Grade A offices in the town have "held up remarkably well" in recent months, unlike neighbouring areas of the Thames Valley.

Other companies that use the Green Park development to rent offices in Reading include Symantec, Cisco, Logica and Regus.

Posted by Jenni Thal