Reports of major occupiers seeking large office premises in the Thames Valley have been welcomed by agents in Reading.

CoStar News has reported that Amazon is scouring the M4 corridor for 100,000 sq ft of offices and suggests its search – being handled by Colliers International – is honing in on Reading’s out-of-town market.

And Property Week has reported that mobile phone firm Three will move its Maidenhead operation to its existing Reading base at Great Brighams Mead this year but has a longer term requirement of 90,000 sq ft in the town.

Steve Head, director for office and industrial at Hicks Baker, said: “The reports of companies of the stature of Amazon and Three looking for space, if confirmed, are testament to the underlying strengths of Reading as a business location.

“Looking beyond the current difficulties, the key market fundamentals – quality buildings, excellent connectivity, a highly skilled labour pool and a dynamic business community – will prevail and the prospects for the office market locally should remain strong in the medium to longer term.”

Writing for CoStar News, Jonathan Mannings, director and founder of Rare Commercial property, said demand in the region will emanate from occupiers who have made it their location of choice.

He went on: “In particular, we expect telecoms and pharma to be significant players and these will be joined by companies from some of the net beneficiaries of the home shopping boom and may include companies such as Amazon and Deliveroo.

“Whilst we expect that average size of transaction will fall in the 20-40,000 sq ft bracket this year, there are still good grounds to expect that there will be more ‘mega deals’ happening this year than seen in 2020 with deals of between 100 and 200,000 sq ft to be expected.”

He predicts a surge in investment activity, both in both out of town locations and in town centres.

And he told Thames Tap he is due to conduct viewings in Central Reading in the next few days for 30,000 sq ft and 60,000 sq ft.

He added: “It seems the larger occupiers are strategically planning a return to the office – the smaller occupiers are much more able to ‘turn it on’ quickly whenever they need it.”

Image: Steve Head (left) and Jonathan Mannings.

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