By Phil Reid, Owner of Phil Reid Associates.

The big UK regional cities office markets have recovered at varying rates from the post pandemic revolution in working practices but now Glasgow is at last showing real signs of a market settling into new patterns.

It has taken some time for every office occupier to work out their strategy for hybrid working and to start to take decisions on the type and size of accommodation they need. This will continue to evolve but the last few months have seen the streets of central Glasgow busier at least in the middle days of the week and enquiries for office space seem to have been maturing. Many businesses seem to be looking for an additional or slightly larger space than they might have committed to two or three years ago.

Some of the well reported office market trends seem to be really bedding in. The vibrant flexible serviced office sector seems likely to keep growing. Some of the biggest buildings like Aurora are enjoying having a flex operator in part of their space as it allows big corporates to react quickly to new projects etc.

The average size of office letting deal seems to be growing and high-quality refurbished space seems to be best placed to secure new tenants and retain tenants. The big long term Glasgow office building owners such as SRE, RJH and Stelmain continue to work hard to provide attractive contemporary spaces and also additional facilities such as gyms, roof top terraces etc.

A strong trend has been the growth in the let ready market where the landlords provide the tenants with attractively fitted out, furnished and IT connected space. This allows the occupier to avoid capex investment and time hassles as they move into their new space.

As one good example of upgrading a city centre building, I have been involved with a beautifully refurbished property, The Culzean in Renfield Street. In a superb location, this elegant historic listed building now provides very contemporary, bright and attractive office space, designed by Glasgow firm C2 Concepts. The bold decision by the private investor owner to spend a very substantial sum on the building has secured new occupiers for 2 of the 5 small suites on the 4th floor, a pre let of the entire 5th floor and a soon to be finalised letting of the whole 1st floor.

This investment by building owners is expensive so only significantly higher rent levels make this viable but these seem to be achievable. Occupiers are often still taking a bit less space than pre pandemic so to get the quality they need to retain and attract staff they seem prepared to pay the new viability required rent levels.

Interestingly these improved Glasgow office market dynamics resulted in several of the city’s bigger landmark quality office buildings changing hands in recent months. Ediston have been active buying amongst other the Sentinel building and Central Exchange with Longstock Capital buying the prominent George House, McLellan Works and Atrium Court backed by international investors.

Whilst some property owners have decided to sell rather than invest in their properties there does appear to be a core group of buyers that see the inherent value and positive letting prospects for some of Glasgow’s best properties if they receive investment love and attention.

Not all big investors like the office sector but perhaps those buying now may just being doing so as the market moves off the bottom. Occupier enquiries seem quite strong just now for the best quality space which will hopefully bring success for the superb recently launched developments at Lucent in Bothwell Street and the creatively appointed Five Cadogan Street, both with stunning roof top terraces!

So whilst there continues to be much online and even family debate about working from home versus being in the office, Glasgow’s improved office market picture seems to show that businesses are working out the flexible mix that they need.

There isn’t as much good quality office space as everyone thinks until they start looking! Then they can find that many of the boards around town are for older space where the owners haven’t wanted or been able to spend the necessary improvement capital.

Most employers want good space as they refresh their city centre presence. They want to offer their employees a good working environment to enjoy that attracts them to the office plus all the leisure and retail attractions that Glasgow city centre has to offer!

When the time comes to look back on commercial property market activity in 2026 and 2027 we may all see that those who managed to grasp some of the current office building purchase opportunities might well have done pretty well and be enjoying strong commercial returns.

Time will tell but in the meantime as this is my home city, I’m delighted that after a difficult period, Glasgow seems to be very much moving in the right direction.

You can see all of the commercial property available from Phil Reid Associates on NovaLoca here.

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