Another report highlights the chronic lack of grade A space in Liverpool’s central business district despite revealing a rise in deals in the second quarter of 2025. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool city centre saw office deals totalling 51,600 sq ft across 15 lease agreements in the second quarter of 2025 – 116% higher than the same period last year.
However, new data from CBRE also offers a reminder that the volume of available grade A office space, particularly in the central business district, remains at an historic low accounting for just 2.9% of the total available space.
Despite the quarter-on-quarter increase in the Liverpool market, take-up was 17% below the five-year average. The first half take-up in Liverpool totalled 87,900 sq ft, 27% below the same period in 2024.
CBRE added the professional sector was the most active in the 12 months to the second quarter in Liverpool, accounting for 26% of take-up, closely followed by Insurance at 25%.
Largest deal of the quarter in Liverpool saw Liverpool John Moores University take 25,400 sq ft at City Square, 40 Tithebarn Street.
Availability increased by 8% during the second quarter to stand at 904,600 sq ft. Second-hand space accounted for the majority of supply at 92%, while newly completed space accounted for the remainder.
Liverpool’s commercial district has fallen behind other regional cities in recent years as its pipeline of grade A space has dried up. New space is seen as essential to attract blue chip occupiers.
Key to speculative development is headline rents. Developers and investors won’t take the risk unless they can see good returns in recent years Liverpool’s headline rent, currently at £29 per sq ft, has been seen as too low to kick-start new schemes.
READ MORE: Liverpool property changes hands in £63.5m deal
In comparison Manchester’s £44 per sq ft headline rent has seen the city create a strong pipeline of space. Headline rents in Bristol are £48.40 per sq ft and in Glasgow £41.50 per sq ft.
It is now more than a decade since the last significant investment into grade A office space in Liverpool’s CBD. That was the St Paul’s Square development off Old Hall Street. That needed state support, in the form of EU funding, to get built.
In May Liverpool City Council said it was ready to spend £15m to revive the stalled 111,500 sq ft Pall Mall office project. This was due to go ahead with a pre-let from BT but the communications giant pulled out following the pandemic.
Costing a total of £55m, the development would rise to eight storeys and would also include a new urban park ground floor retail units. It will be built by Kier Property Developments and ready for occupation by summer 2028.
Cllr Nick Small, Cabinet member for Growth and Development, said in May: “This proposed investment would not just bring forward a top-quality grade A office scheme and a new urban park in our business district, it will act as a catalyst to stimulate investor confidence in the city.”