West Yorkshire saw take-up of industrial property rise in the first half of 2014 according to a Knight Frank report. Take-up of units above 50,000 sq ft, H1 take-up reached 2.52 million sq ft four times H2’s 2013 level. The majority of the first half of the year’s transactions involved Yorkshire-based manufacturing firms.
Close to 500,000 sq ft of H1 take-up involved new space, with total new build supply reducing by 25 per cent during the period.
Speculative development is also to make a return to region, with two developments set to get underway soon with Muse Developments and Wilton Developments both beginning work on 80,000 sq ft and 50,000 sq ft developments respectively. The return of speculative development is anticipated to provide a much-needed boost to the quality of supply in the region.
