Workplace strategy and design firm launches Newcastle hub
A national workplace strategy, design and build company has established a Newcastle base in response to demand for projects across the North East.
TSK has opened a delivery studio in the city after noting a marked uplift of office regeneration projects in Newcastle and the wider region.
These include the new 20,000 sq ft Nexus HQ at The Spark, a 16,000 sq ft office for LNER, a 15,000 sq ft space for Van Oord and 10,000 st ft office space for Irwin Mitchell.
Hannah Cusack, account director at TSK, said: "There's very little availability of new, high quality office stock in Newcastle yet there's huge demand from a range of sectors wanting to locate their teams in the city.
“It's an unbalanced picture, so these market conditions are driving significant change. Businesses wanting high quality offices are now choosing to stay in the buildings they own or lease by upgrading their workspaces.
"There's no doubt that the biggest focus for the office market in Newcastle is upgrading existing stock. We have been working with a wide range of businesses across Newcastle and the North East to ensure rightsizing of their office space.
“Underpinning this, we support them in optimising space to improve productivity, purpose and usage; in turn this helps to save costs and attract talent."
The TSK team works closely with a range of Newcastle property experts, including office agent Michael Downey of Parker Knights, to ensure a whole market view is provided.
Michael Downey, director at Parker Knights, said: "Right now, grade A availability is less than 2 per cent in Newcastle, standing at between 100,000–150,000 sq ft across a limited number of office buildings.
“This coupled with the fact that market rents have risen around £10 to £15 per sq ft for new schemes over the last ten years means that it's a very tight market.
"Looking at occupier trends, we're seeing that out‑of‑town occupiers are often downsizing into the city; while city occupiers are upscaling. Average city deal sizes are now around 4,000 to 6,000 sq ft due to lack of availability. There’s a real need for businesses to be planning ahead."
TSK employs more than 100 people across the UK, with clients including AJ Bell, GHD and KPMG.
Words: Alice Bird