Build: Perspective – Regional Offices

The regional office market enters 2026 with a firmer footing than at any point since the pandemic. Despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty, underlying occupier activity across the Big 6 remains resilient. While 2026 has been subdued so far, take-up in 2025 broadly matched long-term norms, with Q4 alone totalling 1.1 million sq ft, on par with the five-year average.

Momentum is being driven primarily by a pronounced flight to quality. Prime and Grade A space accounted for 61% of take-up in 2025 and 65% so far this year. Vacancy in Prime buildings now sits at just 1.9%, compared with 10.5% across the wider market. Limited development pipelines will force occupiers into competition for a shrinking pool of high-quality options. As a result, refurbished schemes are becoming increasingly important in meeting demand, often achieving rental outcomes comparable with new build products.

In today’s regional markets, the tension between amenity investment and core performance enhancement is becoming more visible as schemes navigate tighter viability and a more discerning occupier base. What is increasingly clear across the Big 6 is that buildings which demonstrate intentionality, either through a coherent amenity story or measurable performance gains, are leasing ahead of those that try to straddle both without conviction. Occupiers are approaching decisions with a sharper toolkit, often arriving with predefined sustainability thresholds, OpEx expectations, and workplace strategies shaped by talent dynamics. Against this backdrop, landlords are having to articulate not just what they are providing, but why the offer aligns with how tenants now operationalise their space.

One of the most notable shifts is the growing scrutiny of operational cost trajectories. With service charge sensitivity rising in many regional markets, the business case for performance-led investment is strengthening. Efficient plant, intelligent controls and improved thermal performance are no longer framed solely as sustainability measures but as protections against volatility.

As lenders and institutional buyers embed ESG-linked hurdles and lifecycle carbon considerations into underwriting, assets with demonstrable performance credibility are capturing greater liquidity at exit. This is especially evident in refurbished schemes that have transparently documented their upgrades, enabling smoother diligence processes and reducing purchaser uncertainty.

Yet the amenity-led story retains real potency where talent competition is acute. In cities such as Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds, where prime pipelines remain constrained, and knowledge-sector clustering is intensifying, curated amenity packages are acting as decision accelerators for occupiers balancing hybrid working strategies with cultural cohesion. The challenge for developers is ensuring these features are not superficial additions but are integrated into the occupational logic of the building, with clear cost and operational accountability. Ultimately, the most resilient approaches are those that treat amenity and performance not as competing philosophies but as components of a single strategy.

_{Read the articles within Savills Build: Perspective report below}