New research shows Reading office market performing well

6th December 2024

New benchmark research conducted by REDA has identified the underlying reasons for the strong performance of the Reading office market and the key factors that separates Reading as an office location from the benchmarked competition locations of Oxford, Cambridge, Hammersmith, Chiswick, Slough, Maidenhead and Bracknell.

The research found that the key drivers of recent success in attracting new businesses to Reading were:-

• The critical mass of Reading’s IT and professional services activities
• The scale and choice of office availability
• The successful targeting of office users from other M4 and M3 locations

Underpinning this success, the research looked at seven competitor office locations and identified the factors that provide Reading with competitive advantage over these benchmarked competitors. The research found that Reading has:-

• More office availability than Oxford and Cambridge combined, Hammersmith and Chiswick combined and the combined available space in Bracknell, Maidenhead and Slough. In total, Reading has 2.6m sq ft of available office space with another 280,000 under construction
• More HQs in total than all of the benchmarked competitors across a number of key sectors – information and communications, professional services, life sciences and financial services.
• Fantastic transport connectivity including quicker travel times to central London than any of the competitor locations except London fringe – 42 mins to Oxford Circus
• A higher % of people employed in professional occupations than the competitors except Oxford and Cambridge
• Lower housing costs than all the competitors
• Access to a wide and high-quality labour pool

Nigel Horton-Baker, Chief Executive of REDA, said: “The flight to quality office spaces is still the overarching trend in the property market for global and knowledge based high-tech businesses where image and high quality of amenity inside and outside the office are key factors to business growth and attracting and retaining staff. This research demonstrates many reasons to be optimistic that Reading will continue to perform well in attracting and retaining businesses. High quality office spaces in addition to competitive advantage in house prices, great schools, high quality environment,  accessibility by rail to the City and Heathrow and a regionally significant retail, culture and hospitality offer, keeps us ahead of other regional competitor locations."