Blackwater Valley Office Market
1 minute to read
The Blackwater Valley had registered about half of its usual annual take-up in 2021. The key transactions of note have been in Farnborough (its key office location/hub), notably with Siemens moving from Frimley to Farnborough Business Park on c.30,000 sq ft at £28.50 per sq ft Q2 2021. There was additional activity in Hook at the bottom of the BWV where Cinch Cars (sponsors of almost everything in 2021 from Latitude Festival to Tottenham Hotspur) elected to set up a regional HQ of c.25,000 sq ft at Kennedy Wilson’s Form, Bartley Wood scheme. A little further afield in Basingstoke saw Arena Business Centres take c.60,000 sq ft at Grosvenor House.
The Blackwater Valley has historically been home to a host of defence, aviation and security companies. The war in Ukraine has sent ripples through European governments and resulted in them reviewing defence strategies, which does make you wonder if the defence/security industry is set for expansion and investment. If this is the case, there might be a knock-on effect to the BWV if many of those types of businesses elect to grow and recruit off the back of expanding budgets.
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