Commercial property development and serviced office company Waterloo Quay Properties, is upbeat after experiencing significant growth throughout 2017 and into H1 of 2018 which has resulted in tenant numbers at the sites it owns and manages nearly doubling, which in turn has culminated in their occupancy rates exceeding 95%.
The growth has been attributed to a range of factors from the upsizing of existing tenants, the new arrivals of established businesses on site and a significant number of new start-ups. The total number of businesses at the Waterloo Quay site, which spans 10 buildings, now stands at 62, up almost 100%, from 34 on the preceding 12-months.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Why? Free to subscribe, no paywall, daily business news digest.
[adbutler zone_id=’297765′]
The increase also means that out of nearly 91,000 sq. ft. of office space, there is just under 2,000 sq. ft. currently available at the harbour side development.
Managing Director at Waterloo Quay Properties, Anna-Marie Eardley said: “After the challenging trading environment created with the general downturn in Aberdeen and the loss of two high-profile tenants in early 2016, 2017 has been a transformative year operationally and along with the more optimistic outlook in the city of late, we’ve vastly exceeded our occupancy expectations over the past 12 months. Undoubtedly, we’ve had to adapt to the conditions locally and with many companies reducing headcount over the past few years, this has had a knock-on effect on the total office space required from larger organisations. The upside to this has been the amount of new businesses we’ve welcomed on-site over the past 12 months which has been something of a revelation and has really added to the close-knit community that we have always promoted on site.”
Waterloo Quay Properties has been re-developing the Harbour front in Aberdeen since 2000, transforming 10 properties along Waterloo Quay into prime offices, with an expansive offering which includes fully serviced lets, meeting and conference facilities, virtual offices and hot desking supported by fantastic on-site facilities including a coffee shop, gymnasium and squash courts and multi-storey car park.
Anna added: “As much as the general upturn has helped our 2017 growth, we strongly believe that the quality and variety of choice of our offices and on-site amenities have also played a large role in our recent success. We have been able to adapt several of our larger office suites into small to medium sized units to react to demand. We understand people these days tend to spend a significant amount of their time at work and want to make sure that our space is as attractive and comfortable as possible. This, coupled with the excellent amenities provided at Waterloo Quay promotes improved staff attraction and retention for all occupiers based here. We work very hard behind the scenes to ensure this is the case whilst the benefit of being an on-site property owner with a full facilities management team in place, means that our tenants can rely on that commitment.”
