Watford Office Market
17 May 2023
As Hertfordshire’s primary office cluster, Watford has the greatest occupier critical mass with nearby St Albans offering workers’ a unique lifestyle offering with historic charm. Watford has secured notable recent in movers as a result (Enterprise Finance, PWC), buoying take-up in the last 12 months at a respectable 116, 3034 sq ft, a +114% increase on the year before.
Traditionally office occupiers have targeted the stretch between its main shopping destination and the mainline station at Watford Junction along the Clarendon Road. But in recent years, Croxley Park on the western edge of town has made a strong case for the out of town market. The scheme has delivered some excellent buildings with rents peaking at £35.00 psf, rivalling a soon-to-be-hit £37.50 psf on Clarendon Road’s prime pitch. At a more cost-competitive point, the submarket Leavesden has seen Skanska take space from ASOS at Leavesden Park, diversifying the occupier base close to Warner Bros and the Harry Potter Visitor attraction.
Regal London are boldly delivering a huge new £150m mixed-use office-and-residential scheme at 37-39 Clarendon Road, targeting BREEAM Outstanding, reflecting confidence in the market’s fundamentals of transport, amenity, and catchment. The scheme follows on from completion of TKMaxx’s new £93m European headquarters. Achieving BREEAM Excellent, the scheme will consolidate over 3,000+ employees resulting in the return of piecemeal office space back to the market.
Sign up to Knight Frank Research.
