Weybridge’s office sector is running at two distinct speeds, with refurbished, high-specification buildings letting briskly while tired, inflexible stock languishes on the market, according to one of the region’s leading commercial property advisers.
Charlie Nicholson, regional managing partner at property consultancy Vail Williams, told Property Portfolio Investor that the affluent Surrey commuter town continues to attract strong occupier interest, underpinned by its blend of competitively priced accommodation and excellent rail and road connectivity into central London. However, he warned that outcomes are becoming increasingly divergent depending on how much capital landlords have been willing to commit to their buildings.
“Buildings that have benefitted from investment continue to perform strongly,” Nicholson said. “Meanwhile older or less flexible stock has experienced slower rates of absorption. That’s why building specification and presentation matter more than ever.”
For property investors weighing the Surrey commercial market, the supply-demand imbalance at the smaller end of the spectrum represents one of the clearer opportunities in the current cycle. Nicholson highlighted an acute shortage of modern, fitted Cat A+ and so-called “oven-ready” suites, with demand at its most intense in the 1,500 to 10,000 sq ft bracket, where availability remains tight.
Nicholson, who brings more than two decades of regional commercial property experience to his analysis of the south east market, pointed to the multi-let buildings at The Heights as evidence that conventional offices can still let well in Weybridge when delivered in the right format. Where landlords have invested in high-quality fitted space, he said, take-up has been encouraging.
The implications for landlords and investors are clear. Splitting larger floorplates into smaller, more lettable suites and committing capital to Cat A+ refurbishments is increasingly the difference between space sitting idle and space letting quickly, according to Nicholson. For those willing to back the right assets with the right capex programme, Weybridge’s polarised market could offer compelling risk-adjusted returns at a time when much of the wider south east office sector remains under pressure.
With hybrid working continuing to reshape occupier requirements across the Home Counties, the premium attached to genuinely move-in-ready space looks set to widen further, sharpening the contrast between Weybridge’s winners and losers and rewarding those investors prepared to spend to specification.
